General news on the satellite and space industry from around the web
Arianespace and ESA, acting on behalf of the European Commission, have signed a contract for three launch services with Ariane 5 ES in order to step up the deployment of the European navigation system Galileo. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2014082101
The launch date for the U.S. government’s CLIO satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, has been set for 16 September 2014. CLIO will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2014082102
In the coming months, the Sentinel-2A satellite will undergo a series of environmental tests at IABG, near Munich, Germany, to determine its suitability for use in space. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2014082103
Boeing recently completed the Phase Two Spacecraft Safety Review of its Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft and the Critical Design Review (CDR) of its integrated systems, meeting all of the company’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) milestones on time and on budget. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2014082104
Galileo 5 and 6 upper composite launcher integration. Photo: ESA [Via Satellite 08-21-2014] The European Space Agency has not yet identified the cause of several anomalies that have affected some of the first Galileo satellites. Three of the first four in orbit have experienced irregularities that officials said are so far unrelated. ESA is taking…
A Terralink VSAT. Photo: Airbus [Via Satellite 08-21-2014] Airbus Defence and Space is growing its Terralink satellite connectivity service for enterprise users. The expanded service employs the Newtec Dialog platform, which was introduced earlier this year. Airbus is the first user for the Newtec platform. The enterprise-targeted solution uses new coding as well as upgrades…
U.S. Army Soldiers with the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division stand guard at a market in Al Doura in Baghdad, Iraq, April 5, 2007, providing security for Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Photo: Sgt. Curt Cashour, U.S. Army [Via Satellite 08-21-2014] The National Security Agency (NSA) has granted Type 1 certification for Harris Corporation’s…
A digital model of an aerospike. Photo: Firefly Space Systems [Via Satellite 08-21-2014] Small satellite launch company Firefly Space Systems has teamed up with Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) and ANSYS to conduct rocket simulations using the Stampede supercomputer. Firefly will use TACC’s supercomputer to run ANSYS software analysis for simulations of rocket subsystems. According…
Xenon flow control module. Photo: NanoSpace [Via Satellite 08-21-2014] The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected NanoSpace, an SSC company, to build a bigger version of the NanoSpace Xenon flow control product. Both Airbus and ESA have tested NanoSpace’ Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)-based Xenon flow control technology, which directs Xenon to ion thrusters. The improved larger…
Exede Evolution. Photo: ViaSat [Via Satellite 08-21-2014] ViaSat has begun initial offerings of its “virtually unlimited” satellite broadband service in Alaska, Hawaii and Florida. Customers can access up to 150 GBs of data per month without resulting in strict data allowances using the ViaSat 1 High Throughput Satellite (HTS). Additional rollouts are planned across the…