Satellite News

The Ukrainian cabinet has tasked the Transport Ministry with working out a programme for launching 10 Ukrainian communication satellites by 2015, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

Boeing said it has demonstrated the ability of the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) to link from one satellite to another using a laser beam in a simulated space environment.

South Africa has named the low Earth orbit satellite its plans to launch in December Sumbandila. The spacecraft will be launched from a Russian submarine.

Frequency Electronics, Inc. has been awarded contracts aggregating US$1.5 million for a U.S. Department of Defense secure communications satellite system.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has entered into a C$1.4 million contract with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to study the development of a joint Canadian-Italian Hyperspectral Mission.

Four university teams will share US$100 million to provide experiments and supporting hardware for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes, a future NASA mission to study near-Earth space radiation. This type of radiation is hazardous to astronauts, orbiting satellites and aircraft flying high altitude polar routes.

Eutelsat’s Hotbird 8 broadcast satellite is being prepared in Baikonur for an ILS Proton Briz M launch scheduled for 4 August at 2148 UTC. Based on EADS Space’s Eurostar E3000, Hotbird 8 is the most powerful satellite ever ordered to serve Europe.

Boeing announced its Wideband Gapfiller Satellite (WGS) programme has successfully completed two more key space-to-ground compatibility tests with partners Universal Space Network (USN) and ITT Industries.