Focus: Ground Systems

The European Space Agency (ESA) selected GMV to help with the the next phase of Galileo Second Generation (G2g). GMV is one of the three main phase-B contractors for the G2G project, the company revealed Monday. This phase will focus on ground segment implementation and development. Galileo is Europe’s satellite-based navigation and positioning system. Galileo...

The European Space Agency (ESA) selected Italian ground network provider Leaf Space for a novel telemedicine-via-satellite project called “CARES,” Leaf Space revealed Friday. The project collects COVID-19 patient medical data while they quarantine at home, which is then fed into a health platform. The tele-diagnostic health platform was developed by Leaf Space’s project partner H&S,...

Viasat signed a Real-Time Earth (RTE) agreement with Infostellar, the operator revealed Monday, and will be a preferred supplier of antennas for Infostellar’s network of ground stations. Additionally, Viasat will act as a market channel lead for Infostellar services in the U.S., and Infostellar will be a Japanese market channel lead for Viasat’s RTE network....

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) revealed Tuesday that its U.K. subsidiary was awarded a contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the Global Newspace Network Evolution (GNNetE) initiative. SSC will develop a next generation concept for space to ground communications, specifically for the cubesat and smallsat markets. The GNNetEt initiative is supported by the U.K....

ST Engineering iDirect and Gilat have been selected as SES technology partners for the development of its O3b mPOWER system. SES announced Tuesday that the companies will developing the core infrastructure modem platforms for O3b mPOWER, and they were selected for their next-generation modem technologies. Stewart Sanders, SES executive vice president of Technology, and o3B...

The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded L3Harris Technologies an $88 million program award for Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT). Under the firm-fixed-price, Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract, L3Harris will supply up to 169 Panther II terminals.  Jerry Adams, general manager of VSAT for L3Harris told Via Satellite that the Panther II terminal that L3Harris will be supplying...

KSAT reports that it delivered more than 20,000 passes on its smallsat network KSAT LITE in September, marking an all-time high. At the beginning of the year the KSAT LITE network accounted for 10,000 contacts out of the 50,000 monthly contacts on the KSAT global network. By the end of September that number doubled to...

Shipping company PACC Ship Managers Pte Ltd. (PaccShip) has renewed its contract with Satcom Global Ltd, for Aura VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) service for three years. Satcom Global has supported over 50 PaccShip managed vessels with Ku-band connectivity since 2017, and five additional are set to join the Aura network later this year. Financial...

Cobham Satcom and Kepler Communications performed connectivity trials on Kepler’s Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) network with Cobham’s SAILOR 600 VSAT Ku-band antenna system, demonstrating downlink rates of 150 Mbps and uplink rates of 130 Mbps. In a Tuesday announcement, the companies said the speeds were demonstrated on a 65 cm antenna with a 6W Block Upconverter...

Kymeta’s u8 terminal has received FCC commercial authorization, the company announced Tuesday. This approval comes as Kymeta prepares to launch the product in the Fourth Quarter (Q4) of 2020. The company also recently acquired satellite service provider Lepton Global Solutions LLC to aid its go-to-market push, and completed an $85 million fundraising round led by...