Government/Military

[Satellite News 08-04-08] Space Exploration Technologies Corp’s (SpaceX) fortunes have taken another turn for the worse, with yet another launch failure. Approximately two minutes after its August 2 launch, SpaceX’s Falcon 1 Flight 3 experienced a stage separation malfunction, which prevented the rocket and its payload from reaching orbit.     The Falcon was carrying three...

Europe funds a substantial number of space-related research projects, with the vast bulk of money in recent years directed to the Galileo navigation satellite system and to the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program. A recently published report on European Union-funding shows a substantial number of projects for different satellite applications, but the...

[Satellite Today 08-01-08] Northrop Grumman, at the command of the U.S. Air Force, has decommissioned the Defense Support Program (DSP) Flight 19 satellite after nine years of service.     Launched in April 1999, Flight 19 was initially declared a "failed launch" after a launch malfunction left the satellite in a useless orbit. The U.S. Air...

[Satellite Today 08-01-08] A team led by Boeing Advanced Systems has been awarded a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract for the first phase of the Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed (FAST) program.     FAST is a multiphase effort to design and develop a ground test prototype of a new High Power Generation Subsystem (HPGS)...

[Satellite Today 08-01-08] Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) announced that it delivered the Galaxy 19 satellite for Intelsat to Sea Launch Home Port in Long Beach, Calif. On July 30. Galaxy 19, the fifth satellite that SS/L has shipped this year, the 43rd satellite that SS/L has provided to Intelsat and the ninth SS/L-built spacecraft to be...

[Satellite Today 07-30-08] Inmarsat’s BGAN will be used by a European Union-backed emergency response initiative to set up temporary GSM networks in disaster zones, Inmarsat announced July 29.     The wireless infrastructure over satellite for emergency communications (Wisecom) initiative recently tested BGAN at the German Aerospace Centre using an exercise involving a mock disaster scene....

[Satellite Today 07-30-08]  Raytheon has partnered with Boeing to bid for the U.S. Air Force’s Counterspace Command and Control Sustainment contract, the companies announced July 30.     The requirements of the system include designing and developing a solution that will protect global satellite communications systems and deliver new command and control capabilities to the Air...

[Satellite News 07-30-08] The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) has urged the U.S. Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to continue encouraging and facilitating the incorporation of satellite-based communications capability into public safety networks.     The SIA wants the FCC to maintain its requirement that holders of D Block spectrum licenses make available to public safety users at...

[Satellite Today 07-30-08] Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) has partnered with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Response and Operations Division (IDHS) expand a public safety network through several Midwestern states, MSV announced July 30.     IDHS will manage, monitor, and approve participation in the Mid-West Satellite Mutual Aid Radio Talkgroup operating on the MSV satellite...

 [Satellite Today 07-29-08] MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract from DigitalGlobe Inc. to upgrade a ground station, MDA announced July 28.     The ground station will be equipped to support the WorldView-2, DigitalGlobe’s next-generation imagery satellite scheduled for launch in 2009. The spacecraft will collect imagery with a ground...