Satellite operators in Vietnam and Japan will take on-orbit deliveries in June and July, respectively, of Lockheed Martin communications satellites launched in tandem on an Ariane V ECA Tuesday evening. Vinasat-2 and JCSAT-13, both based on Lockheed Martin’s A2100 satellite bus, lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, on time at 6:13 p.m. EDT May 15, and returned their first signals from geostationary transfer orbits by 7:20 p.m. EDT, according to the satellite manufacturer.

A May 16 story incorrectly identified the communication unit that was replaced aboard the International Space Station in anticipation of the upcoming arrival of the SpaceX Dragon capsule. The unit is the Space Integrated GPS Inertial Navigation System, or SIGI, which is a piece of NASA hardware.

PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering a plan to launch its next large-class science mission atop a Russian Proton rocket rather than an Ariane 5 to reap savings that would help the agency pay for its troubled ExoMars campaign.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has confirmed that one of the largest objects in the Main Asteroid Belt is actually a tiny planet-like body that formed around a molten interior.

ITT Exelis says it is making rapid progress in deploying the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) network in the U.S., with more than 60% of the required ground stations now completed. The manufacturer tells Aviation Week that it has constructed 428 ADS-B radio stations. The current plan is for 700 stations: 647 in the continental U.S., 41 in Alaska, nine in Hawaii, and one each in Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

HOUSTON — International Space Station astronauts Don Pettit of NASA and Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency have replaced a UHF communications unit aboard the station that will be required for the upcoming berthing of the unpiloted SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule. The Dragon is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., atop a Falcon 9 rocket on May 19 at 4:55 a.m. EDT, initiating the first U.S. commercial resupply mission to the orbiting science lab.

Researchers claim first discovery of a non-transiting exoplanet.

NEW FALCON: NASA has modified its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with SpaceX to add an additional configuration of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket to its fleet. The SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 “will be available to the agency’s Launch Services Program to use for future missions in accordancea with the on-ramp provision of NLS II,” NASA says in an announcement.