Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 03-23-11] Lockheed Martin unveiled the first Orion spacecraft and its Space Operations Simulation Center (SOSC) at a NASA showcase near the manufacturer’s facilities in Denver, Colo., the company announced March 21.     The Orion spacecraft will now undergo testing to validate the spacecraft’s ability to endure harsh environments in space as it hopes...

[Satellite TODAY 03-21-11] The U.S. Army’s Force 21 Battle Command Brigade placed $71.1 million in Blue Force Tracking 2 (BFT-2) orders with ViaSat under the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity BFT-2 contract vehicle the Pentagon signed with ViaSat in July, the company announced March 18.     In addition to new terminals, the order will see ViaSat provide...

[Satellite TODAY 03-21-11] GeoEye’s $3.8 billion EnhancedView contract with the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) helped the satellite imagery provider increase its 2010 revenues 22 percent from 2009 to $330.3 million, the company announced March 17.     After generating 2010 fourth quarter net income of $15.2 million compared with net income of $11.7 million in...

[Satellite TODAY 03-21-11] The U.S. Department of Defense placed a $1.2 million Ka-band amplifier order with Comtech Xicom to power military satellite communication terminals, Comtech announced March 17.     Comtech Xicom will provide the U.S. military with high linear power amplifiers in a compact, outdoor package. The form factor aims to enable much higher data-rate...

[Satellite TODAY 03-21-11] GeoScan is forming plans for a potential global Earth-observation network using hosted payloads on Iridium’s next-generation satellite constellation, Iridium Next, the mobile satellite service provider announced March 16.     This GeoScan program is an initiative to host an integrated array of scientific sensor suites as 4-kilogram small payloads, or SensorPods, on Iridium...

[Satellite TODAY 03-18-11] Integral Systems was selected by Intelsat to provide Epoch Integrated Product Suite (IPS) satellite command and control software to manage the Intelsat 21 and Intelsat 22 satellites, Integral Systems announced March 16.      The Intelsat satellites are based on Boeing’s mid-power 702 satellite bus. The contract includes options to support additional Boeing...

[Satellite TODAY 03-17-11] DigitalGlobe contracted Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services to launch the WorldView-3 next-generation, high-resolution Earth-imaging satellite on an Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., in 2014, Lockheed Martin announced March 15.     DigitalGlobe will use the satellite to support its contract with the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) to...

[Satellite TODAY 03-17-11] EMS Technologies’ Defense and Space Division has been contracted by Iridium’s prime contractor Thales Alenia Space to provide L-band communications hardware for the Iridium Next constellation, EMS announced March 16.     The five-year production award will see EMS provide Iridium Next’s fast switch matrix system. EMS said it would ramp up its...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 03-16-11] The United Nations and the Global VSAT Forum (GVF) signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate more effective use of information communication technologies (ICTs) to support disaster relief, GVF announced March 15.     The United Nations Secretariat signed the agreement in New York City days before Japan was struck with a...

[Satellite TODAY 03-16-11] Xtar received a multi-million dollar contract to provide 79.5 MHz of X-band services to Intelsat General from the Xtar-Eur satellite over the Middle East and Europe, Xtar announced March 15.     Intelsat General will use the Xtar capacity to support critical, time-sensitive data and communications between Afghanistan and Europe for Intelsat General’s...