Satellite News

DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-2 satellite has shed some pieces of debris in orbit but continues to function.

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) late last month decommissioned GOES-3, a 38-year-old satellite that for 21 years had helped to link NSF’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station with the outside world. It was among the oldest, continuously operating satellites in the skies.

The Ariane 5 for Arianespace’s upcoming mission at the service of Intelsat is now complete following integration of the Intelsat 33e and Intelsat 36 satellites – readying the launch vehicle for lift-off on 24 August from French Guiana.

Orbital ATK announced that its Cygnus spacecraft successfully unberthed from the International Space Station, starting the second phase of its mission before it reenters Earth’s atmosphere.

For the first time, an optical clock has travelled to space, surviving harsh rocket launch conditions and successfully operating under the microgravity that would be experienced on a satellite. This demonstration brings optical clock technology much closer to implementation in space, where it could eventually allow GPS-based navigation with centimeter-level location precision.

China’s quantum communication satellite, launched last August, is officially operational after four months of in-orbit testing, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said Wednesday.

China will launch a satellite in the second half of 2017 to gather electromagnetic data that may be used in monitoring and forecasting earthquakes.

Orbital ATK announced the completion of its Rendezvous, Proximity Operations and Docking (RPOD) system preliminary design review. The RPOD system comprises the sensors, actuators and control algorithms which allow for the detection, tracking, and safe approach to a client spacecraft.