Satellite News

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has arrived at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida/USA. Dawn, which is to employ ion propulsion to explore asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres, is at the facility for final processing and launch operations. Dawn’s launch period opens 30 June.

Harris Corporation said it was bidding as prime contractor and systems integrator for the ground segment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – Series R (GOES-R) programme.

Harris Corporation has formed a team to compete for a six-and-a-half-year, US$455 million contract to provide operations and maintenance support to the 50th Space Wing’s Air Force Satellite Control Network at locations around the world.

The six Northrop Grumman Corporation communication satellites in NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) are now approaching 102 years of operation without a single satellite being retired from service, the company said.

Alcatel Alenia Space has awarded EMS Technologies, Inc. a contract valued at more than US$5 million to supply RF transmitter power-combining assemblies for the communications payload of Globalstar II.

EMS Technologies, Inc. announced that its Defense and Space Systems (D&SS) Division will offer anti-jam antenna solutions to the commercial space sector.

Lockheed Martin announced that it has successfully completed on-schedule a system design review of the U.S. Air Force’s next generation Global Positioning System Space Segment programme, known as GPS Block III.

Scientists and engineers from the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA are moving forward in planning a successor to the Landsat 7 satellite mission.