Satellite News

Lockheed Martin announced that the first Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO) spacecraft bus has successfully completed engineering thermal vacuum testing at its facilities in Sunnyvale, California/USA.

Integral Systems, Inc. announced the award by the U.S. Air Force of a US$4.5 million cost plus award fee modification to the CCS-C (Command and Control System-Consolidated) effort to support the WGS [Wideband Global SATCOM (Satellite Communications)] Program.

The U.S. Air Force plans to replace the command-and-control system for GPS without any loss of service to military or civil users this summer.

Spacehab, Incorporated said that its Astrotech Space Operations (ASO) subsidiary is responding to a NASA Request for Proposal (RFP) soliciting payload processing capabilities for expendable launch vehicles from the Western Range in California, USA.

NASA officials approved critical elements of a moon impact mission scheduled to launch in October 2008. NASA’s unmanned Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) will strike the moon near its south pole in January 2009 in order to search for water and other materials,

Several Russian institutes plan to launch small experimental satellites, officials said at a conference devoted to space exploration at the Bauman state technical university in Moscow.

Spain’s GMV said it recently signed five new Galileo contracts worth over EUR40 million. These contracts involve the supply of key systems and also a significant participation in the engineering and design tasks of the complete system.

SES Americom said that the Americom-18 (AMC-18) satellite launched on 8 December 2006 successfully completed in-orbit-tests and is now operational from its assigned orbital location of 105 degrees West. Its is the first C-band satellite to be operated by SES Americom at that location.