Government/Military

With the 2020 U.S. national election fast approaching, the pandemic and the damage it has done to the U.S. economy are undoubtedly the top issues for voters this campaign season. While the general public may not go into the voting booth with future space policy in mind, Via Satellite readers and the U.S. commercial space...

The U.S. Air Force is developing two digitally engineered satellites — so-called “eSats,” Dr. Will Roper, service acquisition chief, told the Air Force Association virtual Air, Space, and Cyber (vASC) conference on Tuesday. “Within the [U.S.] Space Force, we’re already working on the first two eSats, hoping to bring this technology into space,” he said....

President Donald Trump has nominated longtime telecom lawyer Nathan Simington to be the Federal Communications Commission’s next commissioner, as reported by Law360. Last week, The Verge first reported that Simington had emerged as a leading candidate to replace current Republican Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. Simington, a senior adviser at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), played a significant role...

Raytheon Intelligence & Space has been awarded a $13.1 million contract for a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory program aimed at connecting military jets to emerging commercial satellite internet constellations in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced the contract Sept. 10.  Under the contract, Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a draft order to make the 3.45-3.55 GHz band available for commercial 5G use throughout the contiguous United States. The mid-band spectrum is primarily military use, and the U.S. Department of Defense operates high-powered defense radar systems on fixed, mobile, shipborne, and airborne platforms in this band. The...

R4 Integration revealed on Tuesday that Inmarsat has given type approval for R4 Integration’s R4 C-130 Multi-Purpose Hatch System (MPHS) for use over the Inmarsat Global Xpress network. Global Xpress is the world’s only globally available mobile wideband service, and has been In U.S. government operation since July 2014. The R4 MPHS is a low-profile...

The White House on Sept. 4 released Space Policy Directive-5 (SPD-5) regarding cybersecurity for space systems, as a senior administration official told reporters that cyber threats on U.S. space systems happen with “concerning regularity.” “With regard to particular cyber threats, I can’t really talk about those at an unclassified level, but suffice it to say that they...

Lockheed Martin and Ball Aerospace successfully completed a phased array transmit test for a Multi-Band, Multi-Mission (MBMM) antenna. This is a milestone for the U.S. Space Force’s MBMM program, as it moves the team one step closer to a full end-to-end satcom demonstration. This transmit test follows a successful receive test from February. MBMM helps...

Optisys has recently completed development and production of an antenna that it says is the world’s largest 3D printed antenna. The all metal antenna is a single print, with the design and manufacture of a 0.75 m long flat panel slotted antenna. It was printed in metal as one continuous piece using Direct Metal Laser-Sintering...

An effort by a handful of small satellite operators to prevent their relocation from the lower 200 MHz of the C-band spectrum has been denied by the FCC in a unanimous vote. ABS Global Ltd., Empresa Argentina de Soluciones Satelitales, Hispamar Satélites S.A., and Hispasat S.A. (collectively referred to as Small Satellite Operators, SSO) filed...