Satellite News

The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) mission, developed by NASA’s Langley Research Center and CNES has fired its lasers into the Earth’s atmosphere over two billion times since its April 2006 launch.
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Forecast International predicts 300 new satellites by 2016
European companies to build, launch two Arabsats
BAE Systems-led team to work on Novel Satellite Communications
Fifth Ariane 5 of this year delivered to Arianespace
SSC gets Galileo RF license until 2037
Infrastructure contract extensions for Lockheed, Boeing
International Datacasting Wins Contract From Shin Broadband For New Asia IPTV Service
ViaSat selects Tom Moore to lead Ka-band broadband venture

COM DEV USA, LLC, a subsidiary of COM DEV International Ltd., has been awarded a contract valued in excess of US$7 million to supply passive microwave equipment for a U.S. Government space programme.
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WildBlue upgrades network, increases capacity by over 31 percent
WorldSpace results 2006
Telesat completes transfer of its interests in Telstar 10
Norsat Introduces New Ku-Band Transmitter
Nickname for greenhouse gas measuring satellite selected
SpaceX Test Launch Falls Short
Telenor Developing Maritime Broadband Communications Service
Boeing completes successful FAB-T Preliminary Design Review

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced it has agreed with Orbital Sciences Corporation to supply Proximity Link System (PLS) components that will guide Orbital’s Cygnus Spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on nine re-supply missions for NASA.
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No mist in space?
ND SatCom Offers SkyWAN Platform For Government, Defense Applications
Launch updates: Ariane 5 ECA, M-V-7
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reaches planned flight path
SingTel and ProtoStar announce joint TT&C and capacity agreements
Sea Launch prepares next launch
Ciel II shipped to Baikonur
Next solar storm cycle will start late

COM DEV International Ltd. announced that it has been appointed to begin major subsystem development and manufacturing work for a civil space satellite. COM DEV is responsible for designing, building and testing of advanced radio-frequency (RF) electronics.
Other Posts:Landsat 5 in critical condition after attitude anomalyOrbital Updates 2007 GuidanceSouth Korea declares first multipurpose satellite lostFirst AEHF satellite undergoing thermal testsThree new Russian military satellites in orbitPanAmSat Acquisition Swells Intelsat RevenuesChina to launch first natural disaster monitoring satelliteUpdate: Hubble stops sending data; repair mission delayed

ESA’s Rosetta comet chaser will swing by Earth on 13 November to pick up orbital energy and begin the final leg of its 10-year journey to the outer Solar System. Several observations of the Earth-Moon system are planned before the spacecraft heads out to study comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
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Canada awards 12 satellite licences to Ciel, Telesat
Rad Data Partners With Inmarsat For Voice Over BGAN
BNSC funds space surveillance project
ProtoStar II (IndoStar 2) pre-launch details
Boeing hands over IndoStar II/ProtoStar II
UK-DMC2 pre-launch details
Spy satellite picture of NK rocket lift-off raises new questions
Report: Russian Company To Build Kazsat-2

Two months after the successful launch of the GOES-O spacecraft, now called GOES-14 in orbit, the NASA team removed the GOES-P spacecraft from storage and commenced its post storage testing.

The award of the Galileo satellite contracts by the EU Commission is still planned to take place by the end of 2009. However, the agency will not initially order the full batch of up to 30 satellites.

Direct communication between Earth and Mars can be strongly disturbed and even blocked by the Sun for weeks at a time, cutting off any future human mission to the Red Planet. An ESA engineer working with engineers in the UK may have found a solution using a new type of orbit combined with continuous-thrust ion propulsion.