Government/Military

NanoAvionics is partnering with the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) and students from the Polytechnic University of Atlacomulco to develop the first nanosatellite for the State of Mexico, the AtlaCom-1. This is part of a pilot project to establish a nanosatellite infrastructure for future space missions designed and built by Mexico’s youth. The project will start...

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is circulating a draft order to approve Ligado Network’s application to deploy a low-power terrestrial nationwide network in the L-band to support 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) services.  Ligado has long sought this license modification, which the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) opposes because it could cause interference to GPS....

NASA has expanded its subscription with Planet Labs and will provide the company’s Earth Observation (EO) imagery to all NASA-funded Earth science research programs, Planet announced on Thursday.  This decision follows a NASA pilot program with Planet that was announced in April 2019 for the identification and tracking of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs). NASA in...

U.S. military officials said that Russia conducted a test of a Direct-Ascent Anti-Satellite (DA-ASAT) missile capable of destroying satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) on Wednesday, and the U.S. Space Command is tracking the test.  Gen. John Raymond, commander of U.S. Space Command and U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations, said in a statement that...

The U.K. Space Agency, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), have deployed approximately $2.8 million to develop space-enabled technology and services in order to aid the National Health Service’s (NHS) response to coronavirus.  Space-enabled solutions could include satellite communications, satellite navigation, Earth Observation (EO) satellites, or technology derived from human spaceflight. The funding...

The plane should have taken off by now. A commercial airplane typically takes about 30 seconds to speed down the runway and lift off into the sky. But when you’re traveling in a C-5 Galaxy military transport aircraft carrying up to 840,000 pounds of cargo – including a 14,000-pound, 32-foot protected communications satellite, plus personnel...

Envistacom was awarded a $11 million task order to provide satellite communications systems through the U.S. Army Global Tactical Advanced Communications Systems (GTACS) contract, an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) agreement that accelerates the acquisition of hardware, software, services, and data in support of the U.S. Army. As a GTACS prime contractor, Envistacom plans to...

Comtech Telecommunications revealed that during its Third Quarter (Q3) fiscal year 2020, its Mission-Critical Technologies group, which is part of Comtech’s Government Solutions segment, through its Maryland-based subsidiary, Comtech Mobile Datacom, was awarded $6.2 million of initial funding for the U.S. Army‘s Option Period Three and $0.3 million of incremental funding for Option Period Two...

The U.S. Space Force (USSF) has awarded Virgin Orbit subsidiary VOX Space a $35 million contract to launch three dedicated missions using its LauncherOne rocket to deliver 44 small satellites to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). The first launch could occur as early as October 2021  The launch service contract was announced April 10 and awarded by...

Elbit Systems Ltd. has been awarded two contracts valued at a total of approximately $20 million from unnamed Latin American customers to upgrade their Hermes 900 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).  Elbit plans to integrate satellite communication systems and automatic takeoff and landing systems into the customers’ Hermes 900 UAS. This will update the Medium Altitude...