Satellite News

The attempt to launch Intelsat 37e and BSAT-4a aboard an Ariane 5 was aborted shortly after the ignition of the rocket’s Vulcain main engine. A new launch date was not immediately available.

The launch of JPSS-1, the first in a series of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s four next-generation operational polar-orbiting weather satellites, is scheduled for 10 November at 0947 UTC aboard a Delta 2 (!) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Kacific Broadband Satellites Group (Kacific) said it selected SpaceX as the launch provider for its Kacific-1 satellite, which is being built by The Boeing Company. Kacific-1 [which is actually one of two payloads aboard a condo satellite shared with Japan’s Sky Perfect JSAT] will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9.

The U.S. Defense Department will have to continue using Russian RD-180 rocket engines until the mid-2020s, which is longer than it had initially been expected, U.S. media reported.

Lockheed Martin ‘s second, fully-assembled GPS III space vehicle (SV) has successfully passed acoustic environmental tests.

United Technologies Corp. and Rockwell Collins, Inc. announced that they have reached a definitive agreement under which United Technologies will acquire Rockwell Collins for US$140.00 per share, in cash and UTC stock.