Satellite News

Northrop Grumman Corp. has successfully completed acoustic testing of the payload for the first Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellite. The company will provide the payload to Lockheed Martin , the prime contractor and systems integrator for SBIRS.

SpaceDev announced that its subsidiary, Starsys, Inc., has been awarded the solar array drive, antenna pointing actuators and gimbal control electronic assemblies for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) programme from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Swales Aerospace.

HiRISE, the highest-resolution camera ever to orbit Mars, has returned a first low-altitude image to Earth from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

The Indian government has given the green light for carrying out design, development and launch of GSAT-8/INSAT-4G satellite.

Alcatel Alenia Space has signed a contract with EADS Space, the CryoSat-2 prime contractor, to manufacture the SIRAL-2 radar altimeter to be used on the ice sheet monitoring satellite.

The Boeing team that is building the Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) system has successfully completed a key risk reduction milestone by selecting a vendor for the optical sensor that will fly aboard the Pathfinder spacecraft.

The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), designed and built by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, has opened its protective cover. It is one of six science instruments aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

China has tried to temporarily blind U.S. spy satellites with ground based high-power lasers, Defense News reports citing unnamed sources.