Satellite News

Boeing has completed production of ABS-3A and Eutelsat 115 West B, which according to the company are the world’s first all-electric propulsion satellites. The satellites will be launched, as a vertically stacked pair, next month.

NASA’s next mission to study Earth, SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive), is scheduled for launch aboard a Delta II from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 29 January on 1420 UTC. SMAP will operate at an altitude of 685-kilometer in a near-polar orbit that repeats exactly every eight days. The mission is designed to operate at least three years.

The fifth official SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract now is scheduled to launch at 0947 UTC on 10 January from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) released the first images taken with the Exelis-built Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI).

Arianespace carried out 11 launches from the Guiana Space Center in 2014, a record since the introduction of the family in 2011, resulting in revenues of around EUR1.4 billion. The company also provided details on the planned Ariane 6 rocket, which will come in two versions.

The U.S. Air Force said it expects to certify SpaceX to compete for launches no later than mid-2015, pushing back its original target date by six months.

The service module of China’s unmanned lunar orbiter is scheduled to return to the moon’s orbit in mid-January for more tests to prepare for the country’s next lunar probe mission, Chang’e-5.

Thales Alenia Space announced that it has been selected by French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) to build the oceanography satellite SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography).