Satellite News

The Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) has returned to the quiet mode it suffered in the early spring, despite the efforts of personnel at NASA and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.

Fragments of Russia’s Progress MS-08 cargo spacecraft, which was deorbited on 30 August 2018 following a weeklong experiment, splashed down in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean, a Russian Mission Control Center official said.

Aerojet Rocketdyne successfully completed its early systems integration test for NASA’s Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) programme, a next-generation propulsion capability that will further enable deep space missions. Under the AEPS contract, Aerojet Rocketdyne will develop and qualify a 13-kilowatt Hall thruster string.

Telesat announced that its new Telstar 19 VANTAGE high throughput satellite (HTS) is fully operational at 63 degrees West and has entered commercial service.

The Kepler spacecraft went into sleep mode after successfully downloading Campaign 18 data, NASA said.

Powered by Aerojet Rocketdyne propulsion, OSIRIS-REx’s long-awaited approach of Asteroid Bennu has officially begun. With the asteroid now in sight, the spacecraft’s onboard thrusters will begin to conduct a number of approach manoeuvres to match Bennu’s orbital velocity to prepare for arrival on 3 December.

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has confirmed the successful commissioning in-orbit of the RemoveDEBRIS spacecraft, which was deployed from the International Space Station on 20 June 2018.

Cargo spacecraft Progress MS-08 has been undocked from the International Space Station (ISS). Its deorbiting is due on 30 August the rocket and spacecraft scientific centre TsNIIMash said.