Government/Military

[Via Satellite 06-13-2016] NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and UAE Space Agency Chairman Khalifa Al Romaithi formalized and signed an agreement Sunday June 12 in Abu Dhabi for cooperation in areas of aeronautics research, and the exploration and use of airspace and outer space for peaceful purposes. The agreement covers cooperation and collaboration in space science,...

[Via Satellite 06-10-2016] Telespazio France has selected exactEarth to supply satellite Automatic Identification System (AIS) services to the French Navy. Earlier this week the French Navy awarded the four-year Trimaran 2 contract covering the provision of a satellite-based maritime surveillance service to a consortium of Airbus Defence and Space and Telespazio France. As part of...

[Via Satellite 06-09-2016] The U.S. Air Force is planning to formalize the creation of an intentional space for commercial satellite operators within the Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC). The pilot program for this presence, known as the Commercial Integration Cell (CIC), started in June 2015 and lasted until February this year. Originally planned for six...

[Via Satellite 06-09-2016] Qatari satellite company Es’hailSat, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) to jointly develop satellite services. The cooperation agreement will see Es’hailSat providing satellite services to the meteorological department under QCAA. Es’hailSat and QCAA also agreed to cooperate in joint investments in Earth observation satellites...

[Via Satellite 06-08-2016] Two U.S. congressmen from the House of Representatives — Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Brian Babin, R-Texas — have submitted a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) lack of decision on granting DigitalGlobe a license to fully operate its WorldView 3 remote...

[Via Satellite 06-02-2016] The United States Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has awarded ViaSat a non-competitive, firm-fixed-price contract to provide senior leaders and their support staff with Ku-band and Ka-band communications using the company’s subscription service while travelling via aircraft. Fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance funding is approximately $33 million, and the total cumulative face value...

[Via Satellite 05-31-2016] BAAINBw, the procurement agency of the German Armed Forces, has awarded a contract worth $127 million to Airbus Defence and Space for commercial satellite communication services until 2023. The contract is valid for the next 7.5 years, and includes the provision of access to selected C- and Ku-band transponders used for a...

[Via Satellite 05-24-2016] The European Commission successfully launched another pair of Galileo satellites aboard an Arianespace Soyuz ST-B launch vehicle from French Guiana on May 24, marking the 13th and 14th satellites in the European Global Navigation Satellite Services (GNSS) constellation, which consists of a planned 30 satellites in total. The Soyuz launch vehicle completed...

[Via Satellite 05-24-2016] The Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) and Argentina’s Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE) have signed a new agreement to renew their collaboration in space. The two space agencies emphasized their commitment to the Italo-Argentine System of Satellites for Emergency Management (SIASGE) through a letter of intent. SIASGE is designed to respond to...

[Via Satellite 05-23-2016] The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) has accepted Washington, D.C.-based law firm Wiley Rein LLP as its inaugural affiliate member. The association recently introduced the affiliate membership category to provide companies and organizations previously not eligible for membership with an economical way to join the association and share in marketing, communication, and event...