Satellite News

The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) project has begun final testing on a new satellite that will replenish NASA’s Space Network. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 3 August 2017, on an Atlas V rocket.

Hughes Network Systems announced the successful completion of in-orbit testing and handover of EchoStar XIX from Space Systems Loral (SSL), manufacturers of this Ka-band high-throughput satellite.

NASA has awarded a contract to Ball Aerospace for continued spacecraft operations support for the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite. The sole source contract has a maximum ordering period of five years beginning 7 March 2017.

Orbital ATK has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missiles Systems Center to provide payload integration and support services for Space Test Program Satellite 6 (STPSat-6).

Arianespace’s first Ariane 5 mission of 2017 – and the company’s second launch so far this year – was given clearance for lift-off from the Spaceport in French Guiana next week with digital TV broadcast satellite passengers for Brazil and Indonesia.

On 9 February 2017, NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, known as MMS, began a three-month long journey into a new orbit.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is operating normally after just over 24 hours in safe mode, the result of a command-loading error that occurred early Thursday.

Space Systems Loral has been selected by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the capability to service and maintain spacecraft and other infrastructure in the geostationary arc. Meanwhile, Orbital ATK has filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to halt the programme.