Government/Military

[12-12-07 – Satellite Today] Northrop Grumman Corp. received a contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to develop and demonstrate technologies for a future reusable launch vehicle, Northrop Grumman announced Dec. 10.     The contract, valued $5.2 million, will support the Lab’s Future Responsive Access to Space Technologies (FAST) program, an initiative aimed...

[12-12-07 – Satellite Today] Lockheed Martin has opened a space Exploration Development Laboratory adjacent to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Lockheed Martin announced Dec. 12.     The 10,000-square-foot facility, funded by Lockheed Martin, United Space Alliance and Honeywell, will support NASA’s Project Orion and Constellation program. The facility is designed to reduce cost and schedule risk...

[12-11-07 – Satellite Today]  The Boeing Company has been selected to participate in the development of the next-generation GPS ground system for the U.S. Air Force, the company announced Dec. 11.     Boeing is a subcontractor to Raytheon Company, which was awarded the $160 million, 18-month contract by the Air Force Space and Missile Systems...

[12-11-07 – Satellite Today] Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. has launched a new open source software project that will enable detailed analysis of remote sensing data, the company announced Dec. 10.     Opticks will be used by scientists and analysts within the Department of Defense Intelligence Community to analyze remote sensing data and produce actionable...

[10-10-07 – Satellite Today] The Boeing Company has launched the second of four COSMO satellites, the company announced Dec. 8.     The Italian Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation (COSMO) is an end-to-end Earth observation dual-use (civil and military) system comprised of four medium-sized satellites and supporting ground stations for orbit control systems...

[10-10-07 – Satellite Today] ND SatCom has implemented the third batch of satellite terminals for a telemedicine project initiated by the Kazakh Ministry of Health, ND SatCom announced Dec. 10.     The project, which was kicked off in 2005 for two of the 14 Kazakh regions and then extended by a further two regions in...

[12-06-07 – Satellite Today] Thales Alenia Space and Russia’s NPO-PM will develop a new multi-mission satellite platform based on Thales’ Spacebus 4000 technology, Thales announced Dec. 6.     The Express-4000 will incorporate a range of Russian equipment and subsystems on a Thales Alenia Space payload. The satellites will be manufactured and integrated in NPO-PM’s facilities...

[12-06-07 – Satellite News] The business of space is heating up, particularly in the area commercial private human spaceflight, Patricia Grace Smith, associate administrator in the Office of Commercial Space Transportation for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a Dec. 6 speech to the Washington Space Business Roundtable.     Since Smith last addressed...

[12-05-07 – Satellite Today] A prototype of the P80 rocket motor, which will power the first stage of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Vega launch vehicle, was tested Dec. 4 at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, ESA announced.     The motor delivered a mean thrust of about 190 tons for a nominal...

[12-04-07 – Satellite Today] Iridium Satellite will provide voice and data services to government agencies in Idaho through the World Communications Center (WCC), Iridium announced Dec. 4.     WCC won the Idaho contract under a blanket purchasing contract with the Western States Contracting Alliance awarded in March.      “Over the past 12 months, Iridium has...