Satellite News

The U.S. Air Force’s 50th Space Wing announced the completion of phase one of a two phase Global Positioning System constellation expansion known as “Expandable 24.”
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Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center confirmed that the NanoSail-D nanosatellite deployed its 9-square-meter polymer sail in low-Earth orbit and is operating as planned.

Microsat Systems Canada Inc. (MSCI) (formerly the Space Division of Dynacon Inc.), said it plans to develop COMMStellation, a polar communications constellation comprised of 78 microsatellites that will orbit the Earth at 1,000 km, providing backhaul capacity while connecting remote regions of the Earth to the Internet.
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On 19 January at 1730 UTC, engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center confirmed that the NanoSail-D nanosatellite ejected from Fast Affordable Scientific and Technology Satellite, FASTSAT.
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Throughout this week, Rosetta is performing a large deep-space manoeuvre (around 800 m/s) to finally target Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The manoeuvre is split into four main velocity changes, with a last adjustment planned on 10 February.
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NASA’s Stardust-NExT spacecraft will fly by comet Tempel 1 at approximately 0437 UTC on 15 February. The mission will allow scientists for the first time to look for changes on a comet’s surface that occurred following an orbit around the sun.
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The effectiveness of the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Demonstration satellites has been expanded after a communications crosslink was activated and successfully tested by Northrop Grumman Corporation, prime contractor, and Raytheon Company, sensor payload provider.
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EUMETSAT has extended the existing coverage of direct readout of data from the instruments on board its Metop polar-orbiting satellite via the Advanced High Resolution Picture Transmission (AHRPT) system, making the data available to more users globally.
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