Government/Military

[Via Satellite 04-28-2016] The U.S. Air Force has awarded SpaceX an $82.7 million firm-fixed price, standalone contract to launch a GPS 3 satellite, marking the first competitively sourced National Security Space (NSS) launch services contract in more than a decade. SpaceX will provide the government with a total launch solution, which includes launch vehicle production,...

[Via Satellite 04-28-2016] The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced it will cease its efforts to restore the ailing X-ray Astronomy Satellite Astro H (Hitomi). Based on most of its analyses, including simulations on the mechanisms of object separation, the agency reported it is likely that both solar array paddles had broken off at...

[Via Satellite 04-27-2016] General John Hyten, commander of U.S. Air Force Space Command, has released a statement regarding the current policy debate over whether or not the U.S. government should make decommissioned Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICMB) motors available to commercial companies to use for launching satellites. Industry is divided on this topic, as some believe...

[Via Satellite 04-27-2016] Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., have signed a letter from the Hosted Payload Alliance (HPA) and sent it to Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for Space Winston Beauchamp, urging the U.S. Air Force to make better use of hosted payloads. The letter reiterates the direction given by different policies...

[Via Satellite 04-20-2016] The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency-Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DISA-DITCO) has awarded a Comsatcom Transponded Capacity (CTC) task order to UltiSat to provide Ku bandwidth capacity to the United States Global Vigilance Combined Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base near Palmdale, Calif. The services will support Global Hawk Unmanned Air...

[Via Satellite 04-15-2016] SES Government Solutions (SES GS) is the sole winner of the two U.S. government Trojan follow-on contracts awarded as Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) with a five-year period of performance. The Trojan contracts support U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). The Army’s Trojan Network provides access to a global, end-to-end network, complete...

[Via Satellite 04-14-2016] Raytheon, prime contractor for the U.S. Air Force‘s Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX) announced April 12 that the ground segment system passed the first formal qualification test milestone on March 4. Working with the Air Force, Raytheon completed the Configuration Item Qualification Test (CIQT) milestone for the Launch and Checkout...

[Via Satellite 04-14-2016] Comtech Telecommunications announced the U.S. government placed orders worth a total of $14.3 million for advanced communications solutions during the company’s fiscal third quarter 2016. The Department of Defense (DOD) equipment orders consisted of $8.4 million for tactical communications systems capable of encrypted voice, video and data; $3.1 million for field support of ground...

[Via Satellite 04-12-2016] Congressman Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) has released the American Space Renaissance Act (ASRA), a massive legislative bill that directs the U.S. government to leverage the commercial sector much more heavily and makes Mars NASA’s primary human spaceflight goal. The bill is structured into three parts: national security, civil and commercial. Within the national...

[Via Satellite 04-08-2016] U.S. regulators are grappling with how to ascribe the most appropriate policies for small satellites as their proliferation becomes more significant. Agency representatives and private sector executives, the latter of which have already orbited or plan to orbit hundreds of SmallSats, discussed ways to craft the best regulatory regime to preserve and...