Satellite News

Iridium Communications Inc. announced it has completed the first satellite payload-to-bus integration on an Iridium NEXT satellite. This successful mating of the communication payload and the Aireon hosted payload to the platform is yet another critical milestone achieved in the production process, bringing the overall constellation one step closer to launch, the company said.

The Airbus Defence and Space built C-band radar instrument for the Copernicus Sentinel-1B satellite is now on its way to “meet” its spacecraft at Thales Alenia Space (TAS), Italy, the prime contractor for this programme.

The U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center awarded the Combined Orbital Operations Logistics Sustainment (COOLS) contract to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, California.

SSTL has completed its new Spacecraft Operations Centre (SOC) at the company’s headquarters in Guildford, Surrey.

Space Systems/Loral (SSL) announced that the Star One C4 satellite, designed and built for Embratel Star One, has arrived at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where it will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle by Arianespace. The launch marks the 50th SSL mission with Arianespace.

Airbus Defence and Space has successfully completed the development and design phase of the Grace-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment follow-on) satellites. Following delivery of the highly stable satellite structures, the building phase of the two NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) research satellites has begun. The Grace-FO mission is based on an US-German co-operation agreement executed by JPL and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ-Potsdam).

NASA has selected nine science instruments for a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa, to investigate whether the mysterious icy moon could harbour conditions suitable for life.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Geospace Science and Technology Branch, received U.S. patent (#8976245) for the Optical Orbital Debris Spotter – a compact, low power, low cost, local space debris detection concept that can be integrated into larger satellite designs, or flown independently on-board nano-satellite platforms.