Government/Military

Larry Boisvert, former president and CEO of Telesat Canada, has been appointed president of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Canadian government announced April 12. Boisvert joined Telesat in 1972 and held several positions before retiring in 2006. “Mr. Boisvert’s experience in the satellite industry will help strengthen Canada’s international reputation as a leader and...

Eumetsat, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, confirmed that Meteosat-9 is now the prime satellite operating at 0°, replacing Meteosat-8. Meteosat-9 was placed into orbit in December 2005 and has been operating as backup to the Meteosat-8 satellite since July 2006. The transition marks the end of an extended validation period to...

Intelsat General Corp. will manage an industry-government collaboration for the U.S. Department of Defense that will demonstrate the viability of conducting military communications through an Internet router in space, the company announced April 11. The Internet Routing in Space (IRIS) program will serve as a computer processor in the sky, merging communications being received on...

ViaSat Inc. received a contract to develop the satellite ground equipment for a planned satellite network upgrade for the U.S. Army’s Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below – Blue Force Tracking system, ViaSat announced April 11. Under a $9.3 million contract from Northrop Grumman Corp., ViaSat and Harris Corp.’s RF Communications Division will build...

Orbital Sciences Corp. will design and build the next-generation NASA Orion Abort Test Booster for NASA and the U.S. Air Force Space Development and Test Wing, the company announced April 11. Orbital will develop, build and test a new booster configuration to demonstrate and qualify the Orion Launch Abort System that will allow the astronaut...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Space Commercialization (OSC) released a strategic plan designed to improve responsiveness and efficiency in space commerce. The plan describes how OSC intends to utilize conditions to improve economic growth and technological advancement within the U.S. commercial space industry. The plan “outlines actions for facilitating U.S. industry...

Russia will add six satellites to its Glonass satellite navigation constellation before the end of 2007, Itar-Tass reported April 9. The new spacecraft will bring the constellation to 18 satellites, providing full coverage over Russia, Anatoly Perminov, director of the Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), said at the International Satellite Navigation Forum 2007 in Moscow. Glonass...

The U.S. Air Force will post the final request for proposal for the GPS 3 program April 19, according to the Federal Business Opportunities Web site. Teams led by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. are competing to build the 3 constellation, and both teams received contract modifications to their development contracts from the Air...

Recent solar activity has proven a previously unrealized weakness of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, scientists warned last week during the first Space Weather Enterprise Forum, held in Washington, D.C.. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) disclosed findings detailing how an unprecedented solar eruption in December led Cornell University researchers to confirm that solar...

With the flagship Galileo program facing difficulties, and key programs such as Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) also facing milestones, it looks to be another challenging year for, the European Space Agency (ESA). With a ministerial meeting set to take place in 2008 that could European space policy for years to come, Jean-Jacques...