Government/Military

[Via Satellite 09-23-2016] The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) needs to ensure its timelines for launching and obtaining satellite information are accurate, clear and fully documented, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. In doing so, and providing more accurate and analyzed data, GAO believes NOAA and Congress, which funds NOAA...

[Via Satellite 09-23-2016] SES has unveiled its first Government+ product offering: Tactical Persistent Surveillance (TPS), an inflatable aerostat-technology capable of hosting a variety of advanced Electro-Optical (E/O) sensor and communications payload options at altitudes up to 1,000 feet. TPS is a portable, modular solution capable of quick global deployment and operations for surveillance and communications...

[Via Satellite 09-23-2016] The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) has shifted Meteosat 8, the first satellite in the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) series of meteorological satellites, to 41.5 degrees east over the Indian Ocean. There, the satellite will replace Meteosat 7, which is approaching the end of its nearly 20-year lifetime in space....

[Via Satellite 09-22-2016] The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) wants to make sure its future ground system for government satellites, known as the Enterprise Ground Segment (EGS), makes cybersecurity a much bigger priority compared to the approach taken with ground systems currently in use. Today, DOD ground systems for military satellite programs all run separate...

[Via Satellite 09-22-2016] Lockheed Martin, prime contractor for the GPS 3 satellites, has received an order for two additional GPS 3 satellites from the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) through a contract option. The contract option procures long lead and production hardware to produce Space Vehicles (SVs) 9 and 10 for...

[Via Satellite 09-20-2016] KBR announced Sept. 19 it has completed the acquisition of Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc. (HTSI), the government services division of Honeywell. Funded through KBR’s existing line of credit facility, the company expects the acquisition will be accretive to its earnings per share in 2017. The acquisition of HTSI is part of KBR’s...

[Via Satellite 09-20-2016] ViaSat has received a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract worth $33,291,975 from the U.S. government to provide wideband jamming-proof communications to tactical users across both government and commercial satellites. The contract is for the Protected Tactical Service Field Demonstration (PTSFD) program and includes the development of a Protected Tactical Waveform (PTW) modem as well as...

[Via Satellite 09-19-016] Airbus Defence and Space, owner and operator of the Skynet X-band satellite system, has struck up partnerships with Inmarsat Government, Hughes Network Systems, and SpeedCast to offer Skynet military satellite communication services. The three companies are able to offer Skynet services to Australian, New Zealand and U.S. forces operating across the globe....

[Via Satellite 09-16-2016] The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded GeoOptics and Spire data purchase contracts under its Commercial Weather Data Pilot program. This is the first time NOAA has contracted to purchase satellite weather data from commercial providers. Under this pilot program, the companies will provide Global Positioning System Radio Occultation (GPS-RO), a critical weather...

[Via Satellite 09-16-2016] The Bi-Spectral Infrared Optical System (BRIOS) fire detection satellite developed and built by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) successfully released the Berlin Educational and Experimental Picosatellite (BEESAT 4) into space on Sept. 9. The spacecraft was released at 515 kilometers above the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago. BIROS was successfully launched from the Satish...