Lockheed Martin is to build the JCSAT 10 communications satellite for Japan's JSAT, to be launched in 2006. Based on the company's A2100 spacecraft bus, JCSAT 10 will carry Ku-and C-band transponders and will be located at 28°E in geosynchronous orbit. Space Systems/Loral has handed over the MBSAT communications satellite to Japan's Mobile Broadcasting and South Korea's SK Telecom after completing in-orbit testing. The 1300-series satellite, launched on 13 March, has electric thrusters for station-keeping, a 12m unfurlable reflector for the S-band antenna, triple-junction gallium arsenide solar arrays for improved efficiency, and laser-gyro stabilisation. NASA's delayed Gravity Probe B satellite was launched from Vandenberg, California by Boeing Delta II on 20 April. The next Delta II mission will be the launch of the US Air Force's GPS IIR-12 navigation satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida in June.
Source: Flight International
