Satellite News

Airbus Defence and Space has become the prime contractor for the CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite) satellite, the first small type mission of ESA’s (European Space Agency) Scientific Programme. The main objective of the CHEOPS mission is to monitor planetary transits by means of ultrahigh precision photometry on known stars that have planets orbiting them.

Alain Ratier, Director-General of EUMETSAT and Philippe Brunet, Director of Aerospace, Maritime, Security and Defence Industries within the European Commission’s Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry, have signed the Agreement between the European Union and EUMETSAT on the implementation of the Copernicus Programme.

Thailand’s Information and Communication Technology Ministry is poised to push forward with the plan to acquire a government satellite in a bid to boost the country’s security.

The Manfred Moon Memorial Mission (4M) was successfully finished on 3 November, after more than 250 hours of operation.

CGS SpA Compagnia Generale per lo Spazio has delivered the inertial sensors of the LISA Pathfinder mission to the European Space Agency (ESA).

BAE Systems said a team of its engineers developed a ‘smartphone’ like system which enables the European Space Agency to communicate with and control the movements of the Rosetta probe moving at speeds of up to 55,000 kilometres an hour.

China completed its first return mission to the moon with the successful re-entry and landing of an unmanned probe, which social media users have dubbed Xiaofei, or “little flyer.”

COM DEV International Ltd. has been awarded a fully-funded contract valued at approximately C$6 million to deliver Ku-band equipment, including multiplexers, switches and ancillary equipment to be used on a high throughput communications satellite.