Satellite News

Oleg Skorobogatov, the head of the commission that probed the 11 October Soyuz FG accident, said the flight was aborted because part of a sensor that indicates the separation of the stages of the rocket was damaged during assembly at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The two passengers for Arianespace’s next Ariane 5 flight – the GEO-KOMPSAT-2A and GSAT-11 satellites – are now in French Guiana where launch preparations are moving into a new phase for lift-off during December.

On 31 October 2018, Parker Solar Probe began its first of 24 solar encounters. This period — which lasts until 11 November — is the time during which the spacecraft is within 0.25 astronomical units, or 37 million km, of the Sun’s centre.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft missed scheduled communications sessions with NASA’s Deep Space Network on 31 October and 1 November.

Harris Corporation has provided Lockheed Martin with its sixth of ten advanced navigation payloads contracted for the U.S. Air Force’s GPS III satellite programme.

Maxar Technologies said it is actively talking with potential buyers for its geostationary communications satellite business.

Telesat Canada (“Telesat”) announced its financial results for the three- and nine-month periods ending 30 September 2018.