Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 05-21-12] The U.S. National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2013 has been amended to includea measure that would give the U.S. president authority to ease export restrictions for commercial satellites and related components, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) said in a May 17 statement.    Berman said the amended bill is now under...

[Satellite TODAY 05-16-12] The U.S. Air Force will pay United Launch Alliance (ULA) $398 million to launch two satellites by late 2014, the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed May 14.    The contract was awarded to ULA’s subsidiary, United Launch Services.    ULA is contracted to put the Air Force’s Mobile User Objective System-4 (MUOS-4)...

[Satellite TODAY 05-15-12] The National Space Society (NSS) has called on U.S. Congress to ease export control regulations on spacecraft and related items, as urged by the U.S. Departments of Defense and State in a recent joint report, the NSS announced May 14.    The report, titled “Risk Assessment of the United States Space Export...

[Satellite TODAY 05-14-12] The Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) is planning to decommission its NigeriaSat-1 spacecraft soon, NASRDA Director General Mohammed Seidu confirmed in a May 11 statement.    Seidu added that the country’s second Earth observation satellite, NigeriaSat-2, has completed in-orbit testing and is now set for commercial activities. NigeriaSat-2 was...

[Satellite News 05-14-12] The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has initiated an effort to accelerate the development of satellite-based air traffic control systems in the United States by issuing a $2.77 prime contract to ITT Corp. and a subcontract to GE subsidiary Naverus to create NextGen technology that will allow aircraft to fly more directly to...

[Satellite TODAY 05-11-12] China has successfully launched its Yaogan 14 remote-sensing satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern province of Shanxi, Chinese officials announced May 10.    The satellite was carried into orbit aboard a China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. Long March 4B rocket. Yaogan 14 will be used to conduct...

[Satellite TODAY 05-10-12] The European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed May 9 it has called off the recovery efforts for its Earth-observing satellite Envisat and declared the satellite dead after a month of silence.    Envisat abruptly stopped communicating with ground stations on April 8. ESA said it made repeated attempts to restore contact, but could...

[Satellite TODAY 05-08-12] ATK Aerospace Launch Division Vice President and General Manager Charlie Precourt has been inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, ATK confirmed May 7.    Precourt was inducted in the Astronaut Hall of Fame’s 2012 class, along with retired astronauts Franklin Chang-Diaz and Kevin Chilton.    Before joining ATK Launch Systems...

Over the next 10 years, the U.S. Department of Defense could spend as much as $1 billion to piggyback its communications onto hosted payloads featured on commercial satellites. The U.S. Air Force confirmed these potential plans in early May, which includes seeking companies for contract bids as early as September. Boeing hopes to be a...

Commercial operators will see an estimated $106.2 million in hosted payload equipment revenues in 2012, including engineering services and commercial satellite operator hosting services, according to a recent research report by Northern Sky Research, which predicted that those same revenues are expected to range from $330.8 million to $554 million by 2022.    The NSR...