Government/Military

Orbit Communications Systems intends to expand the development of its new Multi-Purpose Terminal (MPT) for airborne satcom to include helicopters. According to the company, a global provider of defense products and services placed an order valued at approximately $3 million for the delivery of helicopter systems between 2018 and 2022. This is the first time...

DataPath has been selected as a small business prime contractor under the Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services contract, known as RS3. This new $37.4 billion, 10-year Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract combines the requirements previously met under five expiring contract vehicles to make professional engineering support services centrally available. The RS3 program supports a diverse...

Despite protests from some U.S. Air Force officials, the House Armed Services Committee has moved ahead with the proposed Space Corps branch, passing it as a provision in last month’s National Defense Authorization. While legislation still has a ways to go before the new military branch becomes a reality, officials are eyeing Colorado Springs as...

We have laws, regulations, and norms of behavior on our roadways, waterways, and airways. We classify and regulate traffic based on things like size, maneuverability, weight, hazard potential, and others. An oil tanker is treated very differently than a kayak, and a truck carrying hazardous fuel is treated quite differently than a Vespa scooter. Do...

Three of six new Lockheed Martin-developed receivers have now been deployed to help the U.S. Air Force maintain the accuracy of GPS satellite signals. These upgrades of the GPS Monitoring Stations from early 1990s technology are part of an overall effort to modernize and maintain the current GPS ground control system, known as the Architecture...

Harris Corporation has delivered the third of 10 advanced navigation payloads to Lockheed Martin, which will help increase accuracy, signal power and jamming resistance for U.S. Air Force GPS 3 satellites. The payloads feature a Mission Data Unit (MDU) with a 70 percent digital design that links atomic clocks, radiation-hardened computers and transmitters — enabling...

Orbital ATK stated the manufacturing of the NASA/U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat 9 spacecraft is progressing on schedule, less than a year after the company won the contract award in October 2016. Landsat 9, a land surface mapping satellite, will collect space-based images and data that serve as valuable resources for researchers in areas that...

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer recently cited this Buffalo News article while criticizing the U.S. House of Representatives for proposing to cut $369 million from the next-generation weather satellite budget. The cut would leave just $50 million for the entire program. The same budget also proposes a 0.8 percent increase in the budget...

In order to manage the incoming deluge of satellite imagery, the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) will spearhead new Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) with the commercial sector, according to NGA Director Robert Cardillo. During his keynote address at the SmallSat 2017 Conference in Logan, Utah, Cardillo stated that NGA will lend previously inaccessible data to companies...

Space Systems Loral (SSL) announced that it successfully completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for NASA’s Restore-L mission to provide satellite servicing in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). With the completion of the PDR, Restore-L is proceeding on schedule to the next phase of development and its launch in 2020. SSL is working with NASA Goddard...