Satellite News

Airbus Defence and Space has been awarded a contract by Inmarsat to design and develop the first two Inmarsat-6 (I-6) mobile communications satellites, creating the most versatile mobile services satellites in its fleet.

Space Systems Loral has been selected to provide an advanced communications satellite to Telesat. The new satellite called Telstar 18 VANTAGE will operate from 138 degrees East and significantly expand Telesat’s capacity over the Asia Pacific region through a combination of broad regional beams and high throughput spot-beams.

Vanguard Space Technologies, Inc. announced that it has delivered the first set of three primary components for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Program to Orbital ATK, Inc.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: 11 Orbcomm OG2 satellites (FM 102, 105, 108, 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117 and 118); Date: 22 December 2015, 0129 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The eleven OG2 satellites were successfully separated from the Falcon 9 launch vehicle into the proper insertion orbit. Nine minutes following lift-off was the first-ever successful landing of the Falcon 9’s first stage booster at Landing Zone 1 (formerly Complex 13) at CCAFS.

After thorough examination, NASA managers have decided to suspend the planned March 2016 launch of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The decision follows unsuccessful attempts to repair a leak in a section of the prime instrument in the science payload.

The Russian multifunctional satellite data-relay system Loutch [aka Luch] has successfully completed in-orbit flight tests. Following the results of the test programme that the system went through, the state commission decided to put it into service as from 18 December 2015.

Visiona Tecnologia Espacial, responsible for the integration of the SGDC system (Geostationary Satellite of Defense and Strategic Communications) in Brazil, announced the completion of a key programme milestone.

Aerojet Rocketdyne has been selected for a public-private partnership with NASA to mature the design of the 1-Newton GR-1 monopropellant thruster, which uses a green propellant known as AF-M315E.