Government/Military

Pigeons might get a dirty reputation from anyone who’s looked closely at the base of a statue in a big-city park, but some California carriers are doing their share to fight air pollution. Inspired by a famous, century-old photograph of a pigeon carrying a camera around its neck, college professor Beatriz da Costa from the...

Lockheed Martin has finished its system requirements review for the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS Block 3 system, the company announced Nov. 16. Lockheed Martin conducted the review under a $10 million follow-on to a 2004 concept development contract. GPS Block 3 is designed to enhance space-based navigation and performance. The Air Force is expected...

NASA has selected Proteus — a low-Earth orbit (LEO) multipurpose platform developed in cooperation with the French space agency CNES — as part of NASA’s Rapid Spacecraft Development Office (RSDO) catalog, Alcatel Alenia Space announced Nov. 14. Designed for 300 kg to 800 kg satellites in LEO and supporting Earth observation, telecommunication, scientific and other...

A satellite-based navigation system to facilitate seamless air travel across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans will be among improvements made through a Nov. 13 deal between the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Indian government reported. The memorandum of agreement (MOA) would provide assistance by the FAA to...

MSC.Software announced Nov. 13 that it will provide simulation software and services to the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the French space agency. CNES engineers will use MSC.Software’s product offerings, including solver applications and CAD-embedded system Simdesigner suite featuring enterprise collaboration and centralized data management. Details of the contract were not released.

EMS Satcom signed a memorandum of understanding with Vitrociset Belgium and Creaction International to develop a new satellite communications service to offer airtime services and equipment in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, the companies announced Nov. 9. EMS Satcom will supply equipment and airtime services. Vitrociset Belgium operates the European Space Agency (ESA)...

Mary Ellen Kicza has been named assistant administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Satellite and Information Service, NOAA announced Nov. 13. Kicza, who had been serving as deputy assistant administrator since October 2005, will lead NOAA’s satellite acquisition and operations programs as well as the agency’s climate, oceanographic and geophysical data access,...

Space Insight has been awarded a contract by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) for a space surveillance system. Under a contract valued at 75,000 British pounds ($143,000), Space Insight is exploring how a new sensor dubbed Starbrook can scan vast areas of sky every few hours to detect and map the locations of satellites...

International Communications Group (ICG), a supplier of Iridium-based satellite systems, announced Nov. 9 its partnership agreement choosing Spec Ops Inc. as an authorized reseller of ICG products. Spec Ops, a designer and manufacturer of tactical operations center equipment for the United States military and homeland defense, has fulfilled more than 100 contracts throughout the last...

Experts from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Federation of American Scientists (FAS) used Google Earth satellite imagery technology to release Nov. 9 an interactive, 3-dimensional map to track nearly 10,000 nuclear warheads remaining in the U.S. arsenal. The satellite map offers an updated accounting of the country’s extensive nuclear inventory and enables users...