Satellite News

Astrium and OHB System AG (Bremen, Germany) have signed a contract in Friedrichshafen for the development, construction and launch of a high performance radar satellite for the ‘SARah’ satellite-based reconnaissance system, for a total value of EUR344 million.

The first of three Inmarsat-5 Global Xpress (GX) satellites being built by Boeing has successfully completed a key system life test, paving the way for it to launch later this year. The satellite performed as expected during the spacecraft thermal vacuum test.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that all the 11 communication transponders (operating in UHF, S, C and Ku-bands) of India’s multiband communication satellite GSAT-7 have been successfully switched on and their performance is found to be normal.

Astrium and Hisdesat have completed the production and integration process for the PAZ satellite in Madrid.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed that the Spectroscopic Planet Observatory for Recognition of Interaction of Atmosphere “Hisaki” (SPRINT-A) was injected into the planned orbit by the new Epsilon rocket.

After more than four years mapping Earth’s gravity, GOCE’s mission is nearing its end and the satellite will soon re-enter our atmosphere.

The LADEE Observatory has completed the checkout phase of the mission, and is now in the cruise phase on the way to the moon. It is currently in elliptic orbits around Earth, called phasing loops, and will continue with two more of these elliptical orbits until LADEE is captured around the moon using an initial Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI-1) burn on 6 October.

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the competitive design phase of CHEOPS science satellite, which will improve mankind’s understanding of exoplanets – planets orbiting distant stars outside our solar system. The contractor selection for the implementation phase is planned by mid-2014 and the launch is scheduled late 2017.