Government/Military

[Satellite TODAY 05-24-10] JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have successfully launched the Japanese meteorological satellite Akatsuki (Planet C) aboard a H-2A launch vehicle on May 21, JAXA confirmed.     The launch was originally scheduled for May 18. Akatsuki will study Venus’ atmosphere for two years after it enters the planet’s orbit in November.     According...

[Satellite TODAY 05-21-10] Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has completed a preliminary design review for a propulsion system that it is building for NASA, the company announced May 20.     The review confirmed that the preliminary design of the propulsion system meets NASA’s system requirements and supports authorization to begin the final design phase of the project.  ...

[Satellite TODAY 05-21-10] The Czech Republic has become a member state of Eumetsat (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), the organization announced May 20.     The Czech Republic will participate fully in Eumetsat’s decision-making process and its industry will be able to bid for contracts, in addition to maintaining the unlimited access to...

[Satellite TODAY 05-20-10] United Launch Alliance (ULA) has postponed the Delta 4 launch of the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System 2F-SV1satellite (GPS 2F-SV1) to May 21, the company announced.     ULA said its mission managers determined that a piece of ground support equipment used to control one of the swing arms on the rocket’s...

[Satellite TODAY 05-19-10] CapRock Government Solutions has been contracted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to provide a complete solution of technical design, network implementation, field services and program support for its emergency restoration communications network, CapRock announced May 18.     The contract was implemented as part of the General Services Administration (GSA)...

[Satellite TODAY 05-13-10] Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) will launch the NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X satellites for the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency Oct. 29, SSTL announced May 12.     NigeriaSat-2 will be launched aboard a Dnepr rocket. The spacecraft, based SSTL-300i platform, will be used primarily for resource management and mapping of the...

[Satellite TODAY 05-12-10] Astrium has shipped the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) of the Johannes Kepler, the second European spacecraft for the International Space Station (ISS), to Arianespace’s spaceport in French Guiana for its scheduled launch at the end of 2010, Astrium announced May 11.     Astrium built and developed the ATV for the European Space...

[Satellite TODAY 05-10-10] Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space have signed a deal with the Italian Ministry of Defense and the French Defense Procurement Agency (DGA) for the development of the Sicral 2 satellite and ground segment for military communications, the two companies announced May 7.     The contract is worth about 295 million euros ($375.6...

[Satellite TODAY 05-10-10] TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) has been awarded a $1.8 million contract extension with the U.S. Department of Defense to continue providing managed bandwidth services for fixed satellite terminal sites supporting U.S. government personnel in forward operating areas in Southwest Asia and Iraq, TCS announced May 7.     TCS will continue to provide its...

[Satellite TODAY 05-06-10] Comtech Mobile Datacom has received a $67.3 million Movement Tracking System (MTS) contract extension with the U.S. Army, which increases its current order ceiling to $672.4 million, the company announced May 5.     Comtech, which has, to date, received $595.2 million in Army MTS orders, said that shipments of ruggedized MTS computers...