Satellite News

The German radar satellite, TerraSAR-X, recently was declared operational by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Infoterra GmbH, the company responsible for commercial marketing of TerraSAR-X imaging. The announcement followed the successful outcome of the operational readiness review in December.

Representatives of ESA and of Astrium have signed the main industrial contract for the BepiColombo mission to Mercury. The spacecraft is to be launched in 2013 on board a Soyuz-Fregat 2-1B rocket provided through Arianespace.

After completing its one year experimental mission, the U.S. Air Force’s TacSat-2 microsatellite ceased operations on 21 December 2007, according to a statement released today.

Spacehab, Incorporated said its Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary has won an additional fully funded task order under the recently awarded Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract.

Integral Systems, Inc. announced the award by Northrop Grumman Corporation of a Phase A contract to begin development of the GPS OCX (Next Generation Control Segment) satellite command and control system.

South Korea plans to spend KRW316.4 billion (EUR230 million, US$337 million) on its space programme this year, the government said according to Yonhap news agency.

Iran plans to spend US$250 million on the construction and launch of a satellite, Fars news agency quoted a Majlis (Iranian parliament) member as saying.

Boeing has been awarded a contract to build (or refurbish?) a commercial satellite for ProtoStar Ltd.