Satellite News

Boeing will build a 702 satellite to expand communication for mobile telephone, data and Internet users throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has received an Authorisation to Proceed from Airbus Defence and Space for the provision of multiple communication antenna subsystems to be integrated into the Eutelsat-5WB communication satellite.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Dragon/CRS-10; Date: 19 February 2017, 1439 UTC; Launch site: Kennedy Space Center, USA. About 2,475 kg of research equipment, cargo and supplies are packed into the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that is now in Earth orbit and headed to the International Space Station.

Arianespace’s third flight of 2017 is moving into the final phase of preparations, with the lightweight Vega launcher’s basic assembly completed and its Sentinel-2B Earth observation satellite encapsulated for lift-off on 6 March from the Spaceport in French Guiana.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully tested its indigenously developed Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS) for GSLV MkIII on 17 February 2017.

Airbus Defence and Space has signed a contract with Space Administration at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to develop and build all components of the German contribution to the German-French Earth observation mission MERLIN.

NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter, which has been in orbit around the gas giant since 4 July 2016, will remain in its current 53-day orbit for the remainder of the mission. This will allow Juno to accomplish its science goals, while avoiding the risk of a previously-planned engine firing that would have reduced the spacecraft’s orbital period to 14 days.

MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. is in talks to buy DigitalGlobe Inc. for about US$2 billion to US$3 billion, Dow Jones reported, citing sources.