Satellite News

Airbus Defence and Space announced the forthcoming move of its Skynet 5A satellite. The move of Skynet 5A will enable delivery of protected and secure satcom services in the new coverage footprint from mid-2015.

Intelsat S.A. announced the completion of a series of tests demonstrating the compatibility of the Intelsat EpicNG digital payload with existing ground equipment platforms. The digital payload is one of many unique design features on the company’s Intelsat EpicNG satellites, the first of which, Intelsat 29e, is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2016.

Orbcomm Inc. announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ending 31 December 2014.

XCOR Aerospace, Inc. announced that executive John H. (Jay) Gibson II has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer and President of the company. Mr. Gibson succeeds Jeff Greason, who is transitioning to Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Greason will dedicate his time to Lynx development, XCOR’s orbital system and other crucial projects.

Rocket: Atlas V 421; Payload: Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS); Date: 13 March 2015, 0244 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. After reaching orbit, each spacecraft deployed from the rocket’s upper stage sequentially, in five-minute increments, beginning at 0416, with the last separation occurring at o431 UTC. NASA scientists and engineers were able to confirm the health of all separated spacecraft at o440 UTC.

The sixth Galileo satellite of Europe’s navigation system has now entered its corrected target orbit, which will allow detailed testing to assess the performance of its navigation payload.

Solar Orbiter’s STM will leave Airbus Defence and Space in UK on 23 March., to be delivered to IABG, near Munich in Germany, for mechanical testing. This is an important step in the verification phase of the project. Scheduled to be launched in 2018, the Solar Orbiter mission will study how our Sun creates and controls the heliosphere, the bubble of space filled with particles and fields in which the Earth orbits.

European Space Propulsion (ESP), a subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne, recently received a contract from Airbus Space and Defence and Thales Alenia Space for the development of a new ThermoThrottle to provide variable Xenon Flow Control (XFC) for the ESP XR-5E Hall Thruster, the European version of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Zero-Erosion Hall Effect Thruster.