Satellite News

On 12 March, Rosetta will begin listening for signs that the comet lander Philae is still “alive.” The lander came to rest on 12 November 2014 in a rather shaded location on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and needs to receive sufficient energy before it can wake up and begin communicating. This is the first chance to receive a signal from Philae.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) has been successfully integrated on- board NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) satellite.

Eutelsat 8 West B is in the final stretch of manufacturing and on track for launch by an Ariane 5 rocket in mid-2015. The 5.8 tonne satellite has finished launch environment tests and is now going through a final round of payload performance checks at Thales Alenia Space’s factory in Cannes.

The Asteroid Explorer “Hayabusa 2″ completed its initial functional confirmation period on 2 March 2015, as all scheduled checkout and evaluation of acquired data were completed. The explorer has been under inspection for about three months after its launch on 3 December 2014.

China has run tests close to the moon simulating an unmanned docking procedure needed in the country’s next lunar mission.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has become the first mission to achieve orbit around a dwarf planet. The spacecraft was approximately 61,000 kilometers from Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet’s gravity at about 1239 UTC on 6 March..

Magellan Aerospace and the University of Manitoba have unveiled their new Advanced Satellite Integration Facility (or ASIF) at Magellan’s facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The facility will support research, development, construction and testing of satellite systems and components.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is expected to remain stationary for several days of engineering analysis following an onboard fault-protection action on 27 February that halted a process of transferring sample material between devices on the rover’s robotic arm.