Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 07-29-11] L-3 Communications Holdings will spinoff some of its government services operations in the first half of 2012 to form a new company and free itself from potential conflicts of interest with its parent company, L-3 announced July 28 during its 2011 second-quarter report.    The new company, Engility, will provide systems engineering...

[Satellite TODAY 07-28-11] China has launched another Beidou navigation satellite from the Xichang launch center on a Long March 3A rocket, the satellite’s developer China Academy of Space and Technology confirmed July 27.    The Beidou indigenous satellite navigation and positioning network was carried into a geostationary orbit. The satellite is equipped with hardware that...

[Satellite News 07-28-11] GeoEye’s stocks are surging based on rumors that were published July 27 from various financial analysis firms that the imagery solutions provider hired Goldman Sachs to explore a possible acquisition sale to potential suitors such as Lockheed Martin, Harris Corp., EADS Astrium and Northrop Grumman.     Some satellite market analysts, however, are...

[Satellite TODAY 07-26-11] Harris Corp. received a 10-year, $85 million contract extension from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to continue developing the Alaskan Satellite Telecommunications Infrastructure (ASTI) system as its prime contractor, the company announced July 25.    The contract, which has a five-year base, with five one-year options, will see Harris replace and...

[Satellite TODAY 07-26-11] Integral Systems received a $468,000 contract from mZeal Communications to provide space systems expertise and Multi-level Secure (MLS) network architecture to support mZeal’s Mission-Aware Network Architecture for Small-Satellite Adaptive Systems (MANASSAS) project, Integral announced July 25.    The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) issued the MANASSAS prime contract under its...

[Satellite TODAY 07-25-11] A small piece of cloth stuck in a fuel line may be the reason that the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite hasn’t reached its intended orbit since it was launched in August 2010, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued July 22.    The GAO said...

[Satellite TODAY 07-25-11] The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has deployed the communication antenna on-board the recently launched GSAT-12 communication satellite, ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan announced July 22.    ISRO confirmed that the satellite was in its final orbital configuration, pointing towards the Earth.    “GSAT-12 is now located at 63 degrees East longitude and...

[Satellite TODAY 07-25-11] Canadian satellite information solutions company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) has received $7.9 million in follow-on contracts from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the company announced July 22.     MDA will continue to upgrade the FAA’s Instrument Procedure Development System (IPDS) as part of an enterprise-wide automation program, which aims to align...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 07-22-11] U.S. military budget cuts proposed in Congress’ Defense Appropriations bill in June risk the loss of skilled aerospace workforce, as well as capabilities to design and build crucial national security space assets, according to Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) CEO Marion Blakey.             In a July 21 statement, Blakey blasted Congress’ June...

[Satellite TODAY 07-21-11] Thales Alenia Space has won Phase B contracts from Italian space agency ASI to support two parts of the Solar Orbiter satellite mission under the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Cosmic Vision program, the satellite manufacturer announced July 20.     Acting as prime contractor, Thales will produce and deliver the entire Multi-Element Telescope...