Mission History
Below is a listing of previous Astrotech Space Operations missions.
The XM-3 spacecraft is a revised model from its two predecessors, which were deployed in 2001 before engineers discovered a crippling design flaw that degrades the power-generating capacity as the satellites age.
NASA's Deep Impact mission was planned to help answer fundamental questions about comets, which included what makes up the composition of the comet's nucleus, what depth the crater would reach from the impact, and where the comet originated in its formation.
The demonstration flight of the Delta 4-Heavy is a means of testing the rocket before critical national security payloads begin flying aboard the vehicle.
The purpose of the AMC-16 satellite is to expand SES AMERICOM's world-wide fleet of satellites, which provide global distribution of cable, broadcast television and radio programming, mobile communications, business television, broadband data and telecommunications services.
MESSENGER is a robotic NASA spacecraft orbiting the planet Mercury, the first spacecraft ever to do so. The instruments carried by MESSENGER were tested on a complex series of flybys – the spacecraft flew by Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury itself three times, allowing it to decelerate relative to Mercury using minimal fuel.
Aura is a multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in orbit around the Earth, studying the Earth's ozone layer, air quality and climate. It is the third major component of the Earth Observing System (EOS) following on Terra (launched 1999) and Aqua (launched 2002).
The satellite provides Ku-band voice, video and data services to China, Hawaii, and East Asia, and C-band services to other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia and Hawaii. The new satellite is also used to provide space-based Internet backbone services for the main cities of Asia to and from the U.S. through Hawaii.
ROCSAT-2 was built by EADS for Taiwan's National Space Program Office (NSPO). The spacecraft carries panchromatic and multispectral instruments to observe Taiwan and its surrounding waters, as well as an instrument to monitor lightning in the upper atmosphere.
AMC-11 will provide cable television services to all 50 United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. AMC-11 will take the place of Satcom C-3.
DirecTV-7S will use highly focused spot beam technology to provide DIRECTV with the capacity to deliver local channels to 41 additional markets, expanding local channel coverage to a total of 106 markets.
The new spacecraft will be a version of Loral’s space-proven three-axis, body-stabilized 1300 bus. The spacecraft's system will be able to broadcast more than 50 programs simultaneously.
AMC-10 will provide cable television services to all 50 United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. The satellite will take the place of the retiring Lockheed Martin-built Satcom C-4.
The satellite will support business applications such as broadcast video and cable programming, Internet backbone connectivity, VSAT data and other telecommunications services.
UFO F-11 will provide UHF and enhanced EHF communications. The UHF payload incorporates a new UHF digital receiver, providing two additional UHF channels and greater flexibility in configuring communication services.
The satellite will be used to offer a variety of digital video, Internet and data services. Using a Hawaii-based relay station, the satellite's Ku-band payload also will be able to deliver content and services between the United States and Asia.
EchoStar has equipped the spacecraft with the first commercial Ka-band spot-beam payload in the United States. In addition, Loral Skynet will own and operate the satellite's C-band capacity, which will provide television programmers with North American coverage.
The Boeing GEO-Mobile satellite was built for Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company of United Arab Emirates to support Thuraya's mobile data and voice services business.
Two of the spacecraft's deployable antennas will provide Pan European coverage, including Greece, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, while two steerable beams can be moved to cover South Africa and the Middle East.
AsiaSat will use the spacecraft to provide communications, direct-to-home and broadband services to customers in Asia and Australia.
ICESat is the benchmark Earth Observing System mission for measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics. CHIPSat is a University-Class Explorer (UNEX) mission funded by NASA.
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