Government/Military

[Via Satellite 06-04-2014] The Solar Array Generator (SAG) for the fourth China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS 4) was integrated onto its payload on May 30, 2014 under the supervision of technicians from China and Brazil. The generator underwent a series of evaluations at the Test and Integration Laboratory (ITL) of the National Institute for Space...

[Via Satellite 06-03-2014] The United States Air Force recently announced long-awaited decisions on its Space Fence and Family of Advanced Beyond Line of Sight Terminals (FAB-T). The $914.7 million, five-year Space Fence program award was competed for between Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. While Lockheed Martin got the Space Fence contract, Raytheon didn’t come out empty...

[Via Satellite 06-03-2014] NASA awarded a $208 million contract to Exelis to build the Radiation Budget Instrument (RBI), a scanning radiometer that can measure Earth’s reflected sunlight and emitted thermal radiation. The instrument will judge the effects of clouds on the Earth’s energy balance. The contract entails one flight unit with the option for two...

[Via Satellite 06-02-2014] Skycorp and a group of citizen scientists have successfully established two-way communication with an inactive NASA spacecraft, the International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE 3) as part of the ISEE 3 Reboot Project. NASA signed a Non-Reimbursable Space Act Agreement (NRSAA) with Skycorp on May 21, which allows the company to contact and...

[Via Satellite 06-02-2014] Globecomm was awarded a delivery order from the United States Army’s Program Executive Office for the Command Control and Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T) under the Global Tactical Advanced Communications Systems (GTACS) Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle. The company was previously awarded a GTACS contract in November of 2012...

[Via Satellite 05-30-2014] General Dynamics UK awarded two five-year contracts to Exelis to support communications modernization and logistics, supply and support for tactical radios for the U.K Ministry of Defence (MoD) as part of the Bowman radio program. The full MoD contract award is valued at $617 million. The first of the two contracts is...

[Via Satellite 05-29-2014] Globecomm received a contract extension from the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) for $9.6 million for continued communications services and onsite support for the company’s deployed GPS-based Force Tracking System (FTS). This brings the combined contract value to $84 million for the design and installation of a GPS FTS for...

[Via Satellite 05-27-2014] The European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus Defence and Space signed the first contractual documents for the construction of the MetOp Second Generation (MetOp SG) weather satellites. The agreement was signed before German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the International Airshow ILA in Berlin, Germany. The MetOp SG program is a joint cooperative...

[Via Satellite 05-22-2014] Hispasat’s subsidiary Hispasat Colombia has awarded a contract to Hughes for an HX broadband satellite system and terminals. The equipment is planned for use with approximately 650 Vive Digital kiosks (KVDs) in a Hispasat service region of Colombia. The Colombian Ministry of Information Technology and Communication‘s (MinTIC) coordinates the Vive Digital program,...

[Via Satellite 05-22-2014] The United States Navy has placed an initial order for Harris Corporation’s Falcon 3 Multi-channel Manpack tactical radio. Harris plans to begin deliveries of the radios this fall to the Naval Special Warfare Command. The radio does not need hardware changes to operate over the new Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) military...