Satellite News

The build-up of Ariane 5’s dual-passenger configuration is underway at French Guiana, where this mission’s upper satellite is now encapsulated in the launcher’s payload fairing.

Aerojet Rocketdyne has been awarded a contract worth approximately US$18 million from NASA Glenn Research Center to complete the development of NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster-Commercial (NEXT-C) Gridded Ion Thruster System.

Dr. M. Annadurai, Outstanding Scientist and Programme Director, Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS) and Small Satellite Systems (SSS) of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore, has assumed the office of Director, ISAC on 1 April 2015. He took over as Director, ISAC from Dr. S K Shivakumar, who superannuated on 31 March 2015.

Orbital ATK, Inc. announced that yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the first flight of its Pegasus air-launched rocket. The world’s first all-new privately-developed space launch vehicle, Pegasus was developed in the late 1980’s in a joint venture between Orbital Sciences Corporation and Hercules Aerospace Company, a predecessor to ATK Inc., and was first launched on 5 April 1990.