Satellite News

This week’s Arianespace flight with four European Galileo navigation system spacecraft has been approved for lift-off on 17 November following the launch readiness review held at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

On 20 December, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch the second Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-2) with the Exploration of energisation and Radiation in Geospace (ERG) satellite on board.

Sentinel-2B, Europe’s next Copernicus satellite in Space, has successfully finished its test programme at ESA’s technology Centre ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. The second Sentinel-2 Airbus built satellite will now be readied for shipment to the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana begin January 2017.

Harris Corporation said its new Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) weather instrument and enterprise ground system will be key components of the GOES-R system, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) next-generation weather satellite scheduled to launch on 19 November. GOES-R will provide more detailed, accurate and rapid weather information than what is available from NOAA’s current geostationary weather satellites.

According to Euroconsult’s newly-published report, FSS Operators: Benchmarks & Performance Review, FSS industry revenues declined by 7% in 2015 and have continued to deteriorate through the first half of 2016.