Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 08-23-10] The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is planning to build a wireless small-satellite network to provide a scalable set of open standard technologies, the agency announced Aug. 19.     To facilitate the new program, DARPA said it would change the focus of its existing System F6 program to emphasize development...

[Satellite TODAY 08-20-10] Northrop Grumman has been selected by the U.S. Army to provide encryption devices that will upgrade communications security of the Force 21 Battle Command Brigade and Below FBCB2-Blue Force Tracking network, the company announced Aug. 19.      Under a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with a ceiling of $300 million, Northrop Grumman...

[Satellite TODAY 08-20-10] NASA and ATK will conduct a full-scale test of a five-segment, first-stage solid rocket motor on Aug. 31 at the ATK Aerospace Systems test facility in Promontory, Utah, the agency announced.     The two-minute static firing test will assess motor performance at low temperatures. NASA said the solid rocket motor, built as...

[Satellite TODAY 08-18-10] The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), with help Boeing and Iridium Communications, has implemented a space-based system to monitor the Earth’s space environment, the APL announced Aug. 18.      The Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) provides real-time magnetic field measurements using Iridium’s constellation of 66 satellites as...

[Satellite TODAY 08-18-10] Nevion, a video transport solution provider, has helped NASA transport stereo 3-D video of two space shuttle launches in real time, Nevion announced Aug. 17.      The experimental terrestrial transmission was a proof of concept using stereo 3-D video capture of the Atlantis and Endeavor space shuttle launches at Kennedy Space Center,...

Inmarsat Navigation Ventures Ltd. received a contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop and certify a transceiver terminal for the Inmarsat Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN), the U.S. Department of Defense announced Aug. 13.      Under the $18 million contract, Inmarsat will modify the BGAN network to support space-based terminal equipment,...

NASA‘s first microsatellite, Fastsat, has arrived at Kodiak Island, Alaska, from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to begin final launch preparations with Orbital Sciences, the agency announced Aug. 12.     Outfitted with six technology and atmospheric experiments, the microsatellite will be integrated on a Minotaur 4 launch vehicle and lift off from the Kodiak complex...

Newtec has won a multi-million dollar contract to provide its FlexACM technology, supporting IP-trunking satellite links, to an unnamed government prime contractor in the United States, the company announced Aug. 10.      Newtec will provide and help install a solution that includes Elevation EL470 satellite IP modems with FlexACM technology in 1:1 and 1:4 redundant...

Orbit Technologies has won a $19 million systems contract with an unnamed military customer, the company announced Aug. 4.     The contract will see Orbit supply the customer with Ku-band, Orsat-G and C-band broadband satellite communication systems for naval military use. The order also includes a long-term multi-year service contract.     “With this award, we...

General Dynamics awarded Lockheed Martin a $71 million contract to provide communications hardware and equipment for the transmission subsystem of the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increment 2 program, Lockheed Martin announced Aug. 2.     The Lockheed Martin transmission subsystem will provide the foundation for the WIN-T network’s data transfer capability over a highly dispersed, non-contiguous...