Satellite News

Space Systems Loral (SSL) has been selected by NASA for a multi-million dollar contract to develop on-orbit robotic satellite assembly technology.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed it successfully inserted the Venus Climate Orbiter “Akatsuki” into the orbit circling around Venus.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus Defence and Space have signed a EUR350 million contract to develop and build ESA’s JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer) spacecraft. JUICE is the first large mission of the ESA Cosmic Vision programme, with a launch date in 2022.

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) of its STPSat-5 satellite for the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) Space Test Program (STP), confirming that the satellite will meet mission requirements and is sufficiently mature to begin fabrication.

EUMETSAT and CNES have signed a co-operation agreement for the development of a new generation of Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometers (IASI-NG) to be flown on three successive Metop-SG A satellites of the EUMETSAT Polar System of Second Generation (EPS-SG) in the 2021-2040 timeframe.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed the attitude control engine thrust operation of the Venus Climate Orbiter “Akatsuki” for its Venus orbit insertion from 2351 UTC on 6 December.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has completed operation of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E).

NASA’s two Nodes small satellites hitched a ride to the International Space Station on the fourth Orbital ATK cargo mission, which launched on 6 December. Once aboard the station, the satellites will settle in for a two-to-three month stay until deployed into low-Earth orbit in early 2016.