Satellite News

The engineering and technology group SENER has been awarded the contract for the Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS/GNC) on the space probe Euclid. This award makes SENER the prime contractor for this AOCS subsystem that requires the highest level of performance

Last month marked the start of preliminary design work on ESA’s Asteroid Impact Mission, or AIM. Intended to demonstrate technologies for future deep-space missions, AIM will also be the Agency’s very first investigation of planetary defence techniques.

COM DEV International Ltd. announced that it has secured four orders totalling nearly C$10 million to supply microwave equipment for communication satellites for new customers from its recently expanded operations in the UK.

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Core Satellite’s Microwave Imager (GMI) built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. under contract for NASA has performed flawlessly in its first year on orbit as the most accurately calibrated radiometer in the twelve-satellite GPM constellation.

SpaceX is now targeting Monday, 13 April to launch the next commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft is targeted for approximately 2033 UTC from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

On 31 March at 1347 UTC, a Rokot launch vehicle outfitted with a Briz-KM upper stage successfully injected four Russian satellites – Gonets-M 21, 22 and 23 and a military satellite – into the target orbit.

The fourth and final orbit raising operation of IRNSS-1D was successfully completed by firing the Apogee Motor for 493 seconds on 01 April 2015.

NASA’s science mission to retrieve a sample from an ancient space rock has moved closer to fruition. The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission has passed a critical milestone in its path towards launch and is officially authorised to transition into its next phase.