Government/Military

TeleCommunication Systems Inc. (TCS) is one of six prime contractors in the U.S. Army’s $5 billion Worldwide Satellite Systems (WWSS) contract awarded in 2006. The contract provides users with a single-source, turnkey, rapid-response solution for U.S. Department of Defense communications requirements including homeland security and disaster relief. Since being selected in September 2006 to provide...

Northrop Grumman Corp. and three U.S. government agencies have completed a restructuring of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the organizations announced July 30. As part of the restructuring, Northrop Grumman Space Technology was awarded a contract modification valued at $4.2 billion. The July 30 award includes multiple incentives worth $2.4 billion for...

NASA wants to have astronauts back on the moon by 2020, and this expensive effort is in addition to everything else the agency has on its plate. A debate is raging over NASA’s priorities as the agency strains under a lack of budgetary resources and must balance the cost of its human exploration plans with...

Recent advances in minimally invasive robotic telesurgery — now being performed via satellite — are taking on greater significance now that space agencies are planning flights to the moon and perhaps Mars that will last considerably longer than missions conducted today. NASA is conducting robotic telesurgery and sensor support experiments under its NASA Extreme Environments...

The U.K. Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee (STC) is urging the government to take a more proactive approach toward its space policy. The U.K. space sector has “great economic potential,” and industry is “ambitious and focused,” the STC said in a July 17 report, “2007: A Space Policy.” In the wide-ranging study, the STC also...

In May, NASA and 13 other space agencies released "The Global Exploration Strategy: The Framework for Coordination,”  which is designed to spur sharing of space exploration-related information. Along with NASA, signatories include the European Space Agency (ESA) and agencies from Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, the Republic of Korea...

Along with helping save lives in an emergency, satellite systems also can play an essential role in preventing some crises, according to a study by Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF). A new satellite system is the basis of an improved information network designed to enable Niger to better respond to the needs of its people, most...

The key to reducing delays and increasing safety in the aviation industry lies in the quick adoption of a satellite-based air traffic control system, according to aviation experts. A major step toward this goal should take place before the end of August, when the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is expected to award a contract...

When President Bush unveiled his Vision for Space Exploration in early 2004, he declared that the United States would return to the moon, with a series of robotic missions paving the way for future human exploration by 2020. Not all of these planned lunar projects will make it off the drawing board, but private companies...

A few months ago this column predicted an agreement would be reached on a formal European Space Policy in 2007. This prediction came true with a decision reached in Brussels May 22 by the Council of the European Union (EU) and the European Space Agency (ESA) in their fourth joint meeting since 2004. This 4th...