Satellite News

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. announced that it has signed a contract valued at US$5.2 million to provide a communication antenna subsystem to The Boeing Company to be installed on the Boeing 702MP satellite platform for an undisclosed customer.

SES and ITC Global, a provider of satellite communications to remote and harsh environments, announced a strategic agreement to connect oil and gas operations around the world.

The U.S. federal claims court has denied a motion by United Launch Alliance seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed by SpaceX against the company and the U.S. Air Force.

Firefly Space Systems, Inc., a small satellite launch company, announced it has entered into a Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA’s George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama.

Aerojet Rocketdyne successfully completed the first in a series of hot-fire tests on the RS-25 rocket engine, which will help power NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS).

SES announced that it plans to launch a dedicated satellite for governmental use in partnership with the Luxembourg Government in late 2017. A Luxembourg-based company jointly held by SES and the Luxembourg Government is planned to own and operate the new spacecraft.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Dragon/CRS-5; Date: 10 January 2015, 0947 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The Dragon vessel is to reach the International Space Station on 12 January at around 1112 UTC. An attempt to land the Falcon 9’s spent first stage aboard a platform in the Atlantic Ocean was not successful.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded one of its most important space procurements, potentially a multi-billion-dollar contract to operate, maintain, and sustain launch ranges at Florida’s Space Coast and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, to a joint venture of Raytheon and General Dynamics.