Satellite News

Assembly of the ascent unit has begun at Baikonur for the Proton-M launch vehicle scheduled to orbit the Russian Express-AM7 satellite on 19 March.

Activities for Arianespace’s Ariane 5 launch next month have moved into a new phase as the first of this heavy-lift mission’s two payloads is fuelled in French Guiana.

On 12 March, Rosetta will begin listening for signs that the comet lander Philae is still “alive.” The lander came to rest on 12 November 2014 in a rather shaded location on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and needs to receive sufficient energy before it can wake up and begin communicating. This is the first chance to receive a signal from Philae.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) has been successfully integrated on- board NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) satellite.

Aerojet Rocketdyne, a GenCorp company, announced that it has launched a continuous, multi-faceted competitive improvement programme (CIP) aimed at reducing costs and increasing operational efficiency among its 14 sites that are located in 11 states across the USA.

Eutelsat 8 West B is in the final stretch of manufacturing and on track for launch by an Ariane 5 rocket in mid-2015. The 5.8 tonne satellite has finished launch environment tests and is now going through a final round of payload performance checks at Thales Alenia Space’s factory in Cannes.

The Asteroid Explorer “Hayabusa 2″ completed its initial functional confirmation period on 2 March 2015, as all scheduled checkout and evaluation of acquired data were completed. The explorer has been under inspection for about three months after its launch on 3 December 2014.

China has run tests close to the moon simulating an unmanned docking procedure needed in the country’s next lunar mission.