Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 06-02-10] DigitalGlobe has secured a one-year Crisis Event Service (CES) imagery agreement with the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), DigitalGlobe announced June 1.     CES, launched by DigitalGlobe in July 2009, will be used to provide the NGA pre- and post-event satellite imagery to aid in emergency planning, response and recovery. DigitalGlobe deployed...

A working document from the European Parliament assesses the mid-term status of the European Union’s satellite navigation program, which consists of a geostationary system called EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) and the non-geostationary Galileo system. Although the definition stage for Galileo was completed in 2001, progress was delayed in 2007 by the collapse of...

[Satellite TODAY 06-01-10] Russian Space Systems Corp. (RSSC) and the U.S. Trimble Navigation Group have signed an agreement to create Rusnavgeoset Co., a joint satellite navigation venture in Russia, RSSC announced May 31.     Each company will hold a 50 percent stake in the venture, which will produce Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) geodetic network...

[Satellite TODAY 06-01-10] Serbian government prosecutors have filed legal charges against former Serbia-Montenegro defense minister Prvoslav Davinic for signing a deal to rent an Israeli spy satellite from ImageSat, government officials announced May 30.     Prosecutors said Davinic signed the 45 million euro ($55.4 million) deal with ImageSat in 2005 without consulting the Serbian government...

[Satellite TODAY 05-27-10] Potential crashes between satellites and space debris may impact the $250 billion space-services market, according to a U.S. Defense Department Space Posture Review report released to the public May 26.     The report, the second debris report produced by the Pentagon since 2007, warned Congress that space collisions and debris might make...

[Satellite TODAY 05-27-10] United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) postponed Delta 4 launch of the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System 2F-SV1 satellite (GPS 2F-SV1) has pushed SpaceX’s first test launch of Falcon 9 to no earlier than June 2, SpaceX confirmed May 26.     The Falcon 9 test launch was originally scheduled to happen between March...

[Satellite TODAY 05-27-10] Harris Corp. has received a $55 million delivery order for advanced satellite terminals under the U.S. Army‘s Modernization of Enterprise Terminals (MET) program, the company announced May 26.     Harris will supply large fixed terminals, large fixed terminals with High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) protection and transportable terminals of the standard and hardened...

[Satellite TODAY 05-27-10] Globecomm has received a $7.9 million increase in the total value of a four-year contract from an unnamed U.S. government prime contractor, the company announced May 26.     Globecomm will provide satellite earth stations and services, as well as voice, video, and data services from its managed network service businesses. This contract...

[Satellite TODAY 05-26-10] Northrop Grumman has completed flight-testing of an airborne satellite communications system installed on a modified business jet aircraft to connect with a WGS via the Ka-band link, the company announced May 25.     The system, part of a network that aims to enhance communications capabilities for warfighters, represents the first airborne terminal...

[Satellite TODAY 05-26-10] Tachyon Networks has completed in-flight testing of its new ATR-9300 airborne terminal for the mobile coms-on-the-move (COTM) market and ISR applications, the company announced May 25.     Tachyon said it has developed an Ultra Small Aperture Terminal (USAT) based aeronautical terminal achieving mobile data transmission rates of 10Mbps x 2.8Mbps, operating in...