Satellite News

The second flight test of NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) now will launch no earlier than 1630 UTC on 2 June from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) on Kauai, Hawaii.

Space Systems/Loral (SSL) announced that the Star One C4 satellite, designed and built for Embratel Star One, has arrived at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where it will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle by Arianespace. The launch marks the 50th SSL mission with Arianespace.

Airbus Defence and Space has successfully completed the development and design phase of the Grace-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment follow-on) satellites. Following delivery of the highly stable satellite structures, the building phase of the two NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) research satellites has begun. The Grace-FO mission is based on an US-German co-operation agreement executed by JPL and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ-Potsdam).

NASA has selected nine science instruments for a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa, to investigate whether the mysterious icy moon could harbour conditions suitable for life.