Satellite News

LISA Pathfinder, the European Space Agency’s gravitational-wave detection technology demonstrator, has left Stevenage ready for launch. It was shipped from the UK to Kourou in French Guiana on board an Antonov aircraft and arrived on 8 October, in preparation for its launch scheduled in early December.

The last Air Force GPS IIF in a block of 12 satellites was delivered to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, from Boeing’s manufacturing facility in El Segundo, California on 8 October.

Aerojet Rocketdyne announced the critical design review (CDR) completion for the jettison motor and the crew module reaction control system (RCS) on the Orion spacecraft. These two major subsystems that Aerojet Rocketdyne is building for Lockheed Martin and NASA are critical for ensuring astronaut safety and mission success.

NASA and The Aerospace Corporation of El Segundo, California, have received confirmation the Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) CubeSat spacecraft is in orbit and operational. OCSD launched aboard an Atlas V rocket on 8 October from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.