Government/Military

General Dynamics Mission Systems and a NASA team successfully completed the final laboratory System Acceptance Test (SAT) of NASA’s Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment (SGSS) project. The test took place at the General Dynamics SGSS laboratory in Scottsdale, Arizona. Future system testing and evaluation will take place at NASA’s White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, New Mexico, which serves...

Gilat Satellite Networks was selected by Local Authorities Satellite Communication (LASCOM), a Japanese government agency, for a multi-million dollar project. Gilat will deliver the next generation disaster response platform to Japan’s forty-seven prefectures. Gilat in partnership with JSAT will ensure essential communication services for the people of Japan in case of disaster. LASCOM requires a...

Ball Aerospace and Technologies successfully completed development of an Earth science instrument to measure air pollution over North America, and has been formally accepted by NASA. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution instrument (TEMPO) will be the first space-based instrument to monitor major air pollutants across the North American continent hourly during daytime. In doing...

Boeing backed out of a satellite order from a Chinese government-owned firm on Thursday, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. This decision followed a Wall Street Journal investigation which claimed that China funneled around $200 million to the Global IP project. The report stated that “a person familiar with Boeing’s thinking said...

We enter the new year with 2020 closely in sight — a period which could mark a profound turning point for U.S. government satellite communication acquisition and implementation. Riding the momentum of a series of events over the past year, federal and industry leaders appear poised to take the next critical steps forward in a...

Thales Alenia Space signed two contracts with Korea to develop a constellation of high-resolution observation radar satellites for the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), known as Korea “425 Project.” One contract is with Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI), and one is with Hanwha Systems Corporation (HSC). KAI originally won a contract from South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development...

Ball Aerospace was selected to build an adaptable, open-source framework testbed to support ground processing needs for the U.S. Air Force‘s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC). This prototype works with third-party processing applications and helps visualize the time-critical processing performance in satellite ground systems, ensuring timely and reliable missile warnings, battlespace awareness, and technical...

In the middle of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) ambitious Space Month initiative in November, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sat down for an interview with Via Satellite to discuss a regulatory agenda that he believes will cultivate innovation in space. “Some might say that nine space-related items on the agenda for a monthly meeting...

Charter Communications subsidiary CCO Fiberlink filed an application for a Special Temporary Authority (STA) with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The application asks for an STA to conduct experimental equipment testing in the 3.7 GHz to 4.2 GHz band, in hopes to advance the company’s understanding of technology and network potential in the C-band. According to...

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...