MetOp, a new European weather satellite, has successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Russian Soyuz carrying MetOp blasted off from the launch pad on Thursday, October 19 at 1628 UTC (12:28pm EDT). The satellite was successfully placed into an orbit that will bring it 850 km (531 miles) above the Earth’s poles. The satellite has 8 instruments designed to gather data about the planet’s atmospheric and surface conditions, and 3 additional instruments for viewing space and relaying data.
Continue reading “Europe’s New Weather Satellite Blasts Off”
Delta II Launches GPS Satellite
A Boeing Delta II rocket blasted off on Sunday, carrying a Block IIR Global Positioning System satellite into orbit. The rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral at 1850 UTC (2:50 pm EDT), and deployed the satellite 68 minutes later into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. The satellite will soon join the US Air Force Global Positioning System, which provides accurate positioning data to vehicles and devices on Earth.
Continue reading “Delta II Launches GPS Satellite”
Sea Launch Lofts Koreasat 5
A Zenit-3SL vehicle blasted off Tuesday morning from the Sea Launch facility, carrying a Koreasat 5 telecommunications satellite into orbit. The launch occurred at 0327 GMT (11:27pm EDT, Aug 21), and the spacecraft was placed successfully into a geosynchronous transfer orbit about an hour later. The satellite will operate at 113 degrees east, and provide both commercial and military communications services.
Continue reading “Sea Launch Lofts Koreasat 5”
Proton Launches Eutelsat Satellite
A Proton Breeze M rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Friday night, carrying the Eutelsat Hot Bird 8 broadcast satellite. The rocked lifted off at 2148 GMT (5:48 pm EDT), and released its satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit about 9 hours later. Hot Bird 8 will provide broadcast television to customers in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Continue reading “Proton Launches Eutelsat Satellite”
Genesis 1 Carrying a NASA Experiment
Bigelow Aerospace’s inflatable Genesis 1 habitat has a stowaway on board; an experiment for NASA called Genebox. This shoebox-sized experiment will allow NASA to measure the effects of near weightlessness on the genetic structure of microorganisms. Although this is the first Genebox, NASA is planning to launch several of them over the next few years as part of the Vision for Space Exploration.
Continue reading “Genesis 1 Carrying a NASA Experiment”
MetOp Prepares for Launch
In about a week, ESA’s MetOp-A satellite will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. If all goes well, the meteorological satellite will be placed on July 17 by a Russian Soyuz rocket into a low Earth polar orbit. MetOp-A carries 11 scientific instruments designed to scan the Earth’s atmosphere, land and oceans. There will eventually be three similar MetOp satellites flying in roughly the same orbit at an altitude of 817km (507 miles) collecting high resolution data from the Earth.
Continue reading “MetOp Prepares for Launch”
First West Coast Delta IV Launch is Successful
A Boeing Delta IV rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Wednesday, carrying a surveillance satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. This is the first time that a Delta IV has been launched from the military’s California facility; normally they launch from Florida. The satellite has been identified as NROL-22, but no other details about its function or capabilities were announced.
Continue reading “First West Coast Delta IV Launch is Successful”
Delta II Launches Micro-Satellite Technology Experiment
A Boeing Delta II rocket blasted off on Wednesday carrying an experimental satellite for the US Military. The rocket lifted off at 2315 GMT (6:15 pm EDT) from Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, and the satellite payload separated 30 minutes later. The payload is the Micro-Satellite Technology Experiment (MiTEx), which is designed to test how well off-the-shelf equipment will perform in space. If successful, it should help reduce the cost and development time for future satellites.
Continue reading “Delta II Launches Micro-Satellite Technology Experiment”
Galaxy 16 HDTV Satellite Launched
A Zenit-3SL rocket blasted off from Sea Launch today, carrying PanAmSat’s Galaxy 16 communications satellite. The rocket lifted off from the Odyssey Launch Platform at 0750 GMT (3:50am EDT), and reached geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) nearly an hour later. The spacecraft will eventually be positioned at 99-degrees West Longitude, and provide HDTV television and data services throughout North America. This is the third launch for Sea Launch this year; three more are still planned.
Continue reading “Galaxy 16 HDTV Satellite Launched”
GIOVE A Transmits Loud and Clear
Chilbolton Observatory. Image credit: ESA Click to enlarge
After a successful launch on 28 December 2005, GIOVE A began transmitting navigation signals on 12 January 2006. Work is currently being performed to check the quality of these signals.
In space, the success of a mission relies on the achievement of a series of milestones. This is especially true for a pioneering mission such as GIOVE A, the first Galileo satellite, launched late last year under the European Space Agency’s responsibility.
Manufacture, launch, reaching final orbit and transmission of first signals: all these key steps were met by the satellite, which is now going to achieve its first goal, the filing for the frequencies allocated to Galileo by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
After launch and platform commissioning, GIOVE A started signal transmission on 12 January and the quality of these signals is now being checked. This checking process is employing several facilities, including the Navigation Laboratory at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), in the Netherlands, the ESA ground station at Redu, in Belgium, and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) Chilbolton Observatory in the United Kingdom.
Chilbolton’s 25 metre antenna makes it possible to acquire the signals from GIOVE A and verify they conform to the Galileo system’s design specification. Each time the satellite is visible from Chilbolton, the large antenna is activated and tracks the satellite. GIOVE A orbits at an altitude of 23 260 kilometres, making a complete journey around the Earth in 14 hours and 22 minutes.
Every orbital pass provides an opportunity to analyse the signals from the satellite. The quality of the signals transmitted by GIOVE A will have an important influence on the accuracy of the positioning information that will be provided by the user receivers on the ground, so a detailed check-out of the signal properties is mandatory. The signal quality can be affected by the environment of the satellite in its orbit and by the propagation path of the signals travelling from space to ground. Additionally, the satellite signals must not create interference with services operating in adjacent frequency bands, and this is also being checked.
The engineers at Chilbolton have means to observe and record in real time the spectrum of the signals transmitted by GIOVE A. Several measurements are performed relating to transmitted signal power, centre frequency and bandwidth, as well as the format of the navigation messages generated on-board. This allows the analysis of the satellite transmissions in the three frequency bands which are reserved for it and confirmation that GIOVE A is transmitting that which is expected of it.
The GIOVE A mission also represents an opportunity for the testing of a key element of the future Galileo system, the user receivers. The first Galileo experimental receivers, manufactured by Septentrio of Belgium, were installed at the Redu and Chilbolton In Orbit Test Stations and at the Guildford, United Kingdom, premises of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), the manufacturer of the satellite and now in charge of its control in orbit.
A meticulous task, sometimes tedious, but essential for the progress of the project, ensuring that Galileo, the joint civilian navigation initiative from the European Space Agency and the European Commission, can offer the value added services which will fundamentally depend on the quality of the transmitted signals.
Original Source: ESA Portal