Satellite News

South Korean newspapers have reported that their neighbour to the north has completed development of a new reconnaissance satellite, the first that will enable North Korea to transmit data to Earth.

Viasat Inc. was awarded a contract to upgrade the NATO UHF satellite communications (SATCOM) control stations to comply with the Integrated Waveform (IW) baseline. The upgrade gives NATO greater communications interoperability, scalability and flexibility across legacy and next-generation platforms to enhance situational awareness as the battlespace dynamically expands.

AeroVironment, Inc. announced the formation of a joint venture to develop solar-powered high-altitude long-endurance, or HALE, UAS for commercial operations. This category of UAS is also referred to as high-altitude pseudo-satellites, or HAPS. The joint venture will fund the development programme up to a net maximum value of US$65,011,481.

India plans launch 31 satellites, including the Earth observation spacecraft Cartosat, on 10 January from its spaceport at Sriharikota. The PSLV will fly in the PSLV XL configuration with enlarged solid rocket boosters.

China’s Kuaizhou-11 solid-fuelled rocket is scheduled to launch for the first time in the first half of 2018, according to the rocket’s developer and producer China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC).