Satellite News

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. said it has delivered the next-generation commercial remote sensing satellite built for DigitalGlobe, to the launch facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The WorldView-3 satellite is slated to fly aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in mid-August for DigitalGlobe.

Yahsat has announced plans to launch its third satellite in 2016, extending commercial Ka-band coverage to an additional 17 countries and 600 million users.

The U.S. Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center awarded a US$1.86 billion contract to Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, California, for production of the fifth and sixth Space Based Infrared System geosynchronous missile-warning satellites.

With on-orbit checkout and validation of the sixth Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellite, Boeing has reached the halfway mark in delivering the current series of satellites to the U.S. Air Force, which operates the GPS constellation.

Dauria Aerospace, a multinational aerospace company providing global satellite-based remote sensing information services, has successfully delivered two Perseus-M spacecraft into low Earth orbit.

A new website will enable rapid updates for experts using ESA’s suite of space-debris software tools to perform risk assessment and analysis of debris mitigation actions for missions currently in orbit and to be better prepared for future ones.

The protected communications payload built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) for the U.S. Air Force’s third Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite has completed on orbit testing ahead of schedule without any discrepancies, matching the high performance levels of others the company has provided.

ATK received a contract from Lockheed Martin Space Systems to provide the UltraFlex solar arrays for NASA’s InSight Lander mission, which will place a lander on Mars in 2016 to study the red planet’s deep interior.