Satellite News

The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument, developed by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is headed toward its Critical Design Review this month following an earlier milestone that included Preliminary Design Review (PDR). Ball is now well into the fabrication of the instrument following the successful PDR and a confirmation review.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has unveiled a plan for an unmanned space probe to bring back sand and other samples from Mars’ in a multiyear mission that could begin as early as 2021.

The engines of the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft, which has been docked with the International Space Station since November 2014, fired unexpectedly on Tuesday during a routine testing of the docking system.

Europe’s latest Galileo was unboxed at ESA’s technical centre in the Netherlands last month, bringing the total number of satellites at the site to four.

The Inmarsat-4 F2 (I-4 F2) communications satellite is being flown to a new orbital position above the Indian Ocean, creating a fourth full-service L-band region to offer enhanced connectivity capacity for customers in the Middle East and Asia (MEAS).

China on Monday launched a space junk monitoring centre to protect its spacecraft in orbit.

The U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center recently completed negotiations on the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company’s Space Based Infrared System Technical Refresh proposal and awarded the contract modification today.

COM DEV International Ltd. has received an order to supply passive microwave equipment for a communications satellite.