Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 09-21-09] A team lead by Lockheed Martin begun thermal vacuum testing of the first Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous GEO-1 satellite for the U.S. Air Force, the […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-21-09] GeoEye is attempting to raise $350 million through a sale of senior secured notes due 2015, the company announced Sept. 18.     The imagery company said the […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-18-09] Thales Alenia Space has shipped the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Earth observation satellite to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, for its scheduled Nov. 2 launch, […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-17-09] Atrexx, a German provider of telecommunications and broadcast solutions, is now offering satellite-based communications services to the Iraq region via Eutelsat’s Eurobird 4A satellite, Atrexx announced Sept. […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-17-09] Artel has leased full Ku-band transponders on the Astra 3B satellite from SES World Skies, the operator announced.     Artel will use the capacity to provide the […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-17-09] U-blox, a provider of embedded GPS receiver semiconductors and solutions, is supporting Microsoft’s initiative to make development of location-aware applications on Windows 7 easier, U-blox announced Sept. […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-16-09] Harris Corp.’s RF-7800B family of ruggedized Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite terminals has received type approval from Inmarsat, the company announced.     The approval certifies the […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-15-09] Paradigm Secure Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS Astrium, has expanded its distribution partnership with Intelsat General by naming the company as its preferred U.S. distributor […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-11-09] GeoEye Inc. signed a contract worth $50 million to extend its service level agreement with the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) through Mar. 31, 2010, the imagery […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-11-09] Telecom Artel has leased four full Ku-band transponders from SES World Skies, the operator announced Sept. 10.     Artel’s new capacity, provided by the Astra 3B satellite, […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-04-09] The Indonesian Palapa-D communications satellite has been placed into a geostationary transfer orbit and will start a nominal launch early operation phase, manufacturer Thales Alenia Space announced […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-04-09] Raytheon and Iridium Satellite have completed a joint technology development project by integrating a flight-worthy main mission antenna (MMA) with special test equipment to simulate on-orbit antenna […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-03-09] MDA was awarded a contract from an unnamed government military customer to provide a long-endurance unmanned aerial (UAV) surveillance solution to support deployed forces, the company announced […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-03-09] QinetiQ today signed a $37.3 million contract with EADS Astrium to supply a solar-electric propulsion system for the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) BepiColombo satellite mission to the […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-02-09] Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has delivered the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) communication unit to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in preparation for […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-02-09] SDN Global has unveiled its satellite public safety access terminal (PSAT), which aims to more efficiently connect 911 callers to their public safety answering point, the company […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-02-09] U-blox has upgraded its core CMOS technology single-chip and chipsets to U-blox 6, with reduced power requirements and management features that extend battery life for GPS applications, […]

The military satellite communications landscape has seen some significant events in 2009, none bigger than the formal cancellation of the Transformational Satellite Communications System program. The program was intended to […]

In July, at the Seattle World Affairs Council, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, leader of U.S. Central Command, discussed how broadband IP network technology won the 2008 battle of Sadr […]

A U.S. Air Force technology program is scheduled to get new sensing technology in orbit within just two years instead of the typical seven. Separately, Australian Defense Force (ADF) officials […]

The United States remains the global leader in space-based military capabilities. However, with more nations than ever looking to develop these capabilities, the United States wants to foster greater cooperation […]

Boeing, Iridium Complete U.S. Navy GPS System Upgrades Iridium Satellite and Boeing achieved two milestones in coordinated efforts to develop and demonstrate capability enhancements to a high-integrity GPS program for […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-01-09] The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) abandoned the Chandrayaan-1 lunar-orbiting satellite after scientists lost control of the satellite and failed to revive communication, ISRO officials announced Aug. […]

[Satellite TODAY 09-01-09] Palapa D, an Indonesian communications satellite that was reported by officials to have failed to enter orbit, has been captured and is now able to conduct orbiting […]

In a few of the past columns , we discussed the expanding role of commercial satellite capacity and network services for military and other government use, the role of integrators or aggregators serving as

[Satellite TODAY 08-31-09] Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) delayed a test firing on Thursday for NASA’s Ares launch vehicle due to a mechanical failure, NASA announced Aug. 27.     NASA noted […]

[Satellite TODAY 08-31-09] The GPS 2R-21 M satellite, the last in the series of eight U.S. military GPS-2R satellites, has been declared operational for military and civilian users, the U.S. […]

[Satellite TODAY 08-28-09] The DigitalGlobe WorldView-2 imagery satellite has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in anticipation of its scheduled Oct. 6 launch, DigitalGlobe announced Aug. 27.     WorldView-2, built […]

[Satellite TODAY 08-27-09] iDirect has completed testing under the U.S. Joint User Interoperability Communications Exercise (JUICE) program, which assessed the capability of its technology to stream video-conference in ground vehicles […]

[Satellite TODAY 08-26-09] The launch of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (Naro), South Korea’s first rocket, failed to deliver its payload – the Korean Science and Technology Satellite 2 (KSTS […]