Satellite News

“Chandra remains in its normal pointing mode and has been manoeuvred to ensure the spacecraft and instruments remain at a cool operating temperature. The Flight Operations Team has completed testing and simulation of the procedures and on-board software updates that will place Chandra into a new gyroscope configuration with the gyroscope that caused the 10 October safe mode in reserve.”

This week’s Ariane 5 flight that will send BepiColombo on its way to the planet Mercury has been approved for lift-off on 20 October (UTC) following the launch readiness review held at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

US orbital launch provider Rocket Lab has confirmed it will build its first U.S. launch pad for the Electron rocket at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, USA.

ESA has awarded a new framework contract and two new work orders to Thales Alenia Space in France, to upgrade the Galileo Mission Segment (GMS) – that element of the world-wide Galileo ground segment dedicated to delivering navigation services – and the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (GSMC) near Paris, as well as to implement a second GSMC in Spain, near Madrid.

Rocket: Atlas V 551; Payload: AEHF-4; Date: 17 October 2018, 0415 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The satellite successfully separated from the launch vehicle three hours and 32 minutes after lift-off. Satellite Manufacturer Lockheed Martin confirmed signal acquisition at 0747 UTC.

Arianespace is to launch the National Advanced Optical System (NAOS) under the term of a turnkey contract between OHB Italia and the Luxembourg’s Directorate of Defence.

Signal failure might have occurred at the moment of separation of the first and second stages of the Soyuz-FG rocket, which triggered the safety system that aborted the launch, according to Sergey Krikalyov, Roskosmos executive director for manned programmes.

Hispamar, the Brazilian subsidiary of the Spanish satellite-based telecommunications operator Hispasat, and Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. have joined together to offer a new satellite-based broadband connectivity service, focusing on both the residential and corporate market, in order to extend Internet access to the parts of the country that are currently digitally isolated.