Government/Military

[Satellite Today -8-06-08] Orbital Sciences Corp. is expanding its workforce in the Southern California area with a new engineering and technology center scheduled to open this fall, the company announced August 5.     The new facility will augment Orbital’s launch vehicle and space systems engineering capabilities. Orbital initially expects to employ 30 to 40 engineers...

[Satellite News 08-06-08] Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) has set up a new subsidiary in the United States, the company said August 5.     The new company, Surrey Satellite Technology US LLC, is intended to take advantage of what SSTL perceives to be the growing international demand for economical, responsive and highly capable spacecraft for...

[Satellite Today -8-06-08] Al Yah Satellite Communications Co. (Yahsat) has secured commitments for $1.2 billion to finance its hybrid satellite communications system, parent company Mubadala Development Co. announced Aug. 6.     In May, Yahsat said it planned to approach the financial market to raise public-private partnership-style project finance funding for its satellites. Yahsat plans to...

[Satellite Today 08-05-08] DigitalGlobe has released ImageConnect: Global, a online collection of high-resolution international imagery, the company announced Aug. 5.     The data contains 30.5 million square kilometers of imagery covering 36 countries around the globe, much of which is exclusive to the program, DigitalGlobe said. The initial ImageConnect: Global offering includes the United Kingdom,...

[Satellite Today 08-05-08] Boeing has completed a $10 million, 20,500-square-foot satellite mission control center in El Segundo, Calif, that can manage up to four satellites at the same time, the company announced Aug. 4.     The new facility replaces another Boeing facility in El Segundo that was smaller and had limited capacity.     "The [mission...

[Satellite Today 08-05-08] Newtec won a contract that will see its software help provide fast and secure Intranet access via satellite to the German Federal Armed Forces, the company said August 4.     Satellite broadband supplier ND SatCom signed a contract to use Newtec’s TelliNet TCP/IP acceleration software to provide these enhanced Internet services. ND...

[Satellite Today -8-05-08]  Americom Government Services (AGS) signed an agreement to acquire AOS Inc., AGS announced Aug. 5.     AOS, founded in 1998, provides secure, customized, turnkey network mobility and communications system and also offers engineering, program management, information technology consulting and managed network services.  “The benefits of the acquisition of Aos Inc. will be...

[Satellite News 08-04-08] Astrium announced that it expects the THailand Earth Observation Satellite (THEOS) will be launched August 6 on board a Dnepr rocket from the Yasny launch site in Russia.     THEOS will observe the Earth from the same orbit as the French Spot-5 satellite, providing Thailand with worldwide geo-referenced imagery. THEOS will also...

[Satellite News 08-04-08]  Iridium Satellite LLC (Iridium) has selected Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space to participate in the final phase of its procurement process for the company’s next-generation satellite constellation, "Iridium NEXT."     In a statement, Iridium said it chose Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space as “a result of their initial, innovative constellation...

[Satellite News 08-04-08] The launch of the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite is likely to be delayed a few days Khrunichev State Research and Production Centre along with Inmarsat, said August 4. A replacing and retesting of a launcher’s electrical component is required before the launch can go ahead.     During initial testing, faults were discovered in...