Government/Military

[Via Satellite 04-21-2015] Advantech Wireless’ Solid State Ku-band transceiver system has successfully undergone the Indian Defense Environment Standard (JSS 5555), making it the first ground-based solid-state amplifier system to achieve the standard in India. The same equipment also completed tests for a MIL-STD-461E requirement matrix specified for the Indian Ground Air Force. Advantech Wireless’ AWMT-3000LK...

[Via Satellite 04-20-2015] Northrop Grumman recently decided to divide its Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting Systems division (ISR&TSD) in two, separating satellite systems from those that are airborne. The pivot back to separate divisions returns the company to the way it was structured prior to sequestration and the budget cuts that acutely impacted many defense...

[Via Satellite 04-17-2015] Export Development Canada’s (EDC’s) recent financing of Hispasat’s Amazonas 5 satellite could be a signal of greater activity within the nation’s satellite industry. On March 30 the Canadian Export Credit Agency (ECA) agreed to fund approximately $149 million for the Amazonas 5, which MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates’ (MDA) subsidiary Space Systems Loral...

[Via Satellite 04-17-2015] Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have signed a new agreement to work together on the Dream Chaser space vehicle. The company and the space agency will extend a previous one-year Dream Chaser technical agreement signed in 2013 out to 2017. The partnership continues developmental work and the identification...

[Via Satellite 04-17-2015] NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have started working on the Landsat 9 Earth observation satellite, with a launch planned for 2023. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. is leading the Landsat 9 flight segment. In addition to building the satellite, the space agency is also responsible for...

[Via Satellite 04-15-2015] The University of Colorado has awarded a five-year contract to SES Government Solutions (SES GS) to host a NASA-funded payload on board the SES 14 satellite. The primary purpose of the Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission is to modernize the understanding of the space environment by filling the...

[Via Satellite 04-15-2015] Norsat International has received an purchasing order from the U.S. Defense Media Activity (DMA) for its GLOBETrekkerTM 2.0 portable satellite terminals, along with its 50W Atom series Block Upconverters (BUCs) to enable satellite uplink of live high definition or standard definition video from the field, as well as data transfer and email...

[Via Satellite 04-10-2015] The United States Strategic Command’s (U.S. Stratcom) Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) is planning to bring in a body of commercial satellite industry officials in the coming months to tighten relations between government and industry. Speaking at an April 10 Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event, Lt Gen John Raymond, Commander, 14th...

Denmark is a relatively small country in Europe with a population of less than 6 million people. However, over the last 20 years, it has seen its demands for satellite capacity increase by over 20 times, making it a keen acquirer of new satellite capability. In an exclusive interview with Via Satellite, Peter Malmberg, project...

[Via Satellite 04-08-2015] NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center Academic Affairs Office in in Huntsville, Ala. is hosting the 15th annual NASA Student Launch event on April 10 and April 11. In this event, middle school, high school and college and university students from more than 30 academic institutions will participate in student-built rocket competitions. The...