Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 11-01-10] Hughes Network Systems has been selected by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to provide commercial satellite communications under the GSA and U.S. Defense Intelligence Systems Agency’s (DISA) expanded Future ComSatCom Services Acquisition (FCSA) program, the company announced Oct. 29.    Hughes, which joins Artel and CapRock on the program, will provide...

[Satellite TODAY 11-01-10] ViaSat has completed operational testing of an airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) satcom system that will transmit at speeds of 4 Mbps through a high-speed return link off the aircraft, the company announced Oct. 29.     The tests were conducted during live missions on a U.S. Special Operations Command C-130 aircraft...

[Satellite TODAY 11-01-10] Norsat International’s 2010 third-quarter revenues slipped to $4.5 million, down from $5.1 million during the same quarter in 2009, due to government order delays at the end of the quarter, the company announced in its financial results issued Oct. 29.     Government order timing has been a problem for the satellite technology...

[Satellite TODAY 10-29-10] Harris Corp. won a $64 million third-year option for its Network and Space Operations and Maintenance (NSOM) program contract with the U.S. Air Force, Harris announced Oct. 28.     The exercised option is based on the initial $416 million NSOM contract signed in January 2008 and will see Harris continue to provide...

[Satellite TODAY 10-29-10] CapRock Government Solutions’ subscription and transponder capacity services were added to the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule 70 vehicle, which will enable the company to provide services and leased bandwidth to government customers, the company announced Oct. 28.    The addition of two special item numbers for commercial satellite...

[Satellite TODAY 10-29-10] United Launch Alliance (ULA) has postponed the Oct. 29 launch of its Delta 2 rocket carrying the fourth Cosmo-SkyMed spacecraft for 48 hours due to a problem related to the space booster, ULA announced Oct. 28.     Details of the space booster problem were not disclosed. Despite technical issues, ULA said that...

[Satellite TODAY 10-28-10] Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary (KGS) has contracted Astrium to provide and install various mechanical, radiometric, thermal and acoustic testing equipment at Kazakhstan’s Satellite Assembly, Integration and Test (AIT) center, Astrium announced Oct. 27.    Astrium also will assist KGS in the construction of the center to ensure coordination with the test equipment.   ...

[Satellite TODAY 10-28-10] The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) granted GeoMetWatch the first commercial remote sensing license for a geostationary hyperspectral imaging/sounding system in the United States, GeoMetWatch announced Oct. 27.     The license permits the company to operate up to six satellites in geostationary orbit to provide hyperspectral imaging and sounding products...

[Satellite TODAY 10-27-10] A joint venture between the German Aerospace Center’s SpaceOpal and Finmeccanica’s Telespazio SpA won a 194 million euro ($271 million) contract to provide space and ground infrastructure for the European Union’s (EU) Galileo land- and air-traffic control network observation platform, the companies announced Oct. 26.     The contract — the fourth of...

[Satellite TODAY Insider 10-26-10] The German Transport Ministry has asked the European Commission (EC) to propose cost-cutting measures for Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system after an EC report confirmed the program was over budget and behind schedule, German government officials announced Oct. 25.     In the EC proposal, Germany said it wants to shrink the...