Satellite News

In 1997 when the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, or TRMM, was launched, its mission was scheduled to last just a few years. Now, 17 years later, the TRMM mission has come to an end. NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) stopped TRMM’s science operations and data collection on 8 April after the spacecraft depleted its fuel reserves.

In 1997 when the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, or TRMM, was launched, its mission was scheduled to last just a few years. Now, 17 years later, the TRMM mission has come to an end. NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) stopped TRMM’s science operations and data collection on 8 April after the spacecraft depleted its fuel reserves.

NASA’s Solar Probe Plus mission — which will fly closer to the sun than any spacecraft has before — reached a major milestone last month when it successfully completed its Critical Design Review, or CDR.

The Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), which will fly aboard NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-1 satellite, has been successfully integrated with the spacecraft. CrIS is the fourth instrument to be integrated on the JPSS-1 spacecraft.

Surrey Satellite Technology U.S. LLC (SST-US) announced its collaboration with Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc. and NanoRacks LLC on the development of the FeatherCraft platform, a 100-kilogram-class satellite platform optimised for deployment from the International Space Station (ISS).

a.i. solutions announced it has developed “Meridian,” a flight dynamics software application for defence, civil and commercial satellite ground systems. Built on the FreeFlyer astrodynamics software, Meridian addresses common geosynchronous and low Earth orbit (GEO/LEO) spacecraft flight dynamics requirements and streamlines operations, the company said.

COM DEV International Ltd. announced that it has received a C$2.6 million contract extension on activities associated with the James Webb Space Telescope programme.

Australian satellite firm NewSat said that French export bank COFACE had withdrawn support for the project, forcing it to look for alternative funding to prevent the project from collapsing.