The U.S. Air Force's Next Generation OPIR Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting (GEO) satellite program, commonly referred to as NGG, achieved another milestone by completing its system/ground and space vehicle Preliminary Design Review (PDR) on Sept. 27. Next Generation OPIR aims to provide a capable, resilient, and defensible space-based global missile warning capability against emerging threats, and…

Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) today revealed its role in supporting MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Agile MicroSatellite (AMS) mission. BCT will design, manufacture, and operate a 6U CubeSat the mission, which aims to demonstrate the potential low-altitude performance of CubeSats. Funded by the U.S. Air Force, launch is planned for late 2021. This first-of-its-kind mission aims to…

Northrop Grumman and its wholly-owned SpaceLogistics subsidiary sent the industry's first on-orbit servicing satellite life-extension spacecraft, the Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1), into Supersynchronous Transfer Orbit (SSTO) on an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M rocket, the companies announced Oct. 9. MEV-1 will dock to client vehicles in Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) to provide attitude and…

International Launch Services (ILS) successfully launched Eutelsat Communications’ EUTELSAT 5 West B into super-synchronous transfer orbit using a Proton Breeze M rocket. The vehicle lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 3:17 p.m. local time on October 9. The separation of the satellite occurred after a 15 hour and 36 minute flight, and the spacecraft…