Satellite News

Russia’s recently launched Meridian strategic communications spacecraft was put into operational service ahead of schedule.

Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research (INPE) said that CBERS-2B, the third satellite to be launched in co-operation with China, is being assembled, integrated and tested.

There’s good news for JAXA/ISAS’ troubled Hayabusa asteroid sample return probe, which was launched 2003 on a mission that turned out to be plagued by a host of problems.

China will launch two satellites dedicated to radio and TV relay services in June and October this year, the China Satellite Communications Corporation (CSCC) said.

The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-17 Block 5D-3 spacecraft, built under contract for the U.S. Air Force by Lockheed Martin, has been turned over to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for operational use.

A recent study says that Raytheon-designed and manufactured antennas launched on communications satellites between 1997 and 2002 are anticipated to operate well past their original eight-year in-orbit design life.

China may have set a new, questionable world (or space?) record by destroying its defunct Fengyun 1C (FY-1C) weather satellite in an anti satellite (ASAT) weapon test. In related news, the country announced (or threatened?) to launch more weather satellites.

Telecommunications company PT Indosat will soon open a tender to build a new telecommunications satellite, Antara news agency reports.