Satellite News

Ball Aerospace and Aerojet Rocketdyne have met the first milestone in demonstrating a more environmentally friendly spacecraft fuel by completing an end-to-end checkout of the 22 Newton thruster required for NASA’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM).

The Global Positioning System recently became more accurate and reliable as the fourth Boeing GPS IIF satellite began operating in the U.S. Air Force network, the company said.

Lockheed Martin ‘s GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed (GNST) has successfully completed a series of high-fidelity pathfinding events which validate the process and facility for vehicle integration checkout, as well as signals interference testing, that the next-generation satellites of the Global Positioning System, known as GPS III, will go through prior to delivery for launch.

Astrium and OHB System AG, a subsidiary company of the European space and technology group OHB AG, have signed a contract for the delivery of propulsion systems for six Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) weather satellites.

EaglePicher Technologies, LLC has been selected by Orbital Sciences Corporation to provide lithium ion batteries to support the ICESat-2 Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite based on Orbital’s LEOStar-3 design.

Space Systems/Loral announced that it reached the milestone of 2,000 satellite years on orbit this month. With its first satellite that provided a full year service launched in 1966, SSL has provided more than 250 satellites to 43 different satellite operators in more than 15 countries around the world.

ISRO successfully put its first navigation satellite – the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-1A (IRNSS-1A) – into geosynchronous orbit. Five orbit-raising activities were done by firing the satellite’s on-board motors since 2 July.

Telespazio VEGA Deutschland, a subsidiary of Telespazio (Finmeccanica/Thales), has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to carry out the Phase-B project for the European Ground Systems – Common Core (EGS-CC Phase B).