Government/Military

[Satellite Today 07-07-09] Antenna Technology Communications Inc. (ATCi) deployed its Warrior Satellite Monitoring and Surveillance System for law enforcement agency markets, the company announced July 6.      The Warrior System provides observation for satellite activities spread over 140 degrees, with the capability of being upgraded beyond basic control monitoring standards.     “ATCi has a long...

[Satellite Today 07-07-09] Northrop Grumman has completed testing on a core section model of NASA‘s James Webb Space Telescope, Northrop Grumman announced July 6.     The core model, built by Northrop Grumman, is a thermal facsimile of the telescope’s central region and stands about 17.5 feet tall and 17 feet wide. The test represents the...

[Satellite Today 07-06-09] The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat) admitted Poland as a member state, Eumetsat announced July 6.     As a member state, Poland will participate in Eumetsat’s decision-making process and its industry will be able to bid for contracts. In addition, Polish companies will maintain their unlimited access to...

[Satellite Today 07-03-09] WorldView-2, DigitalGlobe‘s high-resolution multi-spectral satellite, will be placed in orbit Oct. 6 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the company announced June 30. WorldView-2 will join DigitalGlobe’s two other high-resolution satellites — QuickBird and WorldView-1 — and is expected to nearly double the compays collection capabilities to about 2 million square kilometers...

[Satellite Today 07-02-09] ViaSat won a delivery order worth about $21 million for Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) terminals from U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego, ViaSat announced July 1.     The Lot 10 order includes low-volume terminal variants for F/A-18+, E/A-18G aircraft and MH-60R/S and CH-53K helicopters as well as...

[Satellite Today 07-02-09] VSD and SES Americom subsidiary Americom Government Services (AGS) completed negotiations to transition programming responsibilities for the Television Direct to Sailors (TV-DTS) terminal program from AGS to VSD, the companies announced July 1.     The formal transition expands and strengthens VDS’ strategic alliance with Orbit Communication Systems to provide satellite communications and...

The government often is both the largest employer and consumer of goods and services in a country, and in many countries a better description for the government would be a collection of entities with multiple interests and demands. For instance, citizens of the United States elect representatives on a national, state, county and sometimes local...

The Radiocommunication Bureau (BR) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) apparently is following a new "get tough" approach with member states that do not follow the rules on putting communications satellites into use on time. The BR issued a letter May 1 to all member states (Circular Letter CR 301) respectfully urging them to review...

The satellite industry is no stranger to enforcement actions by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). These actions typically take the form of fines for failure to obtain or maintain required authorizations or otherwise comply with FCC directives. Here, we provide a brief overview of FCC enforcement proceedings and recommendations on successfully navigating them. Common...

In June, we discussed the procurement of commercial satellite services by the U.S. government and particularly the Department of Defense under the Defense Information Systems Network Satellite Transmission Services-Global (DSTS-G) regime. Since 2001, government use of satellite bandwidth and network solutions has grown explosively and outstripped military satellite capacity, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. In-theater...