Satellite News

Russian Satellite Communication Company said it has made initial payments under contracts with JSC ISS Reshetnev and Thales Alenia Space to build the Ekspress-80 and Ekspress-103 satellites.

Replacing electronic equipment for the future Spektr-RG observatory due to the new estimates of radiation levels cost German participants of this project about EUR5 million, Mikhail Pavlinsky, the head of Russian Space Research Institute, was quoted as saying.

ATLAS Space Operations, Inc. announced that is has been selected by Space Systems Loral to provide dedicated launch and on-orbit satellite operations support for a 2018 mission.

Spacecom, operator of the Amos satellite fleet, announced that it has entered into a satellite procurement agreement with Boeing Satellite Systems International. The deal for Amos-17 is worth US$161 million.

Airbus Defence and Space has sent the MetOp-C payload module on its first journey. The module, which has a mass of around 2.1 tonnes, contains ten measuring instruments together with their control systems.

EUMETSAT and NOAA have signed the plan that will implement the Joint Polar System (JPS).

GomSpace ApS and Aerial & Maritime Ltd, both subsidiaries of GS Sweden AB, have entered into a turn-key delivery contract, whereas GomSpace will design, deliver, launch and commission a constellation of satellites into a low-inclination Equatorial orbit.

The 11th Arianespace mission of 2016 has been given the go-ahead for lift-off from the Spaceport in French Guiana on 21 December, carrying the Star One D1 and JCSAT-15 satellites for deployment into geostationary transfer orbit.