8 July 2007
Satcoms
ICO and Alcatel-Lucent
Finalise Agreement for Mobile Interactive Media Services
Iridium Passes First Milestone on Way to Deploying
'Next'
Orbcomm Adds More Than 28,000
Billable Subscriber Communicators in the Second Quarter of 2007
Successful Launch of the ChinaSat 6B Telecommunication
Satellite, Built by Thales Alenia Space
Broadcast
Boeing-Built DirecTV 10 Satellite Delivers First
Signals from Space
DirecTV 10 Launch A Giant
Leap for HD
Earth
Observation
The SMOS Payload Has Been Successfully Mated on the
PROTEUS Platform
Military
Space
Raytheon Awarded Initial Instalment on US$ 38 Million
Navy Communications Contract
Second SAR-Lupe
Satellite Successfully Launched
Successful
Launch of Second German SAR-Lupe Observation Satellite, Equipped With Thales
Alenia Space's SAR Sensor Electronics Units
Science
50 New Mission Proposals for ESA's Scientific
Programme
Astronomy
GROND Takes Off
Stars
Star Surface Polluted by Planetary
Debris
Mars
Dust Delays Mars Crater Entry
One Image Planned During Descent of
Phoenix
Saturn
NASA Finds Hydrocarbons on Saturn's Moon
Hyperion
Asteroids
NASA Mission to Asteroid Belt Rescheduled for
September Launch
Comets
NASA Gives Two Successful Spacecraft New
Assignments
Extra-Solar
Planets
NASA Gives Two Successful Spacecraft New
Assignments
Manned
Space
International Space Station Status Report:
SS07-33
Media Bid Farewell to Jules Verne
ATV
NASA Awards Contract For Space Station
Hardware
NASA Extends Bioastronautics
Contract With Wyle Labs
Space
Tourism
Benson Space Company to Provide Low-G Rides
Wyle to Prepare Virgin Galactic's First Passengers for
Maiden Spaceflight Voyage
Technology
Aerojet Demonstrates Key Advances in Controllable Solid
Propulsion Rocket Motors
Genesis II
Successfully Launched - Bigelow Aerospace Still Awaits Confirmation of
Spacecraft Health and Expansion
Genesis II
Calls Home, Says It's Doing Fine
Goodrich
Technology on Board Recently Launched Missile Defense Agency
Satellite
Launch
Services
ILS Proton Successfully Launches DirecTV
10
Launches
Cosmos 2428
SAR-Lupe 2
Zhongxing 6B (ChinaSat 6B)
DirecTV 10
Launch
Schedule
Products and
Services
Telenor Satellite Services Launches New Secure
Networking Technology
Tower Semiconductor
Delivers the First Space Application SoC Product
People
Michel Fiat Appointed Chief Technical Officer of Thales
Alenia Space
Norsat Announces Resignation of
Chief Financial Officer
Satcoms
ICO and Alcatel-Lucent
Finalise Agreement for Mobile Interactive Media Services
(2 July
2007) ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Limited today announced a contract
with Alcatel-Lucent to provide end-to-end network integration services as well
as equipment, engineering and implementation services for ICO's alpha trial of
Mobile Interactive Media (MIM) services next year.
Iridium Passes First Milestone on Way to Deploying
'Next'
(2 July 2007) Iridium Satellite announces it has released a
Request for Information (RFI) to potential partners interested in participating
in the design, development and deployment of "Iridium NEXT," the company's
next-generation satellite communications network.
Orbcomm Adds More Than 28,000 Billable Subscriber
Communicators in the Second Quarter of 2007
(5 July 2007) Orbcomm
Inc., a global satellite data communications company focused on two-way
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, today announced net additions of more
than 28,000 billable subscriber communicators on its data communications system
for the second quarter of 2007, giving the company a total subscriber
communicator base of more than 278,000 as of June 30, 2007.
Successful Launch of the ChinaSat 6B Telecommunication
Satellite, Built by Thales Alenia Space
(5 July 2007) The ChinaSat
6B telecommunication satellite, built by Thales Alenia Space as prime
contractor, was successfully boosted into orbit today from the Xichang
Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province by a Long March
3B rocket.
Broadcast
Boeing-Built DirecTV 10 Satellite Delivers First
Signals from Space
(7 July 2007) The Boeing Company today confirmed
that the DirecTV 10 satellite has sent its first on-orbit signals to the Boeing
Mission Control Center in El Segundo, Calif., indicating that the satellite is
healthy and operating normally.
DirecTV 10
Launch A Giant Leap for HD
(7 July 2007) The DirecTV 10 satellite
soared into space yesterday, beginning the first leg of its mission to
dramatically expand HD programming for millions of DirecTV customers
nation-wide and establish DirecTV as the industry's HD
pace-setter.
Earth
Observation
The SMOS Payload Has Been Successfully Mated on the
PROTEUS Platform
(3 July 2007) The SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean
Salinity) program has just successfully passed a major milestone, with the
mating of the two main modules (the MIRAS payload and the PROTEUS platform) in
the Thales Alenia Space integration rooms in Cannes.
Military Space
Raytheon Awarded Initial Instalment
on US$ 38 Million Navy Communications Contract
(2 July 2007)
Raytheon Company has been awarded an initial instalment of US$ 27 million for
satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals in support of a Space and Naval
Warfare Systems contract potentially worth US$ 38 million.
Second SAR-Lupe Satellite Successfully
Launched
(3 July 2007) The second satellite in the SAR-Lupe system
has been placed successfully in orbit.
Successful Launch of Second German SAR-Lupe
Observation Satellite, Equipped With Thales Alenia Space's SAR Sensor
Electronics Units
(3 July 2007) The second SAR-Lupe satellite, part
of the German observation system, was successfully boosted into orbit yesterday
from the Plesetsk space centre by a Russian Cosmos-3M rocket at 21:38:41 hours
CEST.
Science
50 New Mission Proposals
for ESA's Scientific Programme
(6 July 2007) A wealth of new mission
concepts were submitted by the European scientific community on 29 June,
following the ESA Call for Proposals issued in March this
year.
Astronomy
GROND Takes Off
(7 July 2007) A new
instrument has seen First Light at the ESO La Silla
Observatory.
Stars
Star Surface Polluted by Planetary
Debris
(6 July 2007) Looking at the chemical composition of stars
that host planets, astronomers have found that while dwarf stars often show
iron enrichment on their surface, giant stars do not.
Mars
Dust Delays Mars Crater Entry
(5 July 2007)
A giant dust storm brewing for more than a week on Mars has become worse and is
affecting surface operations of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and
Opportunity.
One Image Planned During Descent
of Phoenix
(5 July 2007) Extensive testing of NASA's Phoenix Mars
Lander in preparation for an August launch has uncovered a potential
data-handling problem in time to modify plans for use of a camera during the
final minutes of arrival at Mars.
Saturn
NASA Finds Hydrocarbons on Saturn's Moon
Hyperion
(4 July 2007) NASA's Cassini spacecraft has revealed for
the first time surface details of Saturn's moon Hyperion, including cup-like
craters filled with hydrocarbons that may indicate more widespread presence in
our solar system of basic chemicals necessary for life.
Asteroids
NASA Mission to Asteroid Belt
Rescheduled for September Launch
(7 July 2007) The launch of NASA's
Dawn spacecraft, a mission that will explore the two largest objects in the
asteroid belt in an effort to answer questions about the formation of our solar
system, has been rescheduled to September.
Comets
NASA Gives Two Successful Spacecraft New
Assignments
(3 July 2007) Two NASA spacecraft now have new
assignments after successfully completing their missions.
Extra-Solar Planets
NASA Gives Two Successful
Spacecraft New Assignments
(3 July 2007) Two NASA spacecraft now
have new assignments after successfully completing their
missions.
Manned
Space
International Space Station Status Report:
SS07-33
(6 July 2007) Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and
Flight Engineer Clay Anderson this week finished preparing their spacesuits for
a planned July 23 spacewalk.
Media Bid
Farewell to Jules Verne ATV
(2 July 2007) Last week, members of the
international press visited the clean rooms at ESTEC, ESA's research and
technology centre, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, to view the Automated
Transfer Vehicle for the very last time in Europe.
NASA Awards Contract For Space Station
Hardware
(3 July 2007) NASA has signed a US$ 46 million fixed price
basic contract with S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Public Corporation, also
known as RSC Energia, in Korolev, Russia, for various hardware items and their
integration into the International Space Station.
NASA Extends Bioastronautics Contract With Wyle
Labs
(2 July 2007) NASA has exercised a US$ 294 million option to
extend a contract with Wyle Laboratories Inc. of Houston to support the Space
Life Sciences Directorate at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
Space Tourism
Benson Space Company to Provide
Low-G Rides
(3 July 2007) Using a patent pending combination of
technology and technique, the newly designed suborbital space tourism spaceship
from Benson Space Company (BSC) will produce rides that do not exceed
approximately 3.0 G's of force on passengers.
Wyle to Prepare Virgin Galactic's First Passengers for
Maiden Spaceflight Voyage
(6 July 2007) Virgin Galactic, which
expects to become the world's first commercial spaceline, has contracted Wyle
to provide chief medical officer, medical data analysis, and program management
services to advise and guide the preparation of its first passengers for
spaceflight.
Technology
Aerojet Demonstrates Key Advances in
Controllable Solid Propulsion Rocket Motors
(28 June 2007) Aerojet,
a GenCorp Inc. company and a core propulsion provider for NASA's new space
exploration vehicle, Orion, as well as several Missile Defense Agency
propulsion programs, recently conducted an internally funded test firing of
large-scale controllable solid rocket motors.
Genesis II Successfully Launched - Bigelow Aerospace
Still Awaits Confirmation of Spacecraft Health and Expansion
(28
June 2007) Genesis II, the second experimental pathfinder spacecraft by Bigelow
Aerospace, has been successfully launched and inserted into orbit.
Genesis II Calls Home, Says It's Doing
Fine
(28 June 2007) Bigelow Aerospace has established contact with
its second pathfinder spacecraft, Genesis II.
Goodrich Technology on Board Recently Launched Missile
Defense Agency Satellite
(2 July 2007) The Missile Defense Agency
(MDA) Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE) satellite was recently launched
from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia with Goodrich Corporation's
satellite attitude control technology on board.
Launch Services
ILS Proton Successfully Launches DirecTV
10
(7 July 2007) International Launch Services (ILS) successfully
launched the DirecTV 10 satellite today using an enhanced version of Russia's
premier vehicle, the Proton.
Launches
Cosmos 2428
SAR-Lupe 2
Zhongxing 6B (ChinaSat 6B)
DirecTV 10
Launch
Schedule
Products and
Services
Telenor Satellite Services Launches New Secure
Networking Technology
(3 July 2007) Telenor Satellite Services, a
subsidiary of Telenor of Norway today commercially launched Terralink Secure
Version 7.1, the first in a series of secure networking value added services to
enable users to filter more effectively security attacks and unwanted Internet
content over satellite communications.
Tower
Semiconductor Delivers the First Space Application SoC Product
(3
July 2007) Tower Semiconductor Ltd., an independent speciality foundry, and
Ramon Chips Ltd., a fabless company that specialises in the space industry,
announced today the successful completion of a prototype radiation-hardened
System-on-Chip (SoC) controller for space applications.
People
Michel Fiat Appointed Chief Technical Officer of Thales
Alenia Space
(2 July 2007) Michel Fiat, 50, joins Thales Alenia
Space Executive Committee as Chief Technical Officer (CTO) on July 1,
2007.
Norsat Announces Resignation of Chief
Financial Officer
(6 July 2007) Norsat International Inc., a leading
provider of intelligent satellite solutions, announces that Cathy Zhai, Chief
Financial Officer, has resigned effective June 27, 2007, to pursue other
interests.
