Government/Military

[11-28-07 – Satellite News] The Galileo satellite navigation program, one of the flagship programs of the European Commission, has been boosted by the news that European Union (EU) budget ministers have agreed a proposal to find another 2.4 billion euros ($3.6 billion) to secure the financing of the program going forward.     The cost of...

[11-28-07 – Satellite Today] Boeing Co. has demonstrated the communications and transmission security architecture of its proposed Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT), the company announced Nov. 28.     The tests, conducted at General Dynamics C4 Systems’ facilities in Scottsdale, Ariz., demonstrated how TSAT will send and receive encrypted messages and also supports the U.S. Department...

[11-26-07 – Satellite Today]  The U.S. Air Force awarded contracts Nov. 21 to Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to continue work on their proposals for the ground control segment for the next generation of GPS satellites. Under the 18-month contracts, the two companies will produce trade studies, define requirements and develop engineering models. The GPS ground...

[11-26-07 – Satellite Today] Northrop Grumman Corp. completed qualification testing of the payload flight software for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF) payload, the first flight qualification of the new extended data rate capability provided by Advanced EHF, the company announced Nov. 26. The payload flight software supports all military communications terminals and consists of...

[11-26-07 – Satellite Today] Cisco appointed retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle, vice president, Global Government Solutions Group, the company announced Nov. 26. Boutelle will lead Cisco’s efforts in support of the Internet Routing in Space (IRIS) program, an industry-government collaboration being managed by Intelsat General Corp. and intended to demonstrate the viability of...

[11-26-07 – Satellite Today] PlanetSpace, Lockheed Martin and ATK have submitted a bid for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Project (COTS), PlanetSpace announced Nov. 22. NASA has opened up the program to new bidders in October after terminating its agreement with Rocketplane Kistler. NASA announced that it had $174.7 million available for a new award...

[11-26-07 – Satellite Today] Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) and the University of Surrey have captured a Galileo signal reflected off the ocean surface, demonstrating the potential for determining the weather at sea with remote sensing satellites, SSTL announced Nov. 26. The GPS Reflectometry Experiment was launched onboard SSTL’s UK-DMC satellite in 2003 to demonstrate...

[11-21-07 – Satellite News] The GeoEye Foundation has donated nine high-quality satellite images to wildlife conservation groups including the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, to aid in gorilla preservation efforts.     The Foundation, a not-for-profit arm of GeoEye Inc., provides imagery from the Ikonos satellite, which can collect images with a ground resolution of 1...

[11-21-07 – Satellite Today] Lockheed Martin has delivered the core propulsion module for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system, the company announced Nov. 20.     AEHF, a military communications system that will provide secure, protected, survivable communications for warfighters serving under the U.S. Department of Defense, is essential for maneuvering the satellite during transfer...

[11-21-07 – Satellite Today] Park Air Systems, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp., has developed and installed the ground-based elements of a global navigation system for Bronnoysund Airport, in Norway, Northrop Grumman announced Nov. 21.     The NORMARC 8005 SCAT-I ground station receives and validates GPS signals and then transmits the calculated signal corrections and...