Satellite News

NASA’s Launch Services Program announced that it selected United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Atlas V vehicle to launch the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-2) mission. This award resulted from a competitive Launch Service Task Order evaluation under the NASA Launch Services II contract.

The launch date for a United Launch Alliance Delta IV carrying the WGS-9 satellite for the U.S. Air Force has been postponed to no earlier than 14 March.

Rocket engines made by Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc. are now providing in-flight manoeuvres for the Intelsat 33e communications satellite, which launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana on 24 August.

Eutelsat Communications and ViaSat Inc. have closed their partnering arrangement combining Eutelsat’s established European broadband business with ViaSat’s broadband technology know-how and Internet Service Provider (ISP) business expertise.

Rocket: Kaituozhe-2 (KT-2); Payload: Tiankun-1 (TK-1); Date: 2 February 2017, 2553 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. The experimental satellite entered its intended orbit.

The delivery of Lockheed Martin’s first GPS III satellite, which is already 34 months late, has been delayed again. The most recent delivery goal had been 28 February. Now, the U.S. Air Force has opened a review of the spacecraft’s propulsion systems.

According to Euroconsult’s soon-to-be-released report, SatCom for Defense and Security: Strategic Issues and Forecasts, global military demand for commercial satellite capacity has fallen by an estimated 20% from a peak of 12.5 GHz in 2011 following tremendous growth over the previous decade, due in large part to lower usage of the U.S. DoD.

Aireon announced that they have formally received control from Iridium Communications Inc. of the first Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) payload hosted on an Iridium NEXT satellite.