Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 07-12-10] Inmarsat has signed a partnership agreement with technology developer GateHouse for the two companies to create a development program to enhance the BGAN Software Defined Radio (SDR) waveform originally developed by GateHouse, Inmarsat announced July 9.      The mobile satellite company said the partnership is an effort to deliver the complete BGAN...

[Satellite TODAY 07-12-10] L-3 Linkabit has completed a payload characterization and verification test for the Wideband Global Satcom System (WGS-3) with its partners, the U.S. Army Program Manager Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (PM WIN-T) and General Dynamics C4S, L-3 announced.     The test featured several types of terminals using Linkabit’s MPM-1000 modems with the Network Centric...

[Satellite News 07-09-10] The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shut down half of the transponders on the Insat-4B communications satellite after it suffered a solar panel power glitch July 7 — the latest addition to a list of delays, failures and anomalies that ISRO has endured in 2010.     After starting of the year strong,...

[Satellite TODAY 07-09-10] Comtech Mobile Datacom Corp. received a $22.2 million order for mobile satellite data communications transceivers under its $384 million Blue Force Tracking (BFT) IDIQ program contract with the U.S. Army, the company announced July 8.     Comtech will supply its Model MT-2011 mobile satellite ground transceiver and its AVX-06 aviation transceiver to...

[Satellite TODAY 07-09-10] NASA has awarded a crew robotics and vehicle equipment work contract to ATK Space Systems, the agency announced July 8.     ATK was among three contract winners. Oceaneering International and the University of Alabama at Birmingham also won contracts, which hold a combined value up to $70 million, running through June 2015....

[Satellite TODAY 07-09-10] Harris Corp. has received orders totaling $99 million to supply C4I systems, including Falcon tactical radios and sensors for UAVs and other advanced satcom applications, to an unnamed military customer in Asia, the company announced July 8.     Harris will provide the customer with a multi-level system for command and control communications...

[Satellite News 07-09-10] Last week, Satellite News outlined the United States’ aging space and satellite workforce issue and what steps were being taken to address the issue. This week, we present how the problem has affected Europe, Asia and the Middle Eastern regions.     While some in the United States see the country falling behind...

[Satellite TODAY 07-08-10] The U.S. Air Force has postponed a  scheduled July 8 Minotaur 4 launch carrying the Space-Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) due to an anomaly discovered on another Minotaur 4 rocket during testing, the Air Force announced July 7.     The test identified a software issue that is being assessed for implications to the...

[Satellite TODAY 07-08-10] Astrium has been contracted by the European Space Agency (ESA) to undertake initial development studies for a next-generation launcher (NGL) for future satellite launches under the ESA’s Future Launcher Preparatory Program (FLPP), Astrium announced July 7.     This 15-month project has a total value of 8.5 million euros ($10.6 million), of which...

[Satellite TODAY 07-08-10] United Space Alliance (USA) will layoff about 15 percent of its 8,100-employee space shuttle workforce, effective Oct. 1, the company announced July 7.     USA said the layoffs were necessary in to align its workforce level with the company’s space shuttle program operations contract work scope and current budget. Two space shuttle...