Month: November 2018

SpaceX delayed the scheduled launch of the SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission, which was set for Wednesday Nov. 28. The satellites would have been carried on a Falcon 9 rocket, lifting off from Vadenberg Air Force Base in California. According to SpaceX’s twitter, “Wednesday’s launch attempt of Spaceflight SSO-A from Vandenberg Air Force Base is currently...

Amazon Web Services (AWS) revealed its new AWS Ground Station program, which will take advantage of Lockheed Martin‘s new Verge antenna network. Through this integration, customers using AWS Ground Station gain the ability to download data from multiple satellites at the same time and to continue downloading data even when unplanned outages like a weather event impact...

Lockheed Martin is contributing $1.5 million to the University of Central Florida (UCF) for the development of a new cyber innovation lab that aims to foster the next generation of cyber talent. “Our contribution is an investment in the future of students at UCF, the city of Orlando and the broader aerospace community,” said Lockheed...

In a major milestone, Sky and Space Global (SAS) signed a strategic distribution agreement with Globalsat Group for the provision of its connectivity services, including Machine to Machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IOT) services. The distribution agreement specifically pertains to the provision of narrow-band telecommunications services via the Pearl constellation of nanosatellites. Under the terms of...

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a contract to Telesat, involving its commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. Telesat will undertake investigations that could lead to the Department of Defense (DOD) making greater use of commercial LEO satellite constellations, such as Telesat’s LEO system, for DOD’s future space-based communications. The investigations will...

Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) is designing a low cost 35 kilogram lunar communications satellite mission called DoT-4, targeted for a 2021 launch. DoT-4 aims to provide the communications relay back to Earth using the Goonhilly Deep Space Network, and will link up with a rover on the surface of the Moon. SSTL is currently in...

Seakr Engineering has been awarded a contract to define requirements and build digital processing system prototypes for protected satellite communications for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. Seakr Engineering aims to develop, refine, and test advanced space digital processing prototypes for Protected Tactical Satcom (PTS) anti-jamming capabilities through a contract with the...

After seven months of traveling through space, the NASA InSight mission has landed on Mars. A few minutes after landing, InSight sent the official “beep” to NASA to signal that it was alive and well, including a photo of the Martian surface where it landed. Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory exploded into celebratory...

United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) Executive Director David Luber sees increasingly dangerous cyber-attacks and believes that greater collaboration between government and industry will be required to counter threats. “It is a team sport now,” said Luber. “We must continue to have these public private sector partnerships as we look to innovate the military space. We need...

The U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) awarded Colorado Springs-based CACI NSS a $63,267,131 fixed-price-incentive firm-target modification contract to upgrade, maintain, and support its consolidated Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN). This is the second option that the U.S. Department of Defense has exercised with CACI as part of a larger $165,067,247...