Government/Military

[Satellite News 04-10-12] Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) is teaming with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to host a Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) on a commercial satellite that will be launched in 2016, the satellite manufacturer announced April 10.    NASA selected Goddard’s mission proposal to use the SS/L satellite platform under the agency’s Space...

[Satellite TODAY 04-09-12] NASA has contracted United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch two weather satellites in 2015 and 2017 on its Atlas 5 rockets, the agency confirmed April 6. ULA’s Atlas rockets launched previous GOES satellites in the 1990s and early 2000s.    NASA said the total cost of launch services for both its Geostationary...

[Satellite TODAY 04-09-12] French revenues declined last year in the space industry export and global satellite telecommunications markets, as France posted a national space industry revenue intake of 4.2 billion euros ($5.5 billion) that was flat compared to 2010, The French Aerospace Industries Association (GIFAS) announced in an April 4 report.    The French space...

[Satellite TODAY 04-05-12] United Launch Alliance (ULA) has successfully launched a covert payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Delta 4 rocket as part of the classified NROL-25 million, ULA confirmed April 4.    The launch represented ULA’s maiden mission for the Delta 4 Medium-Plus configured...

[Satellite News 04-05-12] Alaska Airlines will test a new air traffic control system this June in Seattle that uses satellite service to navigate aircraft and allow airport controllers to keep a constant watch on each plane in their range. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said an impressive performance result could help convince U.S. Congress...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 04-04-12] While Comtech subsidiary Comtech Mobile Datacom was widely expected to receive an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract and licensing agreement from the Pentagon to support its Blue Force Tracking 1 (BFT-1) and Movement Tracking System (MTS) programs, the $80.7 million price tag on the deal was slightly better than analysts had anticipated....

[Satellite TODAY Insider 04-03-12] Lockheed Martin has won a $54.2 million military contract to launch and provide early on-orbit support for a third geosynchronous Earth-orbit satellite (GEO-3), Pentagon officials confirmed April 2.    The U.S. Air Force exercised a contract line item for the satellite, which will be built at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Sunnyvale,...

[Satellite TODAY 04-03-12] Comtech Mobile Datacom has received a three-month indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to support the U.S. Army’s Blue Force Tracking 1 (BFT-1) and Movement Tracking System (MTS) programs, the company announced April 2.    The contract calls for Comtech to continue supplying satellite bandwidth for the BFT-1 and MTS platforms through the end...

[Satellite TODAY 04-03-12] Spaceopal, a joint venture between Telespazio and German Space Agency company DLR-GfR, has completed performance verification tests on the first two Galileo satellites of the European constellation at its Fucino Space Center, the companies announced April 2.    Spaceopal received and validated the functionality of encrypted signals that aim to enable Galileo’s...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 04-02-12] The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) signed a $10 million consultancy deal with Maryland-based Space Partnership International (SPI) in the United States to design the nation’s first satellite, Bangabandhu, BTRC officials confirmed March 30.    The satellite will be launched into space by 2015 to reduce Bangladesh’s reliance on foreign satellites...