Government/Military

NASA will launch the NOAA-N weather/atmospheric scanning satellite at 2:22 a.m. PT Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., atop a Delta II rocket supplied by United Launch Alliance (ULA). ULA is a joint venture of The Boeing Co. [BA] and Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT]. Deltas are a traditionally Boeing-derived class of lifters. The flight...

The forward skirt extension of the next-generation Ares I-X rocket passed a separation test, NASA announced. Alliant Techsystems Inc. [ATK] conducted the test at its Promontory, Utah, facilities. The rocket will become the lifter for the new Orion space capsule (crew exploration vehicle) that will thunder off on its first crewed flight in 2015. Ares...

The launch of the Koronas-Foton sun-scanning satellite atop a Tsiklon-3 rocket has been postponed indefinitely, Russian mission control announced, according to the Itar-Tass news agency. Officials didn’t say why the launch from the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia had to be scrubbed, but added they are searching for causes of the un-described glitch. The...

The U.S. Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) worked in a British M270B1 launcher, Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] announced. That test launch was conducted at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Observers included members of the British military and U.K. Defence Equipment & Support delegation. They are considering their artillery system requirements. M270B1 is the designation for...

Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI) delivered two unmanned target ground vehicles to the Air Force Range Management Office at Luke Air Force Base. Additional unmanned target systems have been installed by ASI at Nellis Air Force Base — Nevada Test & Training Range (NTTR), Fort Polk, and on other similar military installations. Luke Air Force Base...

The first Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO-1) satellite, completed a test using new flight software permitting highly reliable spacecraft command and control operations, Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] announced. That Air Force SBIRS is to provide early warning of missile launches and simultaneously support other missions including missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness....

After a two-year, top to bottom renovation, the High Bay Facility of the Operations & Checkout (O&C) Building at Kennedy Space Center is ready to begin preparations to build the new Orion crew exploration vehicle, Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] announced. Built in 1964, the O&C facility has a proud history as the final integration and...

A ground control system has shown it can control a Global Positioning System (GPS) asset, Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC] announced today. The unit demonstrated command and control of a GPS IIR-M satellite using its Next Generation Operational Control Segment (OCX) engineering model. The OCX modernization effort will provide mission enterprise control support for the nation’s...

[Satellite Today 01-30-09] Andrew Werth, founder and longest-serving chairman of the non-profit Global VSAT Forum (GVF) board of directors, died Jan. 28.     Werth, also a former Hughes executive, founded GVF in 1998 and was instrumental in guiding the association’s efforts to bring satellite communications within the reach of all people throughout the world.    ...

[Satellite Today 01-30-09] The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Small Demonstration Satellite-1 (SDS-1) was moved to its initial functional verification operation after completing its critical operation, JAXA announced Jan. 29.     The initial functional verification will last for about one month, JAXA said.     The SDS-1 was launched Jan. 23 as a piggyback satellite with...