Satellite News

State-owned Vietnam Post and Telecom Group, which has commissioned Vinasat 1 — the country’s first satellite — has begun building a satellite control station in the northern Ha Tay province.

Boeing said it successfully completed a live demonstration of the Global Positioning System (GPS) ground station, which, when fully operational, will control the 32 GPS satellites now in orbit as well as those that will join the fleet in the coming months.

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has been awarded a contract to manufacture Nimiq 5, a new high-power, direct broadcast satellite for Telesat Canada.

Boeing announced that GOES-13 (GOES-N), the first of three Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) that will support more accurate prediction and tracking of severe storms and other weather phenomena, has completed on-orbit testing and has been accepted by NASA.

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems delivered the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) unit for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) to Ball Aerospace & Technology Co. for integration and testing on the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft.

Integral Systems, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a sole-source contract to upgrade Taiwan’s NSPO’s (National Space Organisation’s) existing mission operations system to simultaneously operate the NSPO’s new Argo satellite and the existing FORMOSAT-2 and FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC spacecraft.

Northrop Grumman Corporation said it will develop system definition requirements for the U.S. Air Force’s Alternate Infrared Satellite System (AIRSS) that would provide uninterrupted space-based early missile detection.

Measat-3 is being commanded now via Measat Teleport and Broadcast Centre in Cyberjaya following the successful deployment of the satellite’s reflectors and solar arrays, Malaysian satellite operator Measat Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd said.