Satellite News

NASA and ATK completed the second in a series of development tests for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) booster program on 30 January at ATK’s Promontory, Utah, test facility. This key avionics and controls test was designated Flight Control Test 2 (FCT-2) and included a “hot fire” of the fully integrated heritage thrust vector control (TVC), the new SLS booster avionics subsystem and new electronic support equipment (ESE).

Rocket: Atlas V; Payload: TDRS-K; Date: 31 January 2013, 0128 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The Boeing-built satellite was placed into geostationary transfer orbit. Controllers in Australia confirmed initial contact with it two hours and three minutes later.

South Korea’s scientific STSAT-2C satellite has made its first contact with a ground station, Yonhap news agency said.

Astrotech Corporation announced that its Astrotech Space Operations (ASO) subsidiary has been awarded a NASA Not-to-Exceed US$9.1 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for commercial payload processing services at ASO Florida.

Rocket: KSLV-1 (Naro); Payload: Science and Technology Satellite 2C (STSAT 2C), Date: 30 January 2013, 0700 UTC; Launch site: Naro Space Center, South Korea. The satellite was put into designated elliptical orbit nine minutes after lift-off.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded Astrium EUR108 million worth of prime contractor agreements covering the development of the Ariane 6 and Ariane 5 ME launchers. The contracts follow on from the decisions reached at the ESA Ministerial Council meeting in Naples on 20-21 November 2012.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Space Communication Ltd. (Spacecom) announced an agreement to launch Spacecom’s Amos-6 satellite on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Falcon 9 will insert the communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).

The launch of the Intelsat 27 communications satellite has been postponed by one day to 1 February, 0656 UTC at the opening of the 58-minute launch window. The delay is due to a conflict with NASA resources associated with the use of the Telemetry and Data Relay Satellite Systems (TDRSS) network used by Sea Launch for in flight telemetry tracking. This is due to the rescheduling of the Atlas V/TDRS-K launch now set for 30 January.