Satellite News

Two unfurlable mesh antenna reflectors developed by Harris Corporation have successfully deployed onboard the fourth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite built by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Navy.

Intelsat S.A. and Sky Perfect JSAT Corporation announced that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture that will launch a new satellite with optimised C-band and high throughput Ku-band capacity to satisfy the growing mobility and broadband connectivity demands in the Asia-Pacific region.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) has officially taken command of its Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite.

The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced its selection of Astro Aerospace, a Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) company, to design and manufacture the radar antenna for its NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite.

Orbital ATK, Inc. announced it recently signed a contract with Space Systems/Loral (SSL) to produce flight sets consisting of two propellant tanks for the SSL 1300 platform. The five-year contract continues a 27-year relationship with SSL for satellite fuel tanks produced by Orbital ATK’s Space Components Division in Commerce, California.

Thales Alenia Space, prime contractor for the Iridium NEXT constellation, said it reached a major milestone in this programme with the successful completion of thermal-vacuum tests of the protoflight satellite at its plant in Cannes. This is the last milestone leading up to the qualification of Iridium NEXT satellites, expected in December 2015.

NASA tested components for an engine that could be used for Mars landers powered with methane, a fuel that has never before propelled a NASA spacecraft.

Eutelsat Communications has ordered a new-generation High Throughput Satellite from Thales Alenia Space. To be launched in 2019, the all-electric satellite will be the first to use Thales Alenia Space’s new Spacebus Neo platform.