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Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.’s Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Protoflight Model (PFM) that will fly aboard the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) has entered final integration and acceptance testing. The Company expects to complete integration and testing in August and deliver the OMPS PFM for spacecraft integration no later than September 30th.
Read MoreThe launch date for the Inmarsat-4 F3 communications satellite has now been reset by International Launch Services (ILS) to August 19th from launch pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (August 18th GMT) at 04:43, local time. Set to lift off aboard a Proton M/Breeze M launch vehicle, this satellite is based on the Eurostar 3000GM bus.
Read MoreOrbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) is helping to support its customer, MEASAT Satellite Systems (MSE: MEASAT) in replanning the MEASAT-3a satellite mission following an accident that occurred over the past weekend that damaged the spacecraft, the company stated today. While at the Baikonour, Kazakhstan launch site, an overhead crane operated by MEASAT’s launch service provider accidentally impacted the satellite.
Read MoreOn July 30, in Tel Aviv, a contract was signed between the JSC “Academician M.F. Reshetnev” Information Satellite Systems” and Israeli-based Space Communication Ltd. The deal finds the former set to build the geostationary satellite system AMOS-5, based on the Express-1000H platform.
Read MorePre-launch preparations are now underway for the Japanese Superbird-7 satellite. Built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation using their DS2000 bus, the satellite packs Ku-band capabilities and will occupy the orbital slot at 144? E. The satellite has now completed the fueling process. Superbird-7 will have a companion onboard the heavy lift Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle, that being SES AMERICOM's AMC-21 satellite.
Read MoreWe reported yesterday about the delay in launching the MEASAT 3a satellite, but at that time didn't have all of the details. Since then we've learned that Orbital Sciences Corporation [NYSE: ORB] is supporting its customer, MEASAT Satellite Systems [MSE: MEASAT] in replanning the MEASAT 3a satellite mission following an accident that occurred over the weekend resulting in a damaged spacecraft.
Read MoreGeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) has announced that United Launch Alliance (ULA) has initiated a change in the target launch date for GeoEye-1 from August 22 to September 4, 2008. This added time is needed to allow for the positioning of resources to support receipt of down-range telemetry from the Delta II booster vehicle after launch and initial flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California.
Read MoreThe schedule was set — MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd's MEASAT-3a was moving toward its launch date of August 21st from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Now, instead of blasting into orbit, MEASAT-3a must be returned to Orbital Sciences in the U.S. for repairs, only described as of this writing as "technical issues".
Read MoreAir Force Space Command has proposed an action to make Space Launch Complex (SLC) 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, available for operational use by the State of Florida, subject to completion of the environmental impact analysis. The proposed action would grant the state access to the property under a real-estate license for an initial term of five years.
Read MoreOn August 2nd, Falcon 1 executed a picture perfect first stage flight, ultimately reaching an altitude of 217 km, but encountered a problem just after stage separation that prevented the second stage from reaching orbit. At this point, we are certain as to the origin of the problem. Four methods of analysis — vehicle inertial measurement, chamber pressure, onboard video and a simple physics free body calculation — all give the same answer.
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