Satellite News

Rocket Lab has announced its next launch is a mission carrying satellites destined to begin a new constellation for UNSEENLABS, as well as more rideshare payloads for Spaceflight, consisting of a spacecraft for BlackSky and the United States Air Force Space Command.

The Space Alliance between Thales Alenia Space (Thales 67%, Leonardo 33%) and Telespazio (Leonardo 67%, Thales 33%) announced that it has signed a contract with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) for the initial development of a satellite system dubbed Ital-GovSatCom. This contract paves the way for a dynamic programme within the scope of the Italian “Space Economy” initiative.

Maxar Technologies announced that it will integrate and fly NASA’s Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument on a 1300-class satellite in geostationary (GEO) orbit.

On 19 July, Thales Alenia Space completely transferred control of the Yamal-601 satellite to the operational divisions of Gazprom Space Systems.

The Lander Radioscience (LaRa) instrument for ESA’s ExoMars 2020 mission has passed its testing in conditions resembling those on the Red Planet. It will now be transported to Russia for its acceptance review, followed by integration onto the Kazachok Surface Platform, scheduled for launch this time next year.

SRI International, an independent research and technology centre, announced the launch of the Enhanced Tandem Beacon Experiment (E-TBEx) on 25 June 2019, as part of a mission supported by NASA to gather atmospheric data and study how space weather impacts communication and navigation systems.

Viasat Inc. announced its Real-Time Earth (RTE) service achieved a major milestone by providing ground station service support to General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems’ (GA-EMS) Orbital Test Bed (OTB) satellite after its successful launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on 25 June 2019.

Lockheed Martin Corporation reported financial results for the second quarter 2019.