Government/Military

[Via Satellite 05-22-2014] Exelis received a multimillion-dollar commercial contract to build the primary payload for the second Greenhouse Gas Observing Satellite (GOSAT 2). The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) satellite will use an Exelis-built Thermal and Near Infrared Sensor for carbon Observation-Fourier Transform Spectrometer (TANSO-FTS) to measure atmospheric greenhouse gas density. “This award was a...

[Via Satellite 05-21-2014] SES Government Solutions (SES GS) will be the first provider to offer O3b Networks’ services from its Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) constellation of satellites directly to the United States government. The O3b capacity will be offered on SES GS’ General Services Administration (GSA) schedule as of June 30, 2014. The MEO satellites...

[Via Satellite 05-20-2014] Airbus Defence and Space delivered X-band satellite communications capabilities — Deployable Maritime Milsat (DMM) services that use Airbus’ Skynet 5 constellation — to four United Kingdom Royal Navy Mine Counter Measure Vessels (MCMVs) in the Arabian Gulf. These services are part of Airbus’ AuroraGlobal portfolio, which provides satellite communications services, making sure...

[Via Satellite 05-19-2014] The most recent Boeing-built Global Positioning System (GPS) 2F satellite sent its first signals from space following its launch on Friday, May 16, 2014. This marks the halfway point of the 12 launches scheduled by the United States Air Force for the GPS 2F constellation. The satellite was launched at 8:03 p.m....

[Via Satellite 05-16-2014] After 15 years of restrictions and intense scrutiny, the United States Department of State has reclassified satellites and several related components so they will no longer be treated as weapons. The changes affect Category 15 of the U.S. Munitions List (USML), which covers spacecraft and related articles, by shifting most commercial, civil...

[Via Satellite 05-16-2014] General Dynamics C4 Systems delivered the 4,000th Sectera vIPer Universal Secure Phone to the United States Department of State. These phones have been replacing older models of the Secure Terminal Equipment (STE) that the department currently uses. The phone is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) device that secures voice and data...

[Via Satellite 05-12-2014] Orbcomm will begin offering its Machine-to-Machine (M2M) solutions to government customers through Corp Ten’s General Services Administration (GSA) schedule. The GSA Schedule by Corp Ten permits government agencies to buy commercial goods and services under pre-negotiated terms and pricing, and will allow Orbcomm to begin offering products and services such as satellite...

[Via Satellite 05-08-2014] Euroconsult has released a new report on military satellite communications (milsatcom) usage. According to the report, U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) satellite usage has increased five times in the period between 2000 and 2012. Also, bandwidth usage per deployed U.S. soldier has increased by more than 150 percent over the past 10...

[Via Satellite 05-08-2014] Lockheed Martin finished building the propulsion module for the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Fourth Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO 4) vehicle. The module will maneuver the satellite during transfer to its final orbit location and will carry out on-orbit repositioning tasks throughout the mission life. Next, the company will continue with satellite assembly,...

[Via Satellite 05-07-2014] Earlier this year and in a key shot in the arm for the hosted payload industry, Satmex, owned by Eutelsat Communications, signed an agreement with Raytheon and Boeing to enable the Boeing-built all-electric propulsion Satmex 9 satellite to carry a hosted payload that will allow the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to...