Satellite News

Airbus Defence and Space has been selected by OneWeb Ltd. as its industrial partner for the design and manufacturing of its fleet of microsatellites.

LeoSat and Thales Alenia Space announced they have decided to carry on with conducting the feasibility study for LeoSat’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, which will provide high-speed, low-latency, cost-effective broadband services worldwide.

Saft has signed a five-year extension to a framework agreement to supply lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery systems to JSC ISS Reshetnev.

O3b Networks announced a contract to supply trunking services to Miami-based Emerging Markets Communications LLC (EMC).

NASA’s Launch Services Program has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for new commercial Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) for small satellites, often called CubeSats or nanosatellites, and experiments on science missions using a class of rockets smaller than any currently available to the agency.

An RS-25 engine fired up for 500 seconds 11 June at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. It was the third firing of an RS-25 development engine on the A-1 test stand at Stennis.

Boeing said it is on contract to build ABS-8, the third all-electric propulsion 702SP (small platform) satellite for ABS, a commercial satellite provider based in Bermuda and Hong Kong. This satellite will expand broadcast and enterprise services to Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Russia, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

When NASA launches its next mission on the journey to Mars – a stationary lander in 2016 – the flight will include two CubeSats. This will be the first time CubeSats have flown in deep space. If this flyby demonstration is successful, the technology will provide NASA the ability to quickly transmit status information about the main spacecraft after it lands on Mars.