Government/Military

The future of NASA seems to be open to debate as budget cuts increase. With more encouragement than ever for private sector involvement in things like human spaceflight, will NASA retain its iconic status, or gradually start to fade into the shadows? When the United States created NASA at the height of the Cold War...

The dangers inherent for access to space, as well as the security of crew members already there in the period between the retirement of the space shuttle and the arrival of next-generation systems not yet cleared for regular operations, were highlighted when the latest International Space Station (ISS) replacement crew launched Nov. 14 aboard a...

[Satellite TODAY 12-30-11] Broadband solutions provider Skycasters has been awarded a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) contract to provide satellite Internet service to GSA government agencies, the company announced Dec. 29.    The GSA contract allows Skycasters to deliver commercial-grade satcom services and provide primary broadband satellite Internet service for GSA federal government buyers under...

[Satellite TODAY 12-29-11] China’s Beidou global positioning system (GPS) network has started providing services to the country and the surrounding regions, Chinese Satellite Navigation System Office Director Ran Chengqi announced Dec. 27.    Chengqi told reporters that the Beidou navigation system is offering services that include positioning and navigation routes and that the country’s government...

[Satellite TODAY 12-28-11] OHB System affiliate LuxSpace has completed construction and testing of the LuxSpace VesselSat2 AIS satellite for Orbcomm, the M2M data communications company announced Dec. 27.    LuxSpace has shipped the spacecraft to the China Great Wall Industry Corp.’s (CGWIC) Tiayuan Satellite Launch Center in China. The target launch date for VesselSat2 is...

[Satellite TODAY 12-28-11] The European Space Agency (ESA) has successful received the first triple-frequency signals from its Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) spacecraft, ESA confirmed Dec. 27.    ESA said that all Galileo signals were activated simultaneously for the first time across the European GNSS system’s three spectral bands in late December. The three bands are...

[Satellite TODAY 12-27-11] Raytheon has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force to incorporate Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) capability into its suite of APX-119 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) transponders, the company announced Dec. 27.    The IFF transponders aim to support the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) NextGen plan for...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 12-23-11] Satellite manufacturer Boeing has secured a $296 million contract option to produce the Wideband Global Satellite (WGS)-8, the eighth in a series of military communications satellites for the U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon confirmed Dec. 22.    The contract option brings the total cost of WGS-8 to $354 million. The total...

[Satellite TODAY 12-23-11] TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) has won a second extension to its U.S. Army World-Wide Satellite Systems (WWSS) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, TCS announced Dec. 21.    TCS will continue to offer and deliver turnkey, single-source and quick-reaction solutions for emerging communications requirements worldwide in support of all federal missions.    The WWSS contract...

[Satellite TODAY 12-23-11] China has successfully launched China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.’s (CASC) Ziyuan I-02C high-resolution remote-sensing satellite on a Long March 4B rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, CASC officials announced Dec. 22.     The satellite, developed and produced by CASC subsidiary China Academy of Space Technology, is China’s first spacecraft with...