Government/Military

[10-16-07 – Satellite Today]  ViaSat Inc. has been awarded an $8.7 million contract to modernize the U.S. Air Force Cryptographic Support Group’s telemetry, tracking and control cryptographic unit, ViaSat announced Oct. 15. ViaSat will design and develop the system, which is designed to replace legacy equipment used in satellite ground stations. The contract also includes...

[10-16-07 – Satellite Today]  Benham Companies LLC, a subsidiary of Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), has been awarded a $51.4 million contract by NASA to design, engineer and build two testing facilities, SAIC announced Oct. 16. Benham will design and build a reverberant acoustic test facility, a 20-foot diameter mechanical vibration platform, a high-speed data...

[10-15-07 – Satellite Today]  The fourth modernized GPS  Block 2R satellite is set for launch Oct. 17 from Cape Canaveral Air Force station, satellite manufacturer Lockheed Martin announced Oct. 15. Lockheed Martin Navigation Systems and navigation payload provider ITT designed and built 21 2R spacecraft for the Global Positioning Systems Wing, Space and Missile Systems...

[10-12-07 – Satellite Today] Italian satellite operator   Telespazio will open its Space OPS academy Oct. 15. The academy aims to develop students’ technical and professional skills in the areas of satellite management, integration of satellite capabilities, Earth observation services, satellite navigation, integrated connectivity and value-added services. The Space OPS Academy aims to become a center...

[10-11-07 – Satellite Today] A damaged pyro firing cable caused the failure of a Proton vehicle carrying the JCSAT-11 satellite in September, the Russian State Commission announced Oct. 11. JCSAT-11 was lost when the Proton rocket suffered a second stage failure shortly after liftoff, launch provider International Launch Services (ILS) said. The damaged cable, located...

[10-11-07 – Satellite Today]  Boeing has acquired signals from the first Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite, the company announced Oct. 11. The satellite, one of five Boeing is building for the U.S. Air Force, is a military spacecraft intended to help meet the growing demand for military satellite communications. It will provide 10 times the...

[10-09-07 – Satellite Today]  ViaSat Inc. and Smart Digital Communications Bhd. recently collected real-time data to validate Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) tsunami predictions, ViaSat announced Oct 9. Telemetry and tracking information following an earthquake in the Indian Ocean during the second week of September was transmitted over a ViaSat LinkStar satellite network operated from...

[10-09-07 – Satellite Today]  Northrop Grumman Corp. has successfully completed the System Acceptance Test of a Common Command and Telemetry System between the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the company announced Oct. 8. The test was completed using ground system teammate Raytheon‘s commercial off-the-shelf command and...

[10-09-07 – Satellite Today]  Antenna Technology Communications Inc. has won a $1.2 million bid to provide the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with an Intermediate Frequency (IF) matrix system, the company announced Oct. 9. The system will be integrated into the Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station in Wallops Island, Va., which is...

[10-09-07 – Satellite Today] The American Red Cross has selected   Global Relief Technologies LLC (GRT) to equip disaster relief professionals with equipment to augment disaster response communications, GRT announced Oct. 9. GRT will provide a Red Cross Quick Assessment Team with its Rapid Data Management System (RDMS)-powered equipment and services. The contract initially covers deployment...