Government/Military

[Satellite News 04-03-12] Proposed military budget cuts, the degree of which are to be outlined in an upcoming report from the United States government’s defense and intelligence agencies, may threaten the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) $7.3 billion contract with GeoEye and DigitalGlobe to provide high-resolution images over 10 years, according to analysts.    Benchmark Defense...

The U.S. Air Force received a vital boost to its satellite communications capacity supply on a clear evening in mid-January, when a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket lofted its fourth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS-4) satellite from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The $464 million Boeing-built satellite, capable of providing 10 times the communications...

Infantry and Special Forces alike have long needed tactical communications-on-the-move manpack terminals that are flexible and quickly deployable to provide ground-based situational awareness. Used since just before World War II, tactical radios have evolved with advances in size, weight and performance, as well as expanding waveforms to support network-centric warfare. Key breakthroughs include the introduction...

The milsatcom market could be an interesting one to watch this year given that governments around the world are still in the process of shaping their future plans. What is interesting is that there is much more talk of troop withdrawals and reducing military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq now than there has been during...

Boeing, Artel Partner to Sell Inmarsat Bandwidth to U.S. Government Boeing Commercial Satellite Services has entered into a cooperative business agreement with Artel to distribute Inmarsat bandwidth to U.S. government customers via the Inmarsat-3, -4 and -5 satellites. Boeing said it has been working with Artel and potential customers and users to develop Ka-band powered...

[Satellite TODAY 03-30-12] SpaceX has assembled a team of outside experts to form an independent safety advisory panel that will oversee the company’s human spaceflight system, SpaceX announced March 29.    The company said its new panel would provide objective assessments of the safety of the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 launch vehicle to help...

[Satellite TODAY 03-30-12] Researchers at Switzerland’s Federal Polytechnic of Lausanne (EPFL) claim to have built a miniature rocket motor that could lower the price of satellite launches to one-tenth of today’s average costs, EPFL officials announced March 29.    Swiss scientists said the rocket was designed for small satellites, as the first prototype weighs just...

[Satellite TODAY 03-29-12] Nigeria has purchased Earth imagery resources from British observation satellites after discovering that its own recently launched, $64 million satellite project failed to provide relevant images in orbit, the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) confirmed March 28.    The satellite project was supposed to track likely operational bases of...

[Satellite News 03-28-12] The Swiss Space Center hopes to obtain investments from international firms to support its recent efforts to develop a solution that will clean up space debris in orbit. The organization announced the details of its CleanSpace One program in February, which included a budget of 10 million Swiss Francs ($11.07 million) to...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 03-27-12] International Launch Services (ILS) successfully placed the Intelsat 22 satellite into a super-synchronous transfer orbit onboard a Proton M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the spacecraft’s manufacturer Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems has received its first signals, the companies confirmed March 26.    FSS operator Intelsat will use...