Government/Military

[Satellite Today 07-08-08] Americom Government Services (AGS) received a contract from the U.S. Air Force to host an experimental sensor on board a commercial spacecraft, the company announced July 8.     The program, Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload Flight Demonstration Program, will test a new type of infrared sensor from geosynchronous altitudes. AGS has been subcontracted...

[Satellite Today 07-07-08]  Spacenet Inc. announced that its satellite services have been deployed in Missouri as part of an emergency response network for two state agencies, the company announced July 7.     The networks for the Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) and Missouri Department of Transportation will be managed by Orbital Data Net (ODN) and provide...

[Satellite Today 07-07-08]  The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French Space Agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) signed a distribution agreement for data collected by an Indo-French weather satellite scheduled for launch in 2009, the agencies announced July 7.     The Megha Topiques satellite will carry four payloads – a microwave radiometer, a...

[Satellite Today 07-04-08] Russian satellite operator Gascom released a tender July 3 for a pair of new satellites scheduled to be launched in 2011.     The two Yamal-400 satellites, the next step in the “Prospective Plan for Gascom Satellite Business Development till 2015,” would be twice as powerful as the Yamal-100, Yamal-201 and Yamal-202 currently...

[Satellite Today 07-04-08] Eumetsat (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) will provide data and products for the European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative, Eumetsat announced July 3.     The agreement covers GMES pre-operational services from 2008 through 2010, during which all Eumetsat data and products will be made available...

[Satellite Today 07-04-08] NASA awarded $3.3 million to a South Dakota State University project intended to make satellite data easier to use and access via the Internet, the two organizations announced July 3.     The five-year project, led by David Roy a professor at the University’s Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence, is a collaboration...

[Satellite Today  07-03-07] China has made progress on the development of its Long March 5 rocket, citing development of the rocket engine and the building of a production plant, according to the Xinhua news agency.     According to officials, the rocket’s 120-ton liquid oxygen-kerosene engine passed initial tests and would meet the requirements of providing...

[Satellite Today  07-03-07] The Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element (GIOVE-B) satellite has completed in-orbit testing, prime contractor Astrium announced July 3.     The European Space Agency confirmed the conclusion of the test phase during the in-orbit review, as key components of the Galileo system such signal generator and Passive Hydrogen Maser atomic clock were tested in...

[Satellite Today  07-03-07] Italian satellite operator Telespazio unveiled the details of a demonstration of a satellite-based system designed to manage humanitarian rescue operations in the case of natural disasters.     The test of the LIMES (Land and Sea Integrated Monitoring for European Security) was conducted in mid-June in Cyprus in partnership with the German and...

America’s commercial space industry holds a dominant position in the global market, but due to a number of factors, other countries are beginning to gain more market share. Many small suppliers maintain that the primary problem is the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which threatens their survival while protecting the position of larger suppliers....