Satellite News

ISE (Integral Systems Europe), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Integral Systems, Inc. announced a contract with RascomStar-QAF to provide a fully integrated CSM (Carrier Signal Monitoring) and transponder planning system for the Rascom-QAF 1 satellite.

The 23rd and final Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation for the U.S. Air Force, is scheduled for launch on 11 November (UTC) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Launch Complex 37.

Inmarsat said that its principal operating subsidiary, Inmarsat Global, has entered into an agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) to become the commercial operator for the AlphaSat project.

Arianespace will launch two satellites into orbit on its fifth launch of the year: the Skynet 5B military communications satellite for the British Ministry of Defence (MoD), through the Astrium company Paradigm and the Star One C1 commercial communications satellite for Brazilian operator Star One, as part of a turnkey contract with Thales Alenia Space.

China’s first lunar probe, Chang’e-1, completed its nearly two-million-km journey to the moon successfully and has entered its science orbit.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) have successfully performed the world’s first high-definition image taking by the lunar explorer Kaguya (SELENE), which was injected into a lunar orbit at an altitude of about 100 km on 18 October 2007.

Turksat will launch its new telecommunication satellite Turksat 3A (a.k.a. Turksat 1R) in April next year, Anatolia news agency reported.

Astrium said it was on target for the second Skynet 5 satellite launch this year with Skynet 5B scheduled for launch from Kourou, French Guiana on 9 November 2007 on an Ariane 5 launch vehicle.