Satellite News

Inmarsat said that ORCHESTRA, the company’s future network for global mobility and government communications, achieved its first milestone in space with the successful activation of a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite payload.

The Spainsat NG programme has successfully passed another important milestone, the critical design review (CDR) of the payload and the complete satellite, including the CDR elements of the Pacis 3 partnership project with the European Space Agency (ESA). The review was declared successful after verifying the good progress of the tests performed on the development models of the X-band payload.

Inmarsat and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) announced a new date and time for the launch of the first satellite in the Inmarsat-6 fleet (I-6 F1) aboard MHI’s H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 45 (HIIA F45).

The Board of Directors of Eutelsat Communications announced the appointment of Eva Berneke as Chief Executive Officer, with effect from 1 January 2022. She will also be co-opted as a member of Board.

Intelsat S.A. announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, has approved its Plan of Reorganisation, marking the final Court milestone in the company’s financial restructuring process. Intelsat is poised to emerge from the process in early 2022 upon receipt of regulatory approvals, completion of certain corporate actions, and satisfaction of other customary conditions.

The EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) hyperspectral satellite has now reached its next milestone, having successfully completed environmental testing at the IABG test centre in Ottobrunn, Bavaria.

Russia’s next-generation GLONASS-K2 navigation satellite is likely to be launched in the second quarter of 2022, according to a source in the country’s rocket and space industry.

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are undergoing integrated testing inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to ensure they are “go” for launch of the Artemis I mission early next year.