Government/Military

[Via Satellite 08-14-2014] NASA has selected proposals from Amprius of Sunnyvale, Calif. and the University of Maryland, College Park to study new energy storage technologies. The proposals received awards through Phase 2 of the agency’s Game Changing Development (GCD) program. Amprius will study silicon anode based cells for high specific energy Li + systems, and...

[Via Satellite 08-14-2015] Data Link Solutions (DLS), a joint venture between Rockwell Collins and BAE Systems, has received an $18.3 million award from the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command to deliver Multifunctional Information Distribution System Low Volume Terminals (MIDS-LVT) to the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Air National Guard, as well as...

[Via Satellite 08-13-2015] NASA has initiated the next round of its CubeSat Launch Initiative, which provides access to space for CubeSats developed by NASA centers, accredited educational institutions, and non-profit organizations on agency rocket launches or International Space Station (ISS) missions. Selected experiments will fly as auxiliary payloads on NASA rocket launches or be deployed...

[Via Satellite 08-12-2015] The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed contracts with Airbus Safran Launchers (ASL), European Launch Vehicle (ELV) and the French Space Agency (CNES) for Europe’s next generation launchers. The agency’s contract to ASL, prime contractor for the Ariane 6, is worth 2.4 billion Euros ($2.7 billion), to ELV, 395 million Euros ($441...

[Via Satellite 08-11-2015] The U.S. Navy has ordered Digital Modular Radios (DMRs) and related equipment from General Dynamics to enable communications aboard new vessels with the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS). The order is valued at more than $29 million for 56 AN/USC-61(C) DMRs and related equipment, purchased through option five on a contract awarded...

[Via Satellite 08-05-2015] The U.S. Air Force wants to manage the transition to competing launches “very carefully,” now that two companies are certified to conduct missions for national security payloads. According to Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) at the Air Force Space Command, the military branch is...

[Via Satellite 08-04-2015] Comtech PST Corp., a New York-based subsidiary of Comtech Telecommunications has received a $1.3 million order for solid-state, high-power RF switches. The follow-on order came from a major domestic prime contractor for use by the United States military. The switches provide for broad frequency coverage and are key components in an integrated electronic countermeasures...

[Via Satellite 08-03-2015] The United States Air Force declared Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite system on July 28. The constellation currently consists of three in-orbit spacecraft with three more, AEHF-4, AEHF-5, and AEHF-6, scheduled to launch in 2017, 2018, and 2019 respectively. The AEHF system is a joint...

[Via Satellite 07-31-2015] On July 30 the United States Congress missed what many considered to be the soonest viable attempt to reauthorize the Export-Import bank — an important player in the satellite industry — leaving the Export Credit Agency (ECA) inactive for a lengthier amount of time. Ex-Im bank requires regular reauthorization, which in the...

[Via Satellite 07-29-2015] On Saturday, July 25, China launched two satellites aboard a Long March 3B/Expedition 1 rocket for its indigenous Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), BeiDou. The launch occurred from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China’s Sichuan Province, with the satellites reaching their preset orbits in 3.5 hours, according to the center....