NIGERIA'S SATELLITE PASSES PRE-LAUNCH TEST - The replaced Nigerian satellite, NIGCOMSAT-1R, has undergone and passed a major performance test and activities are in top gear for its launch in 2011, an official has said. Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, the managing director of NIGCOMSAT told a management and media dinner on Thursday in Abuja that the satellite had undergone vibration tests while a simulation of the outer space had been used to test its ability to survive the harshness of the outer space. More (Source: Space Daily - Jan 5)
SPACE SYSTEMS/LORAL-BUILT SATELLITE FOR HISPASAT GROUP SUCCESSFULLY PERFORMS POST-LAUNCH MANEUVERS - Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), the leading provider of commercial satellites, today announced that the Hispasat 1E satellite, designed and built for the HISPASAT Group, is performing post-launch maneuvers according to plan. The satellite deployed its solar arrays Wednesday afternoon, following its successful launch from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. Later today, it will fire its main thruster in order to begin maneuvering into geosynchronous orbit. More (Source: Space Ref - Jan 4)
FINAL DISCOVERY MISSION SUFFERS YET ANOTHER SETBACK - NASA officials ordered additional repairs to Space Shuttle Discovery on Friday--a move which could further delay the vehicle's final mission, according to various news outlets. According to the U.S. space agency's website, X-rays taken as part of an ongoing probe into cracks in Discovery's external fuel tank revealed "four additional small cracks on three stringers on the opposite side of the tank from Discovery, and managers elected to repair those cracks in a similar fashion to repairs made on cracks discovered after the Nov. 5 launch attempt." More (Source: RedOrbit - Jan 1)
ZOMBIE SATELLITE BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE - A “zombie satellite” reset itself after months adrift in space following an unexplained breakdown earlier this year. The satellite, Galaxy 15, lost contact with flight control on April 5, but continued to send out signals over the next 8 months. The telecommunication broadcast package remained in operation, which left a risk of interfering with signals of neighboring satellites. More (Source: ThirdAge - Jan 1)
RUSSIAN OFFICIALS PUNISHED FOR BOTCHED SATELLITE LAUNCH - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has formally reprimanded the chief of his country's national space agency and fired two other high-ranking space officials over the loss of three state-of-the-art navigation satellites in a botched rocket launch earlier this month. The decision, announced by the Kremlin on Wednesday, comes after an investigation into the Dec. 5 launch failure of a Russian-built Proton rocket carrying three new Glonass-M navigation satellites. The satellites never reached orbit. Instead, they plunged back to Earth and crashed in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. More (Source: MSNBC - Dec 30)
2010 CONCLUDES WITH ARIANE ROCKET'S 199TH LAUNCH - Two commercial satellites for the expansion of communications services from space were launched atop an Ariane 5 rocket today, capping another successful year for the booster that saw a dozen payloads deployed in 2010. The hydrogen-fueled main engine roared to life at 2127 GMT (4:27 p.m. EST), followed seven seconds later by ignition of the twin solid rocket motors to begin thundering out of the Guiana Space Center in Kourou on the northeastern coast of South America. The heavy-lift launcher, making its 55th flight, climbed steeply through the late afternoon sky and headed downrange for a half-hour trek into geosynchronous transfer orbit to deliver the Spanish Hispasat 1E and South Korea's Koreasat 6 spacecraft. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Dec 30)
WINDS ALOFT KEEP ARIANE 5 ROCKET ON THE LAUNCH PAD - Tuesday's planned launch of the year's sixth and final Ariane 5 rocket from South America was postponed due to unfavorable high-altitude winds. Liftoff had been scheduled for 2126 GMT (4:26 p.m. EST) from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana, but the countdown was halted at the Minus-7 minute mark because of the winds aloft. After waiting a half-hour into the evening's 59-minute launch opportunity, officials declared a scrub for the day. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Dec 29)
KA-SAT EUROPEAN BROADBAND SATELLITE LAUNCHES SUCCESSFULLY - A satellite intended to boost broadband Internet service in Europe and the Mediterranean region launched successfully on Sunday from the Baïkonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The KA-SAT satellite from Eutelsat Communications was sent into orbit thanks to a Proton Breeze M rocket supplied by Virginia-based International Launch Services. ILS has the exclusive rights for worldwide commercial sales and mission management of satellites launched on Russia's Proton vehicle, the company said. KA-SAT was released from the launcher after a 9-hour and 12-minute flight. More (Source: PC Magazine - Dec 29)
RUSSIA'S PROTON-M TO LAUNCH EUROPEAN TELECOMS SATELLITE - Russia's Proton-M carrier rocket will launch a European telecommunications satellite Ka-Sat from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on Monday. The launch of the six-tonne Ka-Sat will become the twelfth for Proton-M carrier rocket this year and the 363rd in its history. Ka-Sat is made by EADS Astrium for Eutelsat, a leading provider of satellite telecommunications in Europe. This will be the first launch of Proton-M carrier rocket after it veered off course and sunk in the Pacific Ocean on December 5, losing three Glonass-M satellites, a spokesman for Roscosmos said. More (Source: RIA Novosti - Dec 26)
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