A Japanese H-IIA rocket orbited two remote-sensing satellites May 17, one of them a South Korean spacecraft that marked Japan’s first international commercial customer. Liftoff from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launch site on Tanegashima Island in Southeast Japan came on time at 12:39 p.m. EDT, and the spacecraft separated as planned.

KOUROU, French Guiana — Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. of Japan, which says it is Asia’s largest satellite operator, plans to sign contracts this year to buy more satellites. Osamu Inoue, president of the company’s satellite and space business group, says Lockheed Martin and Sky Perfect are discussing a purchase.

Congressional language directing NASA to pick a single commercial crew vehicle to back during development threatens to boost the cost of commercial crew operations if it is adopted, according to a member of the presidential panel that recommended using commercial vehicles to transport U.S. astronauts to low Earth orbit.

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.