News & Events

KBR, Inc. announced that its global government services business, KBRwyle, has been awarded a US $48 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to construct, deploy and commission the next generation Space Geodesy (SG) Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) ground systems. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018101600

Thales Alenia Space announced the successful completion of static mechanical validation tests of the first full-scale photovoltaic modules specially designed for its Stratobus autonomous stratospheric airship. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018101601

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B/YZ1; Payload: Beidou-3M15, Beidou-3M16 [Beidou-39, Beidou-40]; Date: 15 October 2018, 0423 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, China. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) confirmed the mission to be a success four hours later, following direct insertion of the satellites into their intended medium Earth orbits (MEO). http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018101500

The cause of Chandra’s safe mode on 10 October has now been understood and the Operations team has successfully returned the spacecraft to its normal pointing mode. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018101501

Luxembourg-based Kleos Space S.A. announced the signature of a second Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus Defence and Space, as both companies investigate opportunities to collaborate for the manufacture In-Space of structural elements. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018101502

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in United States has chosen Thales to develop and build an operational ground station in the southwest part of the country, at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, to track Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellites operating in medium Earth orbit (MEO). http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018101503

At approximately 1355 UTC on 10 October 2018, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory entered safe mode, where the telescope’s instruments are put into a safe configuration, critical hardware is swapped to back-up units, the spacecraft points so that the solar panels get maximum sunlight, and the mirrors point away from the Sun. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018101400

NASA continues to work toward resuming science operations of the Hubble Space Telescope after the spacecraft entered safe mode due to a failed gyroscope (gyro) on Friday, 5 October. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018101401

Launched in June 1999 for an intended two-year mission, NASA’s SeaWinds scatterometer instrument on the QuikSCAT spacecraft was turned off on 2 October in accordance with its end-of-mission plan. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018101402

Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies, Inc. have agreed to combine in an all stock merger of equals. Under the terms of the merger agreement, which was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, L3 shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 1.30 shares of Harris common stock for each share of…