Hughes Space and Communications has been awarded a contract from Orion Asia Pacific to build the ten C-band, 33 Ku-band transponder Orion 3 communications satellite, an HS-601HP model, which will be launched aboard a McDonnell Douglas Delta 3 booster into a 139í position in geostationary orbit in 1998 (Flight International, 1-7 January).
Source: Flight International
China’s AVIC has secured a contract from the China Manned Space Agency to develop a winged, reusable spacecraft called Haolong.
The UK Space Command’s first owned earth observation microsatellite has been launched, providing the inaugural element of a planned space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) constellation.
Orbital launch pioneer SpaceX is being contracted by the American space agency NASA to develop a so-called “US Deorbit Vehicle” that can safely return the International Space Station to Earth via controlled re-entry.
