News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. and Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. announced that the companies have agreed to terminate the merger agreement first announced on 29 January 2020 and have settled all pending litigation in the Delaware Court of Chancery. In connection with the termination and settlement agreement, Comtech has agreed to make a payment of US$70.0 million…
Rocket: Antares; Payload: Cygnus; Date: 3 October 2020, 0116 UTC; Launch site: Wallops Flight Facility, USA. After the nine minute ascent, the S.S. Kalpana Chawla, named for the first woman of Indian descent to fly in space, was deployed into orbit. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020100400
SpaceX scrubbed the launch of a GPS III satellite from Florida on 3 October (UTC) two seconds before the planned lift-off, just as the engine ignition sequence was beginning. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020100401
Momentus Inc. announced a launch service agreement for deploying Skykraft’s microsatellite on Vigoride’s mission in June 2021. Skykraft’s spacecraft is a pathfinder for a future large LEO constellation, and will be deployed via a new separation ring named EOS and developed by MECANO ID under a CNES contract thanks to the partial financing of the…
The qualification test of the Zefiro 9 VT3 engine, an advanced version of the third stage propulsion system already in use on the Vega launcher and specifically enhanced and customised for the new Vega C, was successfully completed recently. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020100403
Russia’s new GLONASS-K2 satellites will guarantee navigation accuracy of less than 30 centimeters, the general designer of the GLONASS system, Sergey Karutin, was quoted as saying. Also, a high-orbit segment will be added to the navigation satellite system starting in 2025. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020100404
Boeing has received one of three development contracts to build a satellite payload prototype and develop a new secure, resilient satellite communications architecture for the U.S. Space Force’s Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) programme. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020100405
Thales Alenia Space has delivered a Ka-band transponder (KaT) to the European Space Agency (ESA) for integration in the 3GM, or Gravity & Geophysics of Jupiter and Galilean Moons radio package. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020100406
GomSpace A/S and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a contract to continue the development of the GOMX-5 mission. focused on demonstrating new nanosatellite capabilities in space, particularly for next generation constellations in Low Earth Orbit. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020100407
OneWeb, the communications company building a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation to deliver global connectivity, said it achieved a major step in its reorganisation process. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020100408