Satellite News

Two new contracts totalling EUR138 million have been signed as part of Finmeccanica space activities relating to the Copernicus programme’s Sentinel-3 mission, led by the European Commission in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and with the contribution of the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

LISA Pathfinder, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) gravitational-wave detection technology demonstrator, built by Airbus Defence and Space, has achieved the next milestone to enable science operations. Satellite operators from ESA, supported by engineers from Airbus Defence and Space, successfully released the test masses (nicknamed Jake and Elwood) inside the spacecraft’s scientific instrument.

The 50th Space Wing accepted satellite control authority of the final Global Positioning System GPS IIF satellite from the GPS Directorate.

As NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) satellite moves towards its early 2017 launch date, the fifth and final instrument, the ATMS (Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder), an instrument critical to forecasting weather three to seven days in advance, has been integrated with the satellite.

Millennium Space Systems has started spacecraft integration of the United States Air Force’s Wide Field of View (WFOV) Testbed. The WFOV spacecraft bus platform will be functionally integrated, tested and checked out in summer 2016, in preparation for sensor integration.

Aerojet Rocketdyne has been awarded a contract valued at more than US$2.5 million from NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division to develop and demonstrate a high-power electric propulsion system. Once fully developed, the technology will help reduce trip times and the cost of human spaceflight.

Silent since its last call to mothership Rosetta seven months ago, the Philae lander is facing conditions on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from which it is unlikely to recover.

ViaSat Inc. has introduced the ViaSat-3 ultra-high capacity satellite platform, which is comprised of three ViaSat-3 class satellites with ground network infrastructure.