E-letter: News Feed

GlobeCast and Eutelsat Communications have signed a multi-year agreement with Dutch broadcasting network NOS.

International Launch Services (ILS) has successfully launched the Satmex 8 satellite for Mexican satellite operator, Satmex. The ILS Proton Breeze M vehicle launched from Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 01:07 today local time. It was the first successful launch for ILS this year.

GlobeCast Asia has selected Ideal Systems Singapore to design and build a new state-of-the-art multichannel broadcast facility in Singapore's emerging media city Mediapolis@one-north. The new GlobeCast facility will be located at a Infinite Studios building, which is a 10-story purpose-built structure with more than 24,000 square meters.

Hughes Network Systems and Inmarsat have announced their Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) machine-to-machine (M2M) terminal has successfully completed testing by Met Laboratories (MetLabs), an OSHA Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory.

The South African National Space Agency (SANSA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) have signed an agreement on the RadioAstron satellite, which was launched by Roscosmos on July 2011.

ORBCOMM has signed an agreement with Kobelco Construction Machinery (KCM), Japan’s second largest manufacturer of hydraulic excavators, to deliver a global telematics application.

A commercial partnership between an FSS and MSS operator could happen “sooner rather than later” as the talk of convergence between the two sectors gathers pace. This is the opinion of Maury Mechanick, a telecoms/satellite lawyer at White & Case and one of the top legal experts in the satellite industry.

During its first participation at the CABSAT 2013 conference, My-HD Media, a Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region television platform that offers a single viewing card solution for High Definition (HD) channels, announced a long-term strategic partnership with Arabsat.

Satcom Direct, a developer of satellite communications solutions for corporate and military aircraft, has selected WAN optimization and network control solutions provider Exinda’s Mobile platform to be integrated into its first hardware product, the Satcom Direct Router (SDR).

Hughes Network Systems and Maju Nusa Sdn Bhd (Majunusa), a Malaysian VSAT service provider, have signed an agreement to supply an HX System 4.0 NOC (Network Operations Center) and 130 HX broadband satellite terminals. Majunusa will use the system to deliver cellular backhaul services for 2G and 3G sites in rural areas without access to cost-effective terrestrial communications.

NASA has agreed to launch a satellite designed and built by a group of students from the University at Buffalo. The shoebox-sized Glint Analyzing Data Observation Satellite (GLADOS) took the team two years to complete and is designed to track the size and orbit of debris circling our planet.

A new app from Southern Stars for Apple devices allows users to access a complete database of spacecraft orbiting Earth.

The All Nations University College in Koforidua, Ghana, has announced its plans to launch its first satellite. “CANSAT,” built by the Intelligent Space System Laboratory of the university, is expected to sensitize prospective students who wish to pursue a career in the Space Science and Satellite Technology program the university started offering last year.

In September 2010, at the Comsys’ VSAT conference in London, ViaSat CEO Mark Dankberg spoke optimistically about placing an order for the ViaSat-2 satellite and having it launched by 2014. However, as we head out of SATELLITE 2013, it seems this panorama has become very uncertain.

Georgian media company JSC Global Contact Consulting has signed a multi-year lease with Eutelsat Communications for capacity on the Eutelsat 36B satellite.

Georgian media company JSC Global Contact Consulting has signed a multi-year lease with Eutelsat Communications for capacity on the Eutelsat 36B satellite.

PlanetIQ has urged Congress to exercise its oversight of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and address the systemic failures

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) has completed initial checkout and snapped the mission's first multispectral images. The spacecraft was launched on Feb. 11.

The EDGE Innovation Network has announced the opening of its new EDGE Space Innovation Center. This marks the 13th and newest center, housed within the General Dynamics' Seabrook, Md., facility; less than two miles from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

[Satellite TODAY 03-22-13] Yahsat CCO Shawkat Ahmed, whose company is playing a key role in bringing satellite broadband services to the EMEA region, told audience members of SATELLITE 2013’s closing […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-22-13] While speaking on a military satcom panel at the Satellite 2013 conference, United States Army CIO G6 Space and Airborne Branch Senior Milsatcom Systems Analyst Edward Aymar […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-22-13] Mitsubishi Electric has completed an expansion of its satellite production facility at the company’s Kamakura Works in Kamakura, Japan. Mitsubishi said the upgraded facility aims to double […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-22-13] FSS operator Intelsat has signed a multi-year contract extension agreement with Lebanon-based ART/International Network Distribution (ART/IND), which aggregates and distributes niche and international channels in the global […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-22-13] Harris Corporation has partnered with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to develop and successfully deploy the Product Anomaly, Ticket, Relationship, Organization, and Notification (PATRON) – […]

Tags: Thuraya, SatSleeve, Apple, iPhone, Publication: Engadget.com Publication Date: 03/22/2013 Despite the Gorilla glass, we’re not sure if it’s a great idea to bring that iPhone to K2. Still, if […]

Tags: Estonia, Cubesat, Arianespace, Vega, ESTCube-1 Publication: Space-Travel.com Publication Date: 03/22/2013 Estonia’s student cubesat satellite is ready for the next Vega launch. The tiny spacecraft passenger for Vega’s upcoming Flight […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-21-13] Space Exploration Technologies’ (SpaceX) next generation Merlin 1D engine has achieved flight qualification through a 28 test program and is now fully qualified to fly on the […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-21-13] Hispasat will expand its broadband satellite-based network with Gilsat Satellite Networks’ SkyEdge II System, Gilat announced March 20. The SkyEdge system aims to join thousands of new […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-21-13] U.S. satellite and telco distributors achieved a small gain of multichannel video subscribers in 2012, SNL Kagan reported. According to SNL Kagan, the three primary TV distribution […]

[Satellite TODAY 03-21-13] If NovelSat CEO Itzik Wulkan is correct in his assessment, the demand for international satellite bandwidth services will have increased 2,000 percent in a 10-year timespan between […]