E-letter: Briefs

China placed SinoSat-3, a radio and TV broadcasting communications satellite, into orbit June 1 using a Long March-3A rocket, according to the state-operated Xinhua news service. SinoSat-2, China’s first direct-to-home […]

The planned June 20 launch of DirecTV’s DirecTV-10 satellite will be delayed to July, according to a May 31 report out of Baikonur, Kazakhstan, where the spacecraft is due to […]

Norsat Unveils UltraPortable SNG Terminals Norsat International Inc. has unveiled its next-generation family of ultraportable satellite newsgathering terminals. The GlobeTrekker SNG Terminal is packaged in a rugged self-contained case that […]

Globecomm Systems Inc. has introduced its next-generation satellite network management system, the company announced May 31. Dubbed AxxSys Orion, the system monitors and controls terrestrial elements of a satellite communications […]

GeoEye Partners With East-Dawn For Work In China GeoEye is partnering with the East-Dawn Group, a privately held company based in Beijing, to provide satellite imagery and value-added products in […]

Space agencies from around the globe have agreed on a shared long-term view of space exploration.   "The Global Exploration Strategy: The Framework for Coordination,” was released May 31 by […]

ICG Receives GSA Schedule Contract International Communications Group (ICG) has been awarded a General Services Administration (GSA) contract to cover 197 individual ICG products, including CTUs, data routers, Iridium Communications […]

MSV Appoints Executives Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) named Steve Soroka vice president of enterprise operations. Soroka will be responsible for the overall direction and management of MSV’s information technology and […]

Norsat International Inc. made a final payment on its $1 million short-term debt, the company announced May 31, marking the first time since 1983 that the company had been debt-free. […]

General Dynamics SatCom Technologies has been awarded a $30.5 million follow-on order for satellite communications terminals for the U.S. Marine Corps Support Wide Area Network program, the company announced May […]

Grass Valley will supply its Argos MPEG-4 AVC mobile TV encoders from Thomson for use in Sirius Satellite Radio’s TV offering, Thomson announced May 30. The encoder is designed to […]

RRSat Global Communications Network Ltd. has started operating a new MCPC platform on Intelsat’s Galaxy 23 satellite located at 121° West, RRSat announced May 31. The C-Band platform will serve […]

TeleCommunication Systems Inc. (TCS) has received a contract to provide satellite hardware to the Program Management Defense Communications and Army Transmission System team under the World Wide Satellite Systems (WWSS) […]

Israeli direct-to-home operator Yes has seen slow subscriber growth throughout the past 12 months, but reduced its overall losses. Yes had 542,000 subscribers at the end of March, an increase […]

Telkonet Inc. subsidiary Microwave Satellite Technology Inc.  (MST) closed a $9.1 million private placement, MST announced May 30. MST offers quadruple-play services, including satellite TV service, to multi-tenant unit and […]

GlobeCast’s direct-to-home (DTH) satellite brand, WorldTV, has expanded into Europe with the launch of a new bouquet of seven South Asian channels on the Intelsat 905 satellite at 35.5° East, […]

Showtime, a Middle Eastern director-to-home operator, will add Showcomedy Extra to its bouquet this week, the company announced. The operator, which competes against DTH operators Art and Orbit, recently completed […]

Xtar has named William Schmidt vice president of government services, Xtar announced May 29. Schmidt will be responsible for the business development, sales, and marketing of X-band services to the […]

C-Com Satellite Systems Inc. opened a service and support center in Beijing, the company announced May 29. The center will be operated by Hua Sheng & Li Tian Technology Co. […]

Thrane & Thrane has signed Stratos as a distributor for satellite radio and land mobile and maritime communication equipment, Thrane announced May 29. Stratos will sell products to Stratos-appointed indirect […]

Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd., has made some of the technology behind its satellite navigation products available to the public, hoping to spur development of new applications […]

OmniGlobe Networks has rolled out OmniCenter, a network management software system that combines satellite and WiMAX network management, operations monitoring and bandwidth optimization, the company announced May 29. OmniCenter is […]

Globalstar USA LLC is shipping its new GSP-1720 satellite data and voice module (SDVM), the company announced May 29. The Qualcomm Inc.-manufactured GSP-1720 is designed to provide integrators, original equipment […]

EuroNews, the pan-European news channel, has appointed Jean-Luc Maertens head of distribution for Africa, the company announced. EuroNews is distributed to more than 3 million households throughout Africa via satellite […]

MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has been awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to supply an unnamed customer with an satellite imagery ground station for a planned high-resolution imagery satellite, the company […]

Voom HD Networks has appointed David Alworth vice president of operations and program administration, the company announced. Alworth will be responsible for operational and business affairs for Voom HD Networks’ […]

The Regional Commonwealth in Field of Communications (RCC) has admitted Intersputnik as an observer, the satellite operator announced May 28. The RCC, established in 1991, is composed of telecom administrations […]

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will begin releasing certain Landsat 7 images of the United States via the Web June 4, the agency announced May 25. The images can be […]

NXP Semiconductors will supply its Nexperia PNX9520 processor for Sirius Satellite Radio’s TV service, NXP announced May 22. Sirius Backseat TV service is scheduled to be launched later this year […]

Mobile Satellite Ventures LP (MSV) named Dave Farmer vice president of marketing for satellite services, the company announced May 25. Farmer previously served as vice president of marketing for Telenor […]