Government/Military

[Satellite News 01-06-09] Political shifts in the U.S. government could lead to adjustments in business plans, satellite executives told Satellite News.     With the U.S. digital television switchover planned for Feb. 17; a new U.S. presidential administration set to take office Jan. 20; possible changes to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that may affect...

[Satellite Today 01-06-09] Prime contractor Mitsubishi Electric has completed the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (Gosat), which will monitor carbon emissions from space in an effort to assist in the fight against global warming, the company announced Jan. 5.     The satellite, which cost an estimated 34.6 billion yen ($372 million), is scheduled to be launched...

[Satellite Today 01-06-09] The U.S. Air Force formally renewed the competition between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. for the Transformational Communications Satellite (TSAT) program, the U.S. Air Force announced Dec. 30.     The renewal comes after the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff council temporarily halted the competition to revise specifications and reduce requirements for...

A new report from a study panel details the causes leading to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, with the panel recommending many corrective and preventive moves to avert further tragedies, while also concluding that some factors in the tragedy will remain unknown. As Columbia lifted off and headed to the International Space Station,...

Updated — December 19, 2008 – 8:30 a.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 –...

The Army gave Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] a $371.6 million firm fixed price contract for further work in the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Full Rate Production IV initial program. The company will provide 3,780 unitary and 4,782 RRPRs GMLRS rockets. Work is to be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas; East Camden, Ark.; and...

[Satellite Today 01-05-09] President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is considering a collaboration between the U.S. Defense Department and NASA to use the U.S. military Delta 4 and Atlas 5 launch vehicles instead of NASA’s planned launch vehicle, Orion, according to a Jan. 3  announcement on the Obama transition website.     The incoming administration said the...

The Air Force shut down the existing Transformational Satellite Communications (TSAT) program competition without awarding a contract. Instead, the restructured contest now moves back to square one, with the air service issuing a new draft request for proposal, or RFP, for the first increment of the multi- billion-dollar TSAT system, which would be a scaled-back...

Space Agency Moves To Foster Private Commercial Logistics Spacecraft NASA, in a double departure from business as usual, has taken a giant step toward privatizing the transport of cargo to and from low Earth orbit, while also shifting from the common practice of giving major contracts to the biggest contractors. Rather, the U.S. space agency...

Long-Term Contract To Be Decided In Impending Obama Administration The Missile Defense Agency gave The Boeing Co. [BA] a cost-plus-award-fee contract worth up to $397.9 million to continue the Ground-base Midcourse Defense (GMD) program for six months, leaving to the Obama administration a decision on a larger long-term GMD contract. While the agency has said...