News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
SEAKR Engineering, Inc. announced it has been awarded as the prime contractor for U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Pit Boss Phase I Option II contract to further expand existing contractual work supporting the Blackjack programme. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042800
Iridium Communications Inc. reported financial results for the first quarter of 2020. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042801
China is constructing the largest steerable radio telescope in Asia with a 70-meter-diameter antenna to receive data from its first Mars exploration mission which is expected to be launched this year. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042802
Thales Alenia Space announced the signature of a contract with AVIO S.p.A., industrial prime contractor of VEGA launch vehicle, in the frame of Launchers Exploitation and Accompaniment Program (LEAP) of the European Space Agency (ESA), concerning the initial phases of design, development and qualification of a transmitter for the United States’ Tracking and Data Relay…
Northrop Grumman Corp. is on schedule for testing of its next-generation OmegA rocket. Development of the rocket must continue if Northrop is going to make a spring 2021 launch date for the rocket’s first mission. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042701
The head of the U.S. Space Command said the Pentagon believes that Iran’s first successful launch of a military satellite into space does not pose any intelligence threat. However, satellite observers contradicted his remark that the satellite was "a tumbling webcam in space." http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042702
Rocket: Soyuz-2.1a; Payload: Progress MS-14; Date: 25 April 2020, 0151 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. After flying a two-orbit fast-track approach, the cargo vessel docked with the International Space Station approx. three hours 21 minutes after lift-off. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042600
The Space and Missile Systems Center’s next Space Based Infrared System satellite (SBIRS GEO-5) began Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) testing on 16 April at Lockheed Martin’s production facility in Sunnyvale, California. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042601
Less than 15 months after contract award, Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems has designed, manufactured, assembled and integrated the U.S. Space Force TETRA-1 satellite. The work was completed 60% faster than previous missions. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042602
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Lockheed Martin a US$5.8 million contract for the first phase of satellite integration on the Blackjack programme. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042603