Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 09-27-10] NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have awarded a sole source contract to Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. to design, build and test the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1), NASA announced Sept. 24.     The $248 million fixed-price contract has a performance period that extends through February 2015....

[Satellite Today 09-27-10] Globecomm Systems has been awarded a $4 million one-year contract from an unnamed U.S. government agency to provide Ku-band space segment bandwidth and bandwidth management services, the company announced Sept. 24.     Globecomm also will provide the customer with implementation, preventative and corrective maintenance and a range technical support services. The agreement...

[Satellite TODAY 09-27-10] Strategy Analytics’ Advanced Defense Systems (ADS) data model projects the radio semiconductor market will see growth due to increasing sophistication of military satcom networks’ terrestrial portion, the firm announced Sept. 24.    The report, “Terrestrial Military Satcom Platforms – Advanced Electronics Component Forecast,” projects a strong initial increase of semiconductor demand to...

[Satellite TODAY 09-24-10] Cerberus Satellite has completed its $78 million purchase of 80,000 GeoEye shares, which the imagery company will use to develop and launch the GeoEye-2 next-generation imaging satellite, GeoEye announced Sept. 23.     The terms of the stock purchase, initially announced in March, saw Cerberus provide support to GeoEye for its bid for...

[Satellite TODAY 09-24-10] Canadian information solutions provider MDA has received a $6.1 million contract extension from NASA to continue providing sustaining engineering services supporting the agency’s Space Shuttle Canadarm program, MDA announced Sept. 23.     The contract expands a deal initially signed between NASA and MDA in January 2008 and includes options for an additional...

[Satellite TODAY 09-23-10] The Norwegian government signed a cooperation agreement with the European Union (EU) to provide hardware and polar ground stations for the EU’s future Galileo satellite positioning system program, EU officials announced Sept. 22.     Norway, which is a member of the European Space Agency but does not belong to the EU, will...

[Satellite TODAY 09-23-10] MDA signed a $5.8 million deal with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to provide an advanced technology solution for CSA’s Exploration Surface Mobility program, MDA announced Sept. 22.       MDA will act as the program’s prime contractor and lead a team that will design, build and test a Mars exploration and science...

[Satellite TODAY 09-22-10] The United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched a payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on an Atlas 5 rocket from Space Launch Complex-3 facility in Florida, the ULA announced Sept. 21.     While details of the payload’s mission were not disclosed, the NRO said the spacecraft would support national defense operations....

[Satellite TODAY 09-22-10] NASA, acting on behalf of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), awarded a sole-source contract to ITT Corp. to produce the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) instrument for the agency’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1), set to launch in 2014, NASA announced Sept. 21.     The cost-reimbursement contract is worth approximately...

[Satellite TODAY 09-21-10] Northrop Grumman’s Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) demonstration satellite autonomously transferred target track data from its acquisition sensor to its tracking sensor, the company announced Sept. 20.       During the data hand-off demonstration, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) satellite acquired a ground laser, operated and pointed by the U.S. Air...