October 2018

Lockheed Martin announced it is studying interest in flying commercial payloads aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018100700

Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with OHB System AG for the new ESA programme PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) . OHB System AG will be the prime contractor with Thales Alenia Space as a partner. PLATO will be the third medium-class (M3) science mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision Program, following Solar…

Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, this week commanded the agency’s Curiosity rover to switch to its second computer. The switch will enable engineers to do a detailed diagnosis of a technical issue that has prevented the rover’s active computer from storing science and some key engineering data since 15 September. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018100401

JAXA successfully released another landing probe from its Hayabusa2 spacecraft toward the asteroid Ryugu. The robot is named Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout, or MASCOT. It was jointly developed by the German and French space agencies, and is about the size of a microwave oven. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018100300

NASA has issued a statement about the International Space Station Leak Investigation. Roskosmos’ position reportedly is slightly different. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018100301

Preparations are moving ahead for Arianespace’s next Ariane 5 launch, which will send the BepiColombo spacecraft on its way to the solar system’s smallest and least-explored terrestrial planet: Mercury. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018100200

NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have appointed a board to investigate an instrument anomaly aboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) 17 weather satellite currently in orbit. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018100201

SSL announced it was selected by NASA for two separate public-private partnerships to develop two vital "Tipping Point" spacecraft technologies. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018100100

Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat and Telesat announced the creation of a consortium called the C-Band Alliance, or CBA, in a move that could accelerate making mid‐band spectrum available for 5G services. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018100101