Satellite News

Russia’s Kosmos-2491 military satellite may has disintegrated in space, either by accident or after deliberately self-destructing, Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell believes.

Ball Aerospace and General Dynamics Mission Systems have agreed to collaborate with Telesat in separate demonstrations that will highlight how high-performing commercial satellite systems, such as Telesat LEO, can provide important advantages for the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s Commercially Augmented Space Inter Networked Operations (CASINO) programme.

In its latest analysis of satellite manufacturing and launch services, Satellites to be Built and Launched by 2028, Euroconsult projects that the satellite market will experience a radical transformation in the quantity, value and mass of the satellites to be built and launched with a four-fold increase in the number of satellites at a yearly average of 990 satellites to be launched, compared to a yearly average of 230 satellites in the previous decade.

Rocket Lab has announced it will open a new facility which will serve as its Corporate Headquarters, provide incremental production capacity, and bring Mission Control Center capabilities to Long Beach, California.

OneWeb and SatixFy UK announced plans to add a digital technology pathway payload that will include a full digital payload into OneWeb’s launch schedule during 2021.

Iridium Communications Inc. announced that on 19 December 2019 a Letter of Compliance was signed by the International Mobile Satellite Organisation (IMSO), stating it has positively verified the operational and technical requirements as requested by the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for Iridium to provide Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) service.

exactEarth Ltd. and Hisdesat announce that in partnership they have been selected by the European Maritime Safety Agency (“EMSA”) to provide satellite-AIS data services for a four-year period.

Final payload integration has begun for Arianespace’s year-opening mission on 16 January with GSAT-30 now installed atop its Ariane 5 launcher at the Spaceport in French Guiana.