Norway-based Telenor Satellite Broadcasting expects to assume control of its newly-completed Thor 7 multimission communications satellite from Space Systems/Loral (SSL) in early June.
A satellite conceived by then-Vice President Al Gore 17 years ago as a real-time whole-Earth imager, and later converted to an early warning "buoy" for solar storms, is on its way to its parking spot 1 million mi. from Earth after launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9.
The mission, dubbed the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), lifted off at 10:40 a.m. local time atop a Vega rocket launched from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
The Dragon capsule, loaded with 3,700 lb. of science experiments, station hardware and trash, was headed for port in Long Beach, California on Feb. 11 after being hoisted aboard a SpaceX recovery vessel.
The response to the December cyberattack on Sony Pictures, and the U.S. government sanctions on North Korea that followed, have raised some eyebrows in the information-assurance and cyber-defense communities.
G/ATOR is being designed to be used initially in air surveillance and air defense roles, with follow-on ground weapon location/counter-targeting and air traffic control capabilities.
Late last year,the Improved Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System (IFLOLS) Phase IV (MK 13 Mod 1) was installed on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69).
The House of Representatives adopted a reprise of the fiscal 2015 NASA authorization bill it passed by a vote of 401-2 last year, only to see it die for lack of Senate action.
SpaceX’s fifth Dragon re-supply mission departed the International Space Station with 3,700 lb. of research gear and other equipment on Feb. 10 en route to a Pacific Ocean splashdown and sunset recovery off the southern California coast.
