Government/Military

[Satellite Today 01-30-09] ViaSat Inc. and the U.S. Army extended the vehicular Blue Force Tracking 2 (BFT2) demonstration with U.S. Army Aviation BFT2 demonstrations aboard a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, ViaSat announced Jan. 29.     ViaSat’s ArcLight BFT2 satellite communication network delivered 122 kilobits per second of IP traffic to ground terminals over an Inmarsat I4...

[Satellite Today 01-30-09] An amendment to the GMES (Global Monitoring Environment and Security) agreement authorizes the completion of the five initial satellites for the program, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced Jan. 29.     The amendment to Segment 2 of the GMES Space Component Program, paves the way to ordering the second units of the...

[Satellite Today 01-29-09] Telespazio, a joint venture of Finmeccanica and Thales, sold the exclusive rights to Luxembourg’s 4C Satellite Images and Technologies to resell satellite images in a deal worth 180 million euros ($238.7 million), Finmeccanica announced Jan. 28.     Telespazio will have its e-GEOS unit give 4C the rights to sell radar observation data...

[Satellite Today 01-28-09] MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) conducted its first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight in Afghanistan Jan. 1, the company announced Jan. 27.     Flight operations are underway from Kandahar Airfield for the Canadian Department of National Defense. The service will support Canadian troops and NATO by providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information...

[Satellite Today 01-28-09] Boeing received a $75 million contract extension from the U.S. Air Force to continue risk reduction and system definition for the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT), Boeing announced Jan. 27.     The six-month contract extension began Jan. 7 and brings Boeing’s total TSAT contract funding to $793 million. Boeing is in competition...

[Satellite Today 01-27-09] RapidEye has released its imagery system demonstration products to the public, the company announced Jan. 26.     The sample datasets are available for download as a RapidEye Ortho product and RapidEye Basic product on the company’s Web site.     "We are enthusiastic about being able to show the world the high quality...

[Satellite Today 01-27-09] DigitalGlobe signed an agreement with Telogis, a location-based services platform, to give Telogis’ developers access to DigitalGlobe’s imagery, DigitalGlobe announced Jan. 26.     The imagery would serve as a fundamental mobile resource management tool across Telogis’ network of 350,000 mobile devices in 40 countries around the globe.     “The ability to easily...

President Obama told Israeli and other Middle East leaders that he is determined to stop weapons being smuggled into the Gaza Strip, where Hamas terrorists already have fired thousands of rockets and missiles into Israel, according to the Israel Project, a pro-Israel group. A day after he was sworn in, Obama contacted Israeli Prime Minister...

Updated — January 23, 2009 – 2:45 p.m. EST Legend: + Targeted For | *No Earlier Than (Tentative) | **To Be Determined 2009 Launches Date: Feb. 4 Mission:NOAA-N Prime Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base – Launch Pad SLC-2 Launch Window: 2:22 – 2:32 a.m. PST/5:22 – 5:32...

Peter B. Teets, a former senior Air Force and Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] official, will receive a lifetime space achievement award April 1 at the National Space Symposium from the Space Foundation. Separately, Teets is becoming the Aerospace Corp. chairman. Retired Air Force Gen. Thomas S. Moorman Jr. will become Aerospace vice chairman. Teets replaces...