Satellite News

British small satellite manufacturer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) on 28 December marked the 10th year of in-orbit operations from its GIOVE-A satellite, the pathfinder mission for Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation programme.

On Friday, 1 December 1995, EUMETSAT formally took over the operations of Meteosat satellites from ESA’s European Operations Control Centre (ESOC).

Eutelsat Communications tomorrow celebrates the 10th anniversary of its stock market listing on Euronext.

40 years ago today, on 16 October 1975, NOAA’s first Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Known as GOES-A when it launched, the satellite was designated GOES-1 once operational.

ESA celebrated the 40th anniversary of the agency’s ground station network, Estrack. It has stations on three continents, all remotely operated from the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

“SpaceX’s upgraded Falcon 9 booster powered up to full throttle in a brief ignition at the company’s Central Texas test site this week as engineers prepare for the rocket’s return to flight as soon as mid-November with a European communications satellite. The November launch from Cape Canaveral, which will haul up the SES 9 television broadcasting platform, will also be the debut mission for the latest version of the Falcon 9 rocket with higher throttle settings, condensed fuel and structural modifications.” (Spaceflight Now)

Forty years ago this week, a satellite ground station in Spain became the first to be assigned to what would become ESA. Since then, the network – Estrack – has expanded world-wide and today employs cutting-edge technology to link mission controllers with spacecraft.

23 April marked 50 years since the launch of the first communications satellite of the Molniya family into a highly elliptical orbit.