Satellite News

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that the company’s launchpad rocket incident on 1 September is proving to be “the most difficult and complex failure” it has ever encountered.

Mission managers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, are assessing two power system-related anomalies affecting the operation of NASA’s ISS-RapidScat instrument aboard the International Space Station. RapidScat measures surface wind speeds and directions over the ocean.

Rocket: GSLV Mk. II/CUS; Payload: Insat 3DR; Date: 8 September 2016, 1120 UTC; Launch site: Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India. The weather satellite was successfully launched and has meanwhile been catalogued in a 152 km x 35,935 km x 20.6 degrees geostationary transfer orbit.

ESA and Arianespace have signed a contract to secure the launch of the Aeolus satellite.

The WorldView-4 satellite, built by Lockheed Martin for DigitalGlobe, Inc., has been encapsulated in its protective launch vehicle fairing. It is scheduled to launch 16 September aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Vector Space Systems, a micro satellite space launch company, announced that NASA has selected its Phase II proposal under the 2015 SBIR/STTR programme to continue development of an advanced prototype of the upper stage for the Vector-R launch vehicle.

Frequency Electronics, Inc. has received and commenced engineering design work on a new multi-satellite payload contract valued in excess of US$6 million.

Thuraya Telecommunications has finalised its next generation constellation plans and said it will extend its geographical reach, move into new market sectors and launch new services and devices.