Satellite News

Almost all the components have been assembled onto NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), which will undergo a review this week before environmental testing begins at the primary contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems.

Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected by the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center for a contract worth up to US$21.9 million for the Alternative Infrared Satellite System (AIRSS) Program Research and Development Announcement (PRDA) effort.

The drafting of Ukraine’s new space programme until 2012 has been completed. It envisages the production and launch of a Ukrainian telecommunications satellite, and also of the next-generation Earth observation satellites Sich-2 and Sich-3.

Northrop Grumman Corporation and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI, formerly Israel Aircraft Industries) have teamed to build and launch operational surveillance satellites in a responsive production cycle to provide U.S. government users with all-weather, day/night imaging capabilities.

India’s latest communication satellite INSAT-4B has become fully operational and will reach its final location tomorrow, ISRO announced.

Ball Aerospace said its Next Generation Satellite and Commodities Spacecraft (NextSat/CSC) has shown excellent performance during pre-separation servicing demonstrations in the first weeks following its 8 March launch with the Boeing Company’s Autonomous Space Transfer and Robotic Orbiter (ASTRO).

NASA and NOAA announced a plan to restore a key ozone layer climate sensor to the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) programme.

Thanks to a common spacecraft architecture and use of standardised mission control software, spacecraft controllers from the Mars Express and Venus Express Flight Control Teams (FCTs) are now able to work in tandem, each providing support to both missions and boosting team co-operation.