Government/Military

  The Obama Administration’s new space policy brings an increased emphasis to the commercial satellite industry as a key player in the future space roadmap. Specifically, the policy calls on government space-based agencies to look first to commercial assets – a strategy that it hopes will lead to faster innovation and more economical access to...

In its first year of operation, the U.K. Space Agency (UK Space) recently issued a report on the healthy British space industry. The report is very positive, which should give impetus to government regulators to treat this sector with tender loving care. UK Space was set up in April and is in the midst of...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 12-30-10] Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has wasted little time in wielding the axe after the loss of a number of satellites in Russia’s high profile Glonass program earlier this month. The recent launch failure resulted in the loss of three Glonass satellites, a major blow to the Russian Space industry. The satellites...

[Satellite TODAY 12-30-10] ImageSat International has reached a settlement agreement with the Serbian government, which will see the Balkan country pay 27 million euros ($35.5 million) for canceling a contract it signed with the company in 2005 to provide a military intelligence satellite.     The settlement follows a ruling by a London arbitration court that...

[Satellite TODAY 12-29-10] The Indian National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC) plans to launch 30 remote sensing satellites in the next 10 years, according to plans announced Dec. 28.     NRSC officials said that the Resourcesat-2 satellite, which will replace the seven-year-old Resourcesat-1 to obtain high-resolution multi-spectral data, would launch by the end of January 2011....

[Satellite TODAY 12-29-10] Turkey plans to send 3USAT, the nation’s first homemade communications test satellite, into orbit in September, satellite communications operator Turksat announced Dec. 28.     The satellite, under development at the Istanbul Technical University, is part of a Turksat program to manufacture Turkey’s first communications satellite by 2015.     “The satellite will provide...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 12-28-10] The Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) GSLV-F06 satellite exploded shortly after takeoff on Dec. 25, destroying both the launch vehicle and the GSAT-5P satellite, which was to replace the aging INSAT-2A spacecraft, the agency announced.     Debris from the rocket, which launched from the Sriharikota rocket launch center, crashed into the...

[Satellite TODAY 12-28-10] China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC) will launch Pakistani communications satellite Paksat-1R in August from a Chinese launch facility, Pakistani government officials announced Dec. 27.     Paksat-1R will carry a communications payload to introduce broadband Internet, digital TV distribution, broadcasting, remote and rural telephony, emergency communications, tele-education and tele-medicine services to the...

[Satellite TODAY 12-28-10] China’s development bank will lend Bolivia $251 million to finance the South American country’s first communications satellite, China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC) confirmed Dec. 27.     The financing will be used to help pay for Bolivia’s $295 million contract with CGWIC to build the satellite. The Bolivian government has agreed to...

[Satellite TODAY 12-23-10] ViaSat received $13.8 million in Blue Force Tracking 2 (BFT-2) follow-on orders from the U.S. Army, the company announced Dec. 21.     The order is part of ViaSat’s $477 million BFT-2 indefinite-delivery, indefinite contract awarded in August and follows an initial delivery order for $37.7 million. ViaSat’s BFT-2 system is derived from...