Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 07-21-11] Orbital Sciences’ Dawn interplanetary spacecraft has successfully completed its rendezvous and achieved orbit around the solar system’s second most massive asteroid, Vesta, the company announced July 20.     Orbital designed and built the Dawn spacecraft for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and successfully placed the spacecraft in orbit on July 15. As...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 07-20-11] Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) satellite launch delays are impacting Tata Sky’s ability to supply the spectrum needed to support its future telecom and broadcast services, Tata Sky Managing Director and CEO Harit Nagpal said in a July 19 statement.    Tata Sky, the DTH TV joint venture of the Tata...

[Satellite TODAY 07-20-11]The U.S. Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization has awarded Inmarsat subsidiary Stratos Government Services a maximum $315 million, eight-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract to provide satellite communications to the U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC), Stratos announced July 19.    The next-generation wideband commercial satellite communications infrastructure and Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband service will replace MSC’s current...

[Satellite TODAY 07-19-11] The second of 12 U.S. Air Force Global Positioning System (GPS) 2F satellites, SVN-63, was successfully launched on a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket. The satellite’s manufacturer Boeing announced July 18 that the satellite is functioning normally and that has received SVN-63’s first on-orbit signals.    “SVN-63 is now ready to...

[Satellite TODAY 07-19-11] Geospatial information solutions provider GeoEye has delivered EnhancedView Web Hosting Service (WHS) capabilities to the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the company announced July 18.    EnhancedView WHS aims to provide users with password-protected, online access to unclassified, high-resolution imagery within hours of its collection. The solution is powered by GeoEye’s EyeQ...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 07-18-11] The second of the U.S. Air Force’s 12 GPS 2F satellites have successfully completed pre-launch testing and are ready for liftoff onboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Boeing, the satellite’s manufacturer announced July 15.     Boeing built and tested the...

[Satellite TODAY 07-18-11] Comtech Mobile Datacom has received an initial funded order totaling $4.6 million to support the U.S. Army‘s Movement Tracking System (MTS) program, the company announced July 15.             The order provides partial funding for the continued supply of satellite bandwidth, satellite network operations, engineering services, and program management support through December 2011....

[Satellite TODAY 07-18-11] The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched its PSLV heavy-duty rocket to place its GSAT-12 communications satellite in orbit, ISRO Chief K Radhakrishnan confirmed July 15.             The PSLV rocket placed GSAT-12 in its intended sub-geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) approximately 20 minutes after blastoff. Radhakrishnan said initial operations went smoothly and...

[Satellite TODAY 07-18-11] Satellite-based managed network solutions provider Globecomm Systems has won $2.4 million contract from an unnamed multi-national organization for transportable satellite ground terminals as an amendment of a previous contract where the company was awarded approximately $29.5 million in system design and development awards.    The company announced July 15 that the amendment...

[Satellite TODAY 07-15-11] TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) has been awarded a new order with a ceiling value of $60.8 million to provide Tactical SHF Satellite Terminals (TSST) to the U.S. Army, the company announced July 14.    The order is initially funded at $53.1 million and will be funded up to a total of $60.8 million...