Government/Military

The forward skirt extension of the next-generation Ares I-X rocket passed a separation test, NASA announced. Alliant Techsystems Inc. [ATK] conducted the test at its Promontory, Utah, facilities. The rocket […]

The launch of the Koronas-Foton sun-scanning satellite atop a Tsiklon-3 rocket has been postponed indefinitely, Russian mission control announced, according to the Itar-Tass news agency. Officials didn’t say why the […]

[Satellite Today 02-02-09] Lockheed Martin‘s Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO-1) satellite has completed baseline integrated system testing of new flight software that enables command and control operations, the […]

The U.S. Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) worked in a British M270B1 launcher, Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] announced. That test launch was conducted at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Observers […]

Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI) delivered two unmanned target ground vehicles to the Air Force Range Management Office at Luke Air Force Base. Additional unmanned target systems have been installed by […]

[Satellite Today 02-02-09] NASA‘s Orbiting Carbon Observatory, its first satellite dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide, is in final preparations for a Feb. 23 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, […]

Updated — January 23, 2009 – 2:45 p.m. EST Legend: + Targeted For | *No Earlier Than (Tentative) | **To Be Determined 2009 Launches Date: Feb. 4 Mission:NOAA-N Prime Launch […]

Defense spending cuts in big-ticket procurement programs are inevitable, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned. The Department of Defense can’t continue indefinitely the spending increases of recent years, and Pentagon […]

The first Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO-1) satellite, completed a test using new flight software permitting highly reliable spacecraft command and control operations, Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] announced. […]

[Satellite Today 01-30-09] Andrew Werth, founder and longest-serving chairman of the non-profit Global VSAT Forum (GVF) board of directors, died Jan. 28.     Werth, also a former Hughes executive, founded […]

[Satellite Today 01-30-09] The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Small Demonstration Satellite-1 (SDS-1) was moved to its initial functional verification operation after completing its critical operation, JAXA announced Jan. 29. […]

[Satellite Today 01-30-09] ViaSat Inc. and the U.S. Army extended the vehicular Blue Force Tracking 2 (BFT2) demonstration with U.S. Army Aviation BFT2 demonstrations aboard a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, ViaSat […]

[Satellite Today 01-30-09] An amendment to the GMES (Global Monitoring Environment and Security) agreement authorizes the completion of the five initial satellites for the program, the European Space Agency (ESA) […]

[Satellite Today 01-29-09] Telespazio, a joint venture of Finmeccanica and Thales, sold the exclusive rights to Luxembourg’s 4C Satellite Images and Technologies to resell satellite images in a deal worth […]

[Satellite Today 01-28-09] MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) conducted its first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight in Afghanistan Jan. 1, the company announced Jan. 27.     Flight operations are underway […]

[Satellite Today 01-28-09] Boeing received a $75 million contract extension from the U.S. Air Force to continue risk reduction and system definition for the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT), Boeing […]

[Satellite Today 01-27-09] RapidEye has released its imagery system demonstration products to the public, the company announced Jan. 26.     The sample datasets are available for download as a RapidEye […]

[Satellite Today 01-27-09] DigitalGlobe signed an agreement with Telogis, a location-based services platform, to give Telogis’ developers access to DigitalGlobe’s imagery, DigitalGlobe announced Jan. 26.     The imagery would serve […]

The Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) target detecting system passed a test while executing the lowest altitude intercept thus far, Raytheon Co. [RTN] announced. That SM-2 Block IIIB system was tested by […]

NASA is a step closer to the first flight test of the rocket that will send humans on their way to the moon as part of the agency’s Constellation Program. […]

Updated — January 23, 2009 – 2:45 p.m. EST Legend: + Targeted For | *No Earlier Than (Tentative) | **To Be Determined 2009 Launches Date: Feb. 4 Mission:NOAA-N Prime Launch […]

The super fast Starstreak High Velocity Missile (HVM) system used by the British Army and Royal Marines is to get a new lease on life for the next 13 years […]

Peter B. Teets, a former senior Air Force and Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] official, will receive a lifetime space achievement award April 1 at the National Space Symposium from the […]

New technology will provide far faster data transfer speeds in the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT), a defense contractor stated. The advance was created by a Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT]/Northrop […]

[Satellite Today 01-26-09] The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have launched the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (Gosat) satellite aboard the H-2A launch vehicle from the Tanegashima […]

[Satellite Today 01-26-09] NASA is in preparations to launch the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) NOAA-N Prime polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite Feb. 4 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, […]

[Satellite Today 01-26-09] A team led by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman has sent its SpaceWire data bus technology forward for preliminary design review, Lockheed Martin announced Jan. 22. The […]

A vehicle-mounted laser system shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), The Boeing Co. [BA] announced today. UAVs are threatening U.S. troops in war zones. In tests at White Sands […]

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was chosen to chair the House Science and Technology Committee space and aeronautics subcommittee that oversees NASA, and authorizes its programs. Gifford’s husband, Mark Kelley, is […]

CBO Sees Missile Defense Annual Outlays Up About $4 Billion Killing European Missile Defense Would Save $4 Billion Yearly Spending on ballistic missile defense (BMD) programs will peak at about […]