Satellite News

The Global Positioning System (GPS) Block IIR and IIR-M satellite constellation, designed and built by Lockheed Martin, has accumulated over 75 years of successful on-orbit operations, the company said.

Integral Systems, Inc., announced the on-schedule handover of satellite bus operations for the initial WGS (Wideband Global SATCOM) satellite to the CCS-C (Command and Control System – Consolidated) baseline.

Swedish Space Corporation has been commissioned by the Swedish National Space Board to control and operate the scientific satellite Odin for an additional year, until December 2008.

The head of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expressed concern over a contractor’s slow development of a critical new sensor. He made his remarks during a meeting of the tri-agency NPOESS Executive Committee (EXCOM) and took the rather unusual step of also publishing them in a press release.

Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov has threatened to sack Roskosmos officials unless they get on with rebuilding the ailing GLONASS constellation. It has become clear that Russia has missed its goal to have 18 operational GLONASS navigation satellites in orbit at the beginning of this year.

Two Uragan satellites launched on 25 December 2007 have reached their designated positions in the GLONASS constellation, Russia’s Central Research Institute of Machine-Building said.

The small Yubileiny spacecraft built by NPO PM was recently shipped to the Plesetsk launch site, the company said.

The second to last Global Positioning System block IIR-M satellites to be launched have arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.