Satellite News

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B; Payload: TJS-2 [TXJSSY-2]; Date: 6 January 2017, 1518 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The satellite was deployed into a 204 km x 35,809 km x 27.5 degrees geostationary transfer orbit.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued SpaceX a license for its upcoming launch of 10 Iridium Next satellites aboard a Falcon 9, which is now set for 9 January.

Space Systems Loral announced that it will provide a spacecraft platform for a NASA Discovery Mission to explore the metallic asteroid 16 Psyche.

Lockheed Martin has been selected to design, build and operate the spacecraft for NASA’s Lucy mission. One of NASA’s two new Discovery Program missions, Lucy will perform the first reconnaissance of the Jupiter Trojan asteroids orbiting the sun in tandem with the gas giant. The Lucy spacecraft will launch in 2021.

NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft has resumed full service following recovery after entering a safe standby mode on 26 December 2016.

Arianespace announced that it will launch Intelsat 39 for Intelsat. In addition,Japanese operator Sky Perfect JSAT Corporation has chosen Arianespace to launch its JCSAT-17 telecommunications satellite.

NASA has selected two Discovery Program class missions. Known as Lucy and Psyche, they were chosen from five finalists and will proceed to mission formulation, with the goal of launching in 2021 and 2023, respectively.

During routine testing of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, an unexpected response occurred from several of the more than 100 devices designed to detect small changes in the motion of the structure. This prompted the engineers put the vibration tests on hold to determine the cause. Since then, the team of engineers and scientists have analysed many potential scenarios for the measured responses.