Government/Military

Lars Persson has been appointed president and CEO of Swedish Space Corp. effective Feb. 16, the company announced. Persson previously served as CEO for Marratech AB and will replace the retiring Claes-Göran Borg.

SkyPort International Inc. announced Jan. 17 a strategic partnership with Comdex Inc. in which the two companies will jointly provide secure satellite communications services to Comdex customers around the globe. SkyPort provides broadband satellite and terrestrial communication services from its network operations center and teleport at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston. Comdex, based...

NASA has increased the value of its Canadarm shuttle remote manipulator system contract with MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), the company announced Jan.  16. The increase, valued at 28 million Canadian dollars ($23.8 million), will provide for a third inspection boom for on-orbit inspections of the Space Shuttle as well as ongoing product improvements...

Starchaser Industries was awarded a study contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) for the detailed assessment of the company’s Thunderstar/Starchaser 5A space tourism reusable launch vehicle, Starchaser announced Jan. 12. The study will verify the vehicle’s technical feasibility and ability to meet future space tourism expectations and also refine Starchaser’s business plan. The contract,...

The Skynet 5A military telecommunications satellite has been delivered to French Guiana in advance of its launch aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 in late February. Skynet, scheduled to be launched along with India’s Insat 4B telecommunications satellite, is the first in a series of next-generation secure communications satellites for the British armed forces, NATO and...

Interstate Electronics Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of L-3 Communications Corp., has been awarded a pre-production contract by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for 3-dimensional locators using Integrated GPS Indoor Navigation Technology developed by Interstate Electronics, the company announced Jan. 10 . The contract, awarded by the by Advanced Research Project Agency, is an...

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C7, lofted four satellites into orbit Jan. 10. The 10th PSLV mission placed India’s Cartosat-2 and Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1), Indonesia’s Lapan-Tubsat and Argentina’s Pehuensat-1 into polar orbit.

Thales was awarded a contract to supply NATO with an electronic protective measures modem system to support satellite communications and associated control capabilities. The system is intended to reinforce the availability, confidentiality and integrity of NATO’s voice and data communications against potential jamming, interference and intrusion threats. The system also will provide interoperable operations with...

Harris Corp. completed Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Navy Multiband Terminal Prototype Testing on its tri-band ship antenna and associated RF components five months ahead of schedule, the company announced Jan. 10. Harris won a contract in 2003 to develop four prototypes of the next-generation terminal for the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems...

Moving to position itself to meet growing commercial demand for high-resolution satellite imagery, DigitalGlobe awarded Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. a contract to build the WorldView 2 satellite, DigitalGlobe announced Jan. 2. Scheduled to be placed into orbit in 2008, WorldView 2 would become the third satellite in DigitalGlobe’s constellation, joining the existing QuickBird satellite...