Satellite News

NASA has awarded a contract to Boeing Satellite Systems for two satellites that will replenish the NASA communication relay network, which provides telecommunications links between low Earth orbiting spacecraft and the ground.

Reshetnev NPO PM and Thales Alenia Space (TAS) specialists have successfully completed UHF electric testing of the Ekspress-AM33 satellite, NPO PM said. Meanwhile the next satellite in the series, Ekspress-AM44, has been made lighter.

Lockheed Martin announced that its navigation payload provider, ITT Corporation, has delivered a new demonstration payload for a modernised Global Positioning System Block IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellite for integration on the spacecraft and final system-level testing in preparation for launch next year.

Arianespace has decided to postpone the launch of the Ariane 5 GS for 24 hours in order to perform additional checks on the launch vehicle. The rocket is to launch RASCOM-QAF1, built by Thales Alenia Space for RascomStar-QAF, and Horizons-2, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation for Horizons 2 Satellite LLC.

NASA, in coordination with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-R) Program, has selected Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company to build the Geostationary Lightning Mapper.

Hughes Network Systems, LLC announced the successful on-orbit handover of the Spaceway 3 commercial communications satellite from Boeing.

CBERS-2B, the third Sino-Brazilian Earth resources satellite, will soon be fully operational and ready to relay pictures back to ground control, a scientist was quoted as saying by China Daily.

SpaceDev, Inc.has completed development of its next generation release device, the Low Shock Release Mechanism (LSRM).