Satellite News

GeoEye, Inc. said in a filing with the U.S. Securites and Exchange Commission that its OrbView-3 satellite experienced an anomaly on 4 March 2007 and currently does not provide any imagery.

The questionable world/space record China achieved in January by blowing up one of its old weather satellites may have been short-lived. A Russian upper stage blew up in orbit on 19 February, possibly creating even more space junk than the Chinese ASAT test — or any other breakup event.

Boeing’s satellite unit is facing two new lawsuits collectively seeking US$610 million in damages for alleged satellite malfunctions. Boeing said the claims in both lawsuits were without merit.

Russia’s experimental remote sensing satellite Monitor-E has failed for a second time, according to the director of the Khrunichev centre, Vladimir Nesterov.

Globalstar said that almost none of its satellites currently in orbit will be able to support two-way communications services by 2008 if certain of its amplifiers continue to degrade at their current rate.

One of the telecommunications systems aboard the recently launched Japanese experimental satellite Kiku No. 8 (ETS VIII) so far couldn’t be activated.

Sea Launch said it was in the process of securing the Odyssey Launch Platform and taking initial measures to determine the root cause of the 30 January (UTC) explosion of a Zenit-3SL rocket on the launch pad.

A Sea Launch Zenit-3SL vehicle was destroyed along with its payload, SES New Skies’ NSS-8 satellite, in an explosion shortly after the ignition of the rocket’s main engine on 30 January, 2322 UTC.