Satellite News

GMV announced a contract with Loral to provide the flight dynamics system and the payload transponder management system for the Thor 7 telecommunications satellite. Telenor Satellite Broadcasting, the largest building operator in Scandinavia, selected Loral from a competitive pool to build the satellite.Other Posts:SpaceX Gives Test Launch Positive Spin Despite ProblemsNOAA-N Prime launch delayed 24 more hoursTransocean Renews Contract with CapRockPublic-Private Partnerships Makes High-Resolution Satellite Imagery Available To UniversitiesChina announces new weather satelliteSES S.A. results Q3 2008Value of MDA’s Canadarm contract increasesFirst launch contracts for Vega

Following a permanent anomaly affecting the onboard solid-state mass memory system on Mars Express, efforts to implement a work-around are almost complete. Full science operations have been resumed and the potential mission lifetime remains unaltered.

The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) has arrived at Orbital Sciences Corp. in Gilbert, Arizona. There it will be integrated into the next Landsat satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM).

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) announced that the SES-4satellite, designed and built for SES, is successfully performing post-launch manoeuvres.Other Posts:Engineers find cause for Voyager 2 data anomalyGoodrich says ORS satellite programme moves forwardNew cargo ship heading for ISS, docking delayedMichibiki sends first navigation signalSatellite TV is Great – But It’s Even Better on Your PCVega upper composite passes tests at ESTECInmarsat Posts Strong Results; Signs Launch DealOrbital Sciences Corp. results Q2 2009

MSG-3 has passed its final System Verification Test (SVT), prior to launch this summer.

SES S.A. announced that the AMC-3 satellite is being relocated from its former location of 87 degrees West to 67 degrees West to optimise coverage of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are developing an optical observation system with a powerful laser, the pulses from which can detect particles only a few centimetres in diameter and allow determination of their orbits. The concept was tested for the first time in January 2012, in collaboration with the Laser Station in the Austrian city of Graz.

The Swiss Space Center at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) announced the launch of CleanSpace One, a project to develop and build the first instalment of a family of satellites specially designed to clean up space debris.