Government/Military

[Satellite Today 12-15-08] The Yaogan 5 satellite, a Chinese Earth observation satellite, was launched on board a Long March rocket from the Taiyuan launch base, state-owned Xinhua News Agency announced Dec. 15.     The satellite will be placed into a sun-synchronous orbit to begin operations in environmental surveillance, urban planning, crop studies, emergency response and...

[Satellite Today 12-15-08] The U.S. Army Logistics Innovation Agency (LIA) awarded Arinc and Impeva Labs Inc. with a contract to install and demonstrate satellite-based next-generation wireless communications tracking, security and monitoring capability on containerized shipments of arms, ammunition and explosives, Arinc announced Dec. 15.     The initial demonstration of the new capabilities will track an...

[Satellite Today 12-15-08] DataPath has been awarded a pair of delivery orders to manufacture and install Ku-band satellite communications hubs in support of U.S. Central Command and the U.S. Marine Corps in Southwest Asia, DataPath announced Dec. 15.     Under the orders, valued at a combined $3.3 million, DataPath will provide two dual-antenna Ku-band terminals,...

[Satellite Today 12-12-08] The Space Foundation has certified three GMV space products: insightArthroVR, Moviloc, and SAGRAN, as certified space technologies, GMV announced Dec. 10.     The Space Foundation’s space certification program was created in cooperation with NASA to raise awareness and understanding about the significant and practical benefits of technologies originally developed for the space...

[Satellite News 12-12-08] President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is considering what it calls, “not-yet-refined technology,” which includes solar energy-collecting satellites, as part of its energy plan, according to the administration’s transition website.     While Obama has yet to publicly detail or endorse the idea of using solar satellites, industry analyst Tim Farrar agrees that solar...

[Satellite Today 12-11-08] DataPath has received a $3.6 million order from the U.S. Army to continue resets, repairs and upgrades to its Satellite Transportable Terminals (STT) used in the U.S. Army’s Joint Network Node (JNN) and Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) programs, DataPath announced Dec. 11.     Work under the delivery order includes resets and repairs...

[Satellite Today 12-11-08] TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) has been awarded $7.8 million in orders from the U.S. government to provide fixed satellite terminal sites and managed bandwidth services over 16 months in support of U.S. military personnel, TCS announced Dec. 11.     TCS said the network is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of...

[Satellite Today 12-10-08] GeoEye has finalized a service level agreement modification to the company’s NextView contract with the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), GeoEye announced Dec. 10.     The value of the agreement is $12.5 million per month for a year.     Under the service agreement, GeoEye will provide satellite imagery products to the NGA...

Report: Kill European Missile Defense And Airborne Laser; Halt Procurement, Deployment Of Aegis, GMD, THAAD, Patriot; And End Streamlined Missile Defense Budget System The multi-layered U.S. ballistic missile defense (BMD) program has come under attack in a report from a think tank, just as Congress is poised to slash funding for BMD. A planned European...

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system successfully killed a target missile in a realistic test using multiple radars, showing that the Missile Defense Agency and its contractors have developed a system that can defeat incoming long-range enemy missiles threatening the United States. A glitch did occur in the target missile, but the GMD interceptor performed...