SBIRS SEQUEL: The second Lockheed Martin Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) spacecraft is executing a series of six liquid apogee engine burns to raise it to geosynchronous orbit, following its March 20 launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for the U.S. Air Force. The payload aboard the A2100-based satellite is scheduled to be activated about 30 days after launch. Sbirs carries both scanning and staring infrared sensors for detecting missile launches.

CANBERRA and BEIJING — Operation of a relocated space-surveillance radar in Western Australia may be only the first step in expanded cooperation between the U.S. and Australia in space situational awareness. Separately, Australia also is looking at setting up an independent capability in the field, says a defense department spokeswoman in Canberra.

Thales Alenia Space, the prime contractor for 24 second-generation Globalstar communications satellites, says it could conclude a deal with the mobile satellite services provider before summer for six additional next-generation spacecraft to be financed with backing from the French export credit agency Coface.

The UAE’s Yahsat Ka-band satellite system has been certified as compatible with the U.S. Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) Ka-band network, and the Boeing Commercial Satellite Services division will sell military and civil Ka-band for the Abu Dhabi-based fleet operator Al Yah Satellite Communications. Under the agreement, users of the Boeing-built WGS network will be able to seamlessly switch between the 10-satellite WGS network being deployed for the U.S. military and allied nations and Yahsat, says Al Yah Satellite Deputy CEO Masood M. Sharif Mahmood.

The NASA-led International Space Station mission management team has approved a March 25 departure and splashdown for the SpaceX Dragon Commercial Resupply-2 capsule in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja, Calif. The unpiloted Dragon is scheduled to descend with just less than 3,000 lb. of research gear, including preserved medical specimens collected from the station’s astronauts, samples from biology and biotechnology experiments and equipment in need of refurbishment.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed flight qualification of the Merlin 1D engine, clearing a final hurdle in the planned operational debut of the more powerful engine on the upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket in June.

HOUSTON — Greatly enhanced gravity maps of the Moon, compiled from measurements made by NASA’s twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (Grail) mission probes, have already made their way into the navigational models used by active lunar missions as well as those available to project teams preparing for unpiloted or future human missions, according to Grail project scientists.

Spacecraft is scheduled to be launched Nov. 27