Technology

[Via Satellite 08-26-2014] The United Kingdom Space Agency’s first CubeSat mission, UKube 1, is experiencing an anomaly with its primary communications link. The agency reports that while the satellite is healthy and its attitude has been stabilized, the anomaly is preventing normal operations for payload commissioning. Launched in July, the satellite hosts payloads developed by...

[Via Satellite 08-22-2014] Digital Solid State Propulsion (DSSP) is nearing the long awaited test of its Electrically controlled Solid Propellants (ESPs) — a new alternative to hydrazine and a potential competitor for electric propulsion. In January 2014 the company proved its thrusters, which are powered using a technique called double-diffusion, successfully reached an efficiency that...

[Via Satellite 08-22-2014] Airbus Defence and Space has delivered the Sentinel 2A Earth Observation (EO) satellite to IABG, near Munich, Germany, for environmental testing. Engineers will evaluate the 1.2-ton spacecraft’s readiness for space prior to its launch in the first half of 2015. Sentinel 2A is one of the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) satellites for...

[Via Satellite 08-22-2014] Mitsubishi Electric has completed the manufacturing of Himawari 8, a geostationary weather satellite for the Japan Meteorological Agency. The satellite will soon be delivered to the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan where Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will conduct an October launch using the H2A rocket. The...

[Via Satellite 08-21-2014] The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected NanoSpace, an SSC company, to build a bigger version of the NanoSpace Xenon flow control product. Both Airbus and ESA have tested NanoSpace’ Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)-based Xenon flow control technology, which directs Xenon to ion thrusters. The improved larger model would enable more controllable electric...

[Via Satellite 08-20-2014] The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) is a few months away from finishing construction of the United Arab Emirate’s first domestic satellite manufacturing facility. Once complete, the facility, which spans more than 210 square meters, will house an electrical laboratory, a mechanical laboratory and a clean room for domestic...

[Via Satellite 08-19-2014] Singapore Technologies Electronics (ST Electronics) has opened a new satellite systems center with a 12-meter high bay clean room capable of simultaneous assembly, integration and testing of two satellites. The facility has more than 11,00 square meters of floor space and took approximately one year to construct. ST Electronics new facility is...

[Via Satellite 08-19-2014] Lockheed Martin has completed the purchase of Zeta Associates, a software, communications and ground systems company dedicated to national security missions. The terms of the purchase, which was announced in June 2014, have not been disclosed. Now a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, Zeta Associates will report through the company’s Space...

[Via Satellite 08-18-2014] Aerojet Rocketdyne has conducted the third and final hot-fire test for the Low Earth Orbiting Nanosatellite Integrated Defense Autonomous System (LEONIDAS) at the Air Force Research Laboratory located at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The test fired up the first stage solid propellant rocket motor (LEO-46) for 73 seconds, generating close...

[Via Satellite 08-18-2014] Bridge Technologies has released the VB273 satellite switch for L-band or Intermediate Frequency (IF). The new switch was designed to offer greater functionality than earlier generations through the use of digital media monitoring systems. The VB273 switch incorporates the company’s ET290 analysis functionality as well as an automatic decision engine capable of...