Satellite News

International Launch Services (ILS) successfully placed the Eutelsat 9B satellite into a 4,371 km x 35,687 km x 12.05 degrees geosynchronous transfer orbit.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3C/YZ-1; Payload: BDS M3-S [Beidou Daohang Weixing 21, Beidou DW 21, Beidou 21]; Date: 1 February 2016, 0729 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The experimental navigation satellite was successfully deployed into a 21,512 km x 21,981 km x 55 degrees orbit.

Thales Alenia Space Belgium announced that it has signed a contract with Airbus Safran Launchers (ASL), prime contractor for the Ariane 6 launcher on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA), to particpate in development of the range safety system for Ariane 6, including a qualification launch.

Harris Corporation has announced that it will offer an all-digital navigation payload for GPS III Space Vehicles (SV) 11 and beyond.

Indra has been awarded the contract to expand the Hispasat ground segment for an amount of more than EUR5 million and an execution period extending until January 2017. The company will prepare the ground segment so that it can carry out the monitoring and control of the new Hispasat 1F and Amazonas 5 satellites.