Government/Military

[Satellite News 08-21-12] Boeing is working on the Pentagon’s Family of Advanced Beyond-line-of-sight Terminals (FAB-T) program under a different fixed-price structure than was originally agreed upon under the original $235 million deal it won in September 2002. The company, which has been building ground stations that would operate new AEHF U.S. Air Force communications satellites,...

[Satellite TODAY 08-17-12] Kratos Defense & Security Solutions subsidiary SAT Corp. has received a multi-million dollar order to supply its Monics carrier monitoring system and related products to Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) in support of one of its remote broadband services customer, the company announced Aug. 16.    SAT Corp. said the Monics solution would be...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 08-17-12] The Russian federal Space agency Roskosmos could be transformed into a state-run corporation as a result of its failure earlier this month to launch two communications satellites into orbit on a Proton M rocket, Roskosmos Director Vladimir Popovkin said in a statement.    “Under one possible scenario, we’ll consider setting up...

[Satellite TODAY 08-16-12] NASA has selected the Norwegian Space Center (NSC) to provide combined data support services for NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program, the agency confirmed Aug. 15.    The firm-fixed price contract comes with a value of about $22 million and includes one base year and four one-year options to extend performance....

[Satellite TODAY 08-15-12] NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology Program has awarded contracts to three teams working on ways to exploit the advantages of CubeSats, the agency announced Aug. 14.    NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory will share a $5.5 million award with Pumpkin Inc. for work on the Integrated Solar Array and Reflectarray Antenna (ISARA) project, which...

Maj. Gen. Mike Milford, head of ICT operations division for the Australian Defense Force (ADF) believes that hosted payloads offer comparative advantages over traditional "owned and operated" solutions, including shared costs and risks between defense and industry, and the ability to leverage commercial satellite industry experience. ADF’s established partnership with Intelsat provides textbook example of...

[Satellite TODAY 08-14-12] NASA has completed negotiations with several satellite companies and has finalized its contracts for the spacecraft and instruments that comprise the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1), NASA confirmed Aug. 13.    JPSS-1 is the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) second next-generation operational polar-orbiting satellite and is scheduled to launch in...

[Satellite TODAY 08-14-12] Canada has allocated $38.9 million in funds to equip Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) satellite station facilities with state-of-the-art antenna systems, Canadian government officials announced Aug. 13.    NRCan is the federal center of expertise for the nation’s Earth observation data satellites.    Canada will use the satellite technology to provide real-time scientific...

[Satellite TODAY 08-14-12] The U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite has successfully arrived at its geostationary-orbit test location following its May 4 launch, the Air Force confirmed Aug. 13.    The satellite’s solar arrays were deployed in preparation for the Hall Current Thruster (HCT) phase of orbit transfer. During the HCT phase,...

[Satellite TODAY 08-14-12] MSS satellite services provider Inmarsat has appointed Andy Start president of the company’s global government business unit, Inmarsat announced Aug. 13.    Start will work with the global government market outside of the United States, directing all sales, marketing and delivery of services for government customers. He also will be responsible for...