With the ability of heavy-lift rockets to do piggy-back launches, it is surprising to learn that even after making 100 A2100 geosynchronous communications satellites since 1996, Lockheed Martin has yet to see two of the spacecraft launched on the same ride. That string is set to be broken May 15 when the 100th and 101st satellites in the series, JCSat-13 and Vinasat-2, are to be lofted by an Ariane 5 from Arianespace’s launch facility in Kourou, French Guiana. The two spacecraft were shipped to Kourou on April 12.

HOUSTON — A European Space Agency (ESA) inquiry points to a still-unexplained problem with a computer communications interface as the culprit in a temporary power loss that followed the recent docking of the cargo- and propellant-laden Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 with the International Space Station.

Calling optical systems “the next era of space communications,” NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has selected Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) to host a laser communications relay demonstration (LCRD) payload on a 2016 commercial mission. The technology has two attractions: optical communications use an uncongested portion of the spectrum compared to the radio frequencies that currently transmit data from space; and they hold the promise of orders of magnitude higher data rates than RF communications.

PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) is working to re-establish contact with the 10-year-old Envisat spacecraft, which the agency says stopped relaying data to Earth April 8. The 8,000-kg (18,000-lb.) spacecraft has been in orbit twice as long as its five-year design life, but ESA hopes to keep the satellite operating until the launch of a follow-on mission under Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program.

Boeing is developing designs for a secure mobile phone that could relieve the woes of government officials and senior business executives who use Blackberries for their security features, but hope to have the functionality of a more modern device such as the iPhone. The company is developing the system with partners, but officials decline to name them for now. They say more detail is coming on the design and the team later this year, with a product launch slated by year’s end.

The contract comes ahead of November meeting where member states will decide the agency’s next multiyear spending plan.

HOUSTON — U.S. and European astronauts Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers, as part of a temporarily downsized International Space Station crew, are preparing for the arrival of the SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule, which is awaiting a tentatively scheduled April 30 liftoff on the first attempt at a U.S. commercial resupply mission to the orbiting science lab. NASA and SpaceX mission managers are scheduled to gather at NASA’s Johnson Space Center April 16 for a flight-readiness review to assess the preparations and settle on an official launch date.

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