Satellite News

Boeing and its TEAM TSAT partners have successfully demonstrated the “one-button” start-up feature of its U.S. ground station, an essential element of the companies’ Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) offering.

The life of China’s Chang’e I could be doubled since smooth operations during the flight to the moon have allowed the probe to save crucial fuel supplies, state press said.

The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and ESA have signed a contract for the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) service for the last two Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites, MSG-3 and MSG-4, to be provided by ESA’s European Satellite Operations Centre (ESOC).

China’s first lunar probe, Chang’e-1, successfully completed its first braking at perilune and entered the moon’s orbit.

Thales Alenia Space announced that it has transferred the Rascom-QAF1 communications satellite to the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana.

The modernised Global Positioning System Block IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellite, launched from Cape Canaveral on 17 October, has been declared fully operational following a successful on-orbit checkout by a combined U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin team.

Algeria is on track to complete its second satellite system, Alsat-2, in 2009.

For the first time, ESA tracking stations have transmitted telecommands to a Chinese satellite. This morning at 0615 UTC, China’s mission control reported that commands transmitted from Maspalomas station had been successfully received by the Chang’e-I moon probe.