Satellite News

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. announced that it has signed a contract valued at US$5.2 million to provide a communication antenna subsystem to The Boeing Company to be installed on the Boeing 702MP satellite platform for an undisclosed customer.

SES announced that it plans to launch a dedicated satellite for governmental use in partnership with the Luxembourg Government in late 2017. A Luxembourg-based company jointly held by SES and the Luxembourg Government is planned to own and operate the new spacecraft.

Boeing has completed production of ABS-3A and Eutelsat 115 West B, which according to the company are the world’s first all-electric propulsion satellites. The satellites will be launched, as a vertically stacked pair, next month.

NASA’s next mission to study Earth, SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive), is scheduled for launch aboard a Delta II from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 29 January on 1420 UTC. SMAP will operate at an altitude of 685-kilometer in a near-polar orbit that repeats exactly every eight days. The mission is designed to operate at least three years.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) released the first images taken with the Exelis-built Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI).

The service module of China’s unmanned lunar orbiter is scheduled to return to the moon’s orbit in mid-January for more tests to prepare for the country’s next lunar probe mission, Chang’e-5.

Thales Alenia Space announced that it has been selected by French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) to build the oceanography satellite SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography).

The Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument Lockheed Martin helped develop for NASA’s next deep space telescope surpassed expectations during tests in late 2014. It will see farther into the cosmos and further back in time than any other instrument. Scientists are preparing NIRCam for new trials beginning this year.