June 2009 Edition - ASIA
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May 2009 Satellite NewsVisit www.satnews.com for today's news

May 29, 2009
SOUTHCOM + Salvadoran Military Have Heron Help
Raymond Sarracino at the dvids online site reports that U.S. Southern Command, working with Salvadoran military and civil aviation officials, has completed a month-long evaluation project to assess the suitability of using unmanned aircraft for counter drug missions in the Pacific, Caribbean, Central, and South America.   Full Story

Billions Of Bucks Budgeted For Unmanned Vehicle Technology
According to a John Keller report in Military & Aerospace Electronics online site, U.S. military forces plan to spend nearly $5.4 billion next year on unmanned vehicle (UV) technology for air, ground, and maritime applications, according to identifiable unmanned vehicle line items in the fiscal 2010 U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) budget, which was released in May and sent to Congress for consideration.   Full Story

Uganda Interested In Mini Falcon I
Uganda is seeking to deploy unmanned air vehicles for intelligence-gathering missions along its borders, with the nation's government assessing a proposal from Israeli manufacturer Innocon.   Full Story

Falx Finds Hybrid Powered UAV Chopper Works Well
Falx Air has just released the final design overview of the Company's Hybrid Electric Coaxial Helicopter Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).   Full Story

digiGO! — HaiVision's CommunicAsia Presence In Booth 3E3-08, Hall 3
HaiVision Network Video delivers advanced video networking technology and IPTV solutions, which are deployed worldwide within Fortune 100 companies, in military and defense applications, in healthcare facilities for video collaboration and training, for education and remote learning, in interactive broadcast applications, IPTV applications, and within TelePresence suites. At CommunicAsia 2009, HaiVision will be demo'ing:   Full Story

Black Holes + Cosmic Ghosts... EEEeeek!
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a cosmic "ghost" lurking around a distant supermassive black hole — this is the first detection of such a high-energy apparition, and scientists think it is evidence of a huge eruption produced by the black hole.   Full Story

Es Bueno, Genesis
Genesis Networks is providing a fully managed solution for transmission of a new IPTV service, Via America, between Miami, Florida and London, United Kingdom.   Full Story

Sirius FM-5 Set To Sound Off
Following the delivery, on May 22nd, of the Proton M booster rocket designated for the SIRIUS FM-5 launch, the aforementioned spacecraft was delivered to the Baikonur Cosmodrome on May 26th.   Full Story

$736 Million Contract GOES-R to Harris Corp.
Harris Corporation [NYSE: HRS], has been awarded a 10-year, potential $736 million contract to provide a complete, end-to-end solution for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite — Series R Ground Segment (GOES-R GS) program.   Full Story

EUMETSAT + ISRO Are In Cooperative Cahoots
A EUMETSAT delegation led by the Director General of the organization, Dr. Lars Prahm, met with the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Mr. G. Madhavan Nair.   Full Story

North Sea SatCom Aided By Avanti
Avanti Communications Group plc (AIM: AVN) has beenselected as a member of the NFSRITS (North Sea Freight and Intelligent Transport Solutions) consortium to deploy communications services to improve the safety and security of freight operations in the EU's North Sea region.   Full Story

digiGO! — Portable Power Is A Breakout With Matrox Offering
The Matrox MXO2 Mini is a sleek little HD HDMI and analog I/O device for Mac and PC that also gives users the added advantage of portability.   Full Story

Keeping An Eye On Watchkeeper
A key milestone in the GBP899m MOD project to develop the Watchkeeper Unmanned Air System has been reached on schedule — QinetiQ, working closely with other stakeholders, has delivered the necessary infrastructure and facilities at ParcAberporth, Ceredigion, South Wales, as part of its ongoing pound5m support contract, which means the Watchkeeper trials program can start this Autumn.   Full Story

SMOS Is FAR Ahead For ESA + CNES
ESA's next Earth Explorer, SMOS, has recently passed the all-important Flight Acceptance Review (FAR), signifying that all the elements that make up the mission are in place for launch later this year — the satellite can now be prepared for its journey to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.   Full Story

Masters of Space Participate in Space Foundation's Master Degree Programs
Moving forward and remaining ahead of the curve, the Space Foundation has expanded its offerings of master’s degree programs through its partnership with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS).   Full Story

Cable Racing @ Edwards AFB
NASA's Centennial Challenges Program and the Spaceward Foundation will hold the 2009 Power-Beaming Challenge, part of Spaceward's Space Elevator Games, at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, California, on July 14.   Full Story

M2M Market Making Money
The rapidly emerging M2M (machine-to-machine) market is already a $50B business with strong growth prospects.   Full Story

Music To A Satellite's Ears
On Tuesday evening, June 2nd, Globecast will be delivering a live 3D HD feed of a performance of Don Giovanni from the Rennes Opera house in Brittany via satellite to cinemas in Paris and elsewhere in France, though its collaboration with Orange Labs.   Full Story

Europeans Plan To Get Going With GMES
The latest meeting of the European Space Council, which was attended by the EUMETSAT Director-General, Dr. Lars Prahm, recognized the importance space makes to innovation and competitiveness in the context of the European Plan for Innovation and the European Economic Recovery Plan.   Full Story

digiGO! — Vectoring For Playout @ Broadcast Asia
Vector3 will exhibit the latest in VECTORBOX playout technology at the Broadcast Asia exhibition held in Singapore June 16 through June 19, 2009 at stand 7G4-01.   Full Story


May 28, 2009
Here's Looking @ Earth: Presentation Of Plumes By Kilauea
Plumes continued to rise from Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii’s big island in late May 2009 — the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 satellite captured this true-color image on May 24, 2009.   Full Story

A Critical Environment For Warfighting Success — Space + Surveillance Sats
U.S.A.F. officials discussed the importance of space as a warfighting domain before members of the Senate on May 20th on Capitol Hill.   Full Story

Manned Lunar Landing By Chinese Under Consideration
Chinaview.com is reporting that a Chinese space scientist has said Chinese scientists are considering the feasibility of a manned lunar landing mission, at an appropriate time, between 2025 and 2030.   Full Story

Getting To The Core Of GIS For All Terrain Digital
PCI Geomatics is pleased to announce GISmatters has selected the Company's software to generate high-quality terrain products for its spin-off division, All Terrain Digital.   Full Story

Still Time and Room for More as MEASAT Supplies Capacity on MEASAT-3a
MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd (“MEASAT”) signed an agreement with MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd (“MBNS”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ASTRO ALL ASIA NETWORKS, plc (“ASTRO”) to supply transponder capacity on the MEASAT-3a satellite.   Full Story

digiGO! — A Head's Up Head-End From AppearTV
Appear TV has announced the launch of their High Performance (HP) Dual Decoder module at ANGA, Cologne (stand G36).   Full Story


May 27, 2009
Memphis/Shelby County Gets Push(y) with SkyTerra to Deal With Emergencies
Folks in Memphis/Shelby County, Tennessee, should sleep easier since SkyTerra [OTCBB: SKYT] announced today that the Memphis/Shelby County, Tennessee Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) , is deploying push-to-talk satellite services via SkyTerra.   Full Story

Talia's MENA Focus On Display @ Nigerian-based Exhibition
Talia, a provider of iDirect services in the Middle East and Africa, will unveil expanded African services at the West African International Telecommunications & Information Technology Exhibition (WAfriTel) conference in Lagos, June 2nd through 4th, 2009.   Full Story

Three's Not A Crowd — Soyuz Launch Taking More Folk To ISS
Flight Engineers Roman Romanenko, Frank De Winne and Robert Thirsk of the 20th International Space Station crew were successfully launched in a Soyuz TMA-15 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:34 a.m. EDT Wednesday to start their six-month stay in space.   Full Story

digiGO! — DTV Systems Get Realtime Coder Options From Rohde & Schwarz
Rohde & Schwarz has expanded its R&S SFU broadcast test system by adding two realtime coder options for digital TV systems.   Full Story

Here's Looking @ Earth: Rain Forest Decimation — Alarming, As Usual...
The state of Rondonia in western Brazil is one of the most deforested parts of the Amazon.   Full Story

Comm-For-Rails A Starling Specialty
Starling Advanced Communications is unveiling StarRail, the newest entry in its portfolio of flat-panel satellite antennas for "Broadband on the Move" at CommunicAsia 2009, June 16-19 in Singapore at booth #6E1-01 — StarRail provides broadband communications aboard high-speed trains.   Full Story

Iron Lines + Black Holes, Courtesy Of XMM-Newton
From the European Space Agency's "Science & Technology" site, the ESA reports that spectral analysis of XMM-Newton observations of 1H0707-495 (a narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxy) has, for the first time, revealed the presence of broad K and L iron lines.   Full Story

ScanEagle SUAV Signs On In Canada
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], with its wholly owned subsidiary Insitu, has announced the first U.S. $25 million in contracts to Canadian companies as part of a government order for small unmanned aerial vehicle (SUAV) services.   Full Story

Curiosity May Well Have Killed The Cat — But It Also Won A NASA Contest For Student
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, scheduled for launch in 2011, has a new name, thanks to a sixth-grade student from Kansas — 12-year old Clara Ma from the Sunflower Elementary school in Lenexa submitted the winning entry, "Curiosity." As her prize, Ma wins a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where she will be invited to sign her name directly onto the rover as it is being assembled.   Full Story

Gravity Ain't No Gotcha For GOCE
ESA's gravity mission GOCE has achieved a first in the history of satellite technology — the sophisticated electric propulsion system has shown that it is able to keep the satellite completely free from drag as it cuts through the remnants of Earth's atmosphere, paving the way for the best gravity data ever.   Full Story

Dayton Delighted — UAV Center Gained
The Dayton region landed a big victory last Wednesday, as the state is awarding $3 million to create the Center for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Exploitation in the region.   Full Story


May 26, 2009
Boeing Scores With ScanEagle ISR
Boeing [NYSE: BA] recently received a contract from U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) services using the ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system (UAS) — the contract has a potential value of $250 million.   Full Story

HD Video In A 9 MHz Slot? Adtec + Mobile Satellite Connections Say "Yes"
Mobile Satellite Connection and Adtec Digital are working together to prove what MPEG 4 AVC has to offer clients.   Full Story

A Herculean Task Possibly Just Ahead For Avanti
Avanti Communications Groupplc(AIM: AVN) has been awarded a project by the European Space Agency contributing 250,000 euros in 2009 to the cost of work on a Preliminary Design Review of a new satellite system called Hercules.   Full Story

Space Foundation Reacts to Obama's Choice for NASA's Administrator
Long awaited, Obama finally nominated Major General Charles Bolden, USMC (retired), and?Lori Garver to serve as NASA Administrator and Deputy Administrator, respectively.   Full Story

UAVs To Russia Rather Than MiGs To Syria Or Iran
According to China View, Israel will facilitate the production of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for Russia, as Moscow declared last week it had decided to halt the sale of advanced MiG-31 fighter jets to Syria, Jerusalem Post reported Sunday.   Full Story

Single Source Control For UAVs In The Works
The U.S. Army is working to create a common user interface for seven large UAVs it uses, or is developing, in an article from Strategy Page.   Full Story

Here's Looking @ Earth: Not Crop Circles... Lake Circles
Late in April 2009, astronauts aboard the International Space Station observed a strange circular area of thinned ice in the southern end of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia.   Full Story

GlobeCast's MiniCam Let's 'Em Rip in Taiwan's World Games — Faster, Higher, Stronger
GlobeCast 's GlobeCam will transmit pictures from new heights in the the Air Sports competition with the best parachutists from around the world competing.?Miniature cameras will be on skydivers’ helmets and on helicopters, to capture breath-taking action as it occurs. The GlobeCam team will remotely switch the cameras from the ground.   Full Story

Obama Brings On Bolden + Garver As NASA Leads
President Barack Obama has nominated the following individuals for key administration posts: General Charles Bolden, Administrator of NASA, and Lori Garver, Deputy Administrator of NASA. President Obama said, "These talented individuals will help put NASA on course to boldly push the boundaries of science, aeronautics and exploration   Full Story

Sorrento To Host the ESA's Solar Orbiter Workshop
To be held from May 25th through the 29th at the Hotel Vesuvio in Sorrento, Italy, is the European Space Agency's Third Solar Orbiter Workshop.   Full Story

atrexx Flies High With the Eagles and U.S. Air Force
atrexx, a German satellite service provider announced that it will play an integral role in the operation of the Europe-based U.S. Air Force Eagle Vision system, known as Eagle Vision-1.   Full Story

Here's Looking @ Earth: The Icy Underbelly
Unlike the Arctic — an ocean basin surrounded by land, where sea ice extends all the way to the pole — the Antarctic is a large continent surrounded by ocean. Because of this geography, the Antarctic’s sea ice extent is larger than the Arctic’s in winter, but smaller in the summer. Total Antarctic sea ice peaks in September (the end of Southern Hemisphere winter) and retreats to a minimum in February.   Full Story

Totally Rad Hardened SBC For Spatial Summing
Aitech Defense Systems Inc. is introducing the radiation hardened S950-02 single board computer for spacecraft avionics.   Full Story

Thuraya Shares Broadband Solutions at MECOM 2009
Thuraya will share their expertise and promote their competitive broadband solution to the oil and gas sector as one of the main speakers at ‘MECOM 2009,’ the annual telecom exhibition and conference held in Abu Dhabi.   Full Story

Russians Take To Kourou With New Soyuz-ST
The maker of Russia's Soyuz rockets has finished building the first rockets due to be launched from South America pad, in cooperation with the European Space Agency.   Full Story

A Willamette Win Is EchoStar's ViP-TV
EchoStar Satellite Services, a division of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), now has an agreement to deliver its ViP-TV™ video transport service to Canby Telcom, a provider of telecommunications and entertainment services to more than 8,000 customers in the northern Willamette Valley of Oregon.   Full Story

digiGO! — Promo'ing DVR's To The German Broadcasting Industry
NDS and Axel Springer Digital TV Guide have announced their cooperation to promote personal TV — enabled by state-of-the-art digital video recorders (DVR) and electronic program guides (EPG) — to Germany’s broadcasting, pay-TV, and cable providers.   Full Story

Manpackin' Moment For ViaSat With NSA Certification
ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq:VSAT) has received certification from the National Security Agency (NSA) for the ruggedized AN/PSC-14(C) Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) integrated manpack terminal.   Full Story

BBC: Russia 'to save its ISS modules'
Russia is making plans to detach and fly away its parts of the International Space Station when the time comes to de-orbit the rest of the outpost.   Full Story

digiGO! — My, Oh, My — MHEG-5
Strategy & Technology has developed the first applications?that brings streaming video from the internet to the TV under broadcaster control using the latest MHEG-5 middleware specifications.   Full Story

digiGO! — Wireless Stimulus To Reach US$6.8B, Says ABI Research Report
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, also known simply as the Stimulus Bill) will provide funding for a massive $6.8 billion worth of wireless communications upgrades and new deployments over 2009-2010.   Full Story

Spacenet Present and Presenting @ ISCe
Spacenet Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (Nasdaq: GILT), will be participating in the 8th annual ISCe Conference taking place June 2 – 4, 2009 in San Diego, California.   Full Story

Newtec Heavy With NTT For IRD Development
Newtec announced the Company has been selected by NTT Electronics to be the DVB-S2 technology partner for the development of the new HVD6100 IRD — the world’s first professional IRD (Integrated Receiver Decoder) to combine decoder functionality, with a DVB-S2 demodulator and AVC/H.264 4:2:2 HDTV support.   Full Story

digiGO! — Political Elections Get WASP'd
WASP3D became the most used, real-time, 3D graphics solution by Indian News channels for broadcasting recently held Lok Sabha elections.   Full Story

Higher Communications With OnAir For EGYPTAIR
EGYPTAIR and OnAir have agreed to install full Mobile OnAir and Internet OnAir inflight passenger communications services on their fleet of twin-aisle Airbus 330-300 aircraft.   Full Story

Every Volley Served By Genesis Networks — Mon Dieu!
The French Open tennis tournament went live this past weekend — Genesis Networks was there to deliver every serve, volley, and smash for their customers in the Americas and Europe.   Full Story

Multiple "Flying Remotely By The Seat Of Their Fatigue Pants" Is U.S.A.F. Wish
The Air Force wants its airmen who pilot unmanned aerial vehicles to fly more than one of the aircraft at a time, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told defense and military leaders Thursday, from an article by Michael Hoffman in Air Force Times.   Full Story

Bringing A Space Marketplace To Spatial Entrepreneurs
Earth Space Agency has launched a neutral space marketplace to assist civilian space companies to trade parts, services, and patents required for building space ships, satellites and space probes.   Full Story

Silence Is Golden, Especially For Upcoming Hybrid UAV
Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTI) announced that its state-of-the-art, flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules will be designed into the development of a hybrid unmanned aerial vehicle (H-UAV) called the Silent Sentinel developed by Bye Aerospace, Inc.   Full Story

Sun Shines On Shtein + Solar UAV Strategies
With the ever-increasing military demand to reduce the size and weight of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) while lengthening flight times, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research is funding a project to integrate solar power cheaply and easily into the base materials used to build them.   Full Story

Trio To Travel To ISS
Aboard the International Space Station Tuesday, the Expedition 19 crew prepared for its upcoming spacewalk and awaited the arrival of three additional crew members later this week.   Full Story

Sans SYLDA 5
A key element of Ariane 5’s dual payload deployment system was imaged in a unique series of in-flight photos taken by one of its two European-built passengers during the Arianespace launcher’s successful deep-space mission on May 14th.   Full Story

Coming Down The Hard Way... On The Moon
The Japan's lunar explorer KAGUYA, which is now in the extended operational phase, has been carrying out observations of the Moon from lower altitude since February 1, 2009, to continue observations in more detail.   Full Story


May 25, 2009
South Africa's SumbandilaSat Stays @ Home... For Now...
The launch of South Africa’s R26-million Sumbandila microsatellite will now likely take place in late August, most probably on or around August 20, as reported by Keith Campbell in Engineering News.   Full Story


May 22, 2009
A Moving Experience For Integral Systems
Integral Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISYS) has announced their corporate headquarters have now relocated from Lanham, MD, to Columbia, MD.   Full Story

ILS Encore! for SkyTerra’s Second Satellite
Congrats to International Launch Services (ILS) as it was announced today that it will launch the SkyTerra 2 satellite.   Full Story

SRA Takes Command of the Language On Board TacSat-3 Satellite
SRA International, Inc. [NYSE: SRX] today announced the successful launch of the TacSat-3 satellite that is using SRA’s spacecraft command language (SCL) software to provide autonomous control of critical flight operations.   Full Story

Rain Rain Go Away, Space Shuttle Delay
Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew will stay in space another day after bad weather prevented them from landing Friday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.   Full Story

Check Out Gpredict — Track Your Sats in RealTime With No Monetary Expenditure Required!
Gpredict is a real-time satellite tracking and orbit prediction application.   Full Story


May 21, 2009
New Space Systems Development Finds DoD Facing Substantial Challenges
The following is a highlight of GAO-09-705T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate.   Full Story

Soon-To-Collide as Giant Galaxy Messier 87 Does Without Part of Halo
While astronomers were busy using ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have succeeded in measuring the size of giant galaxy Messier 87 and were surprised to find that its outer parts have been stripped away by still unknown effects. The galaxy also appears to be on a collision course with another giant galaxy in this very dynamic cluster.   Full Story

Job Gets Tougher — TSF Assists Pakistan in Largest and Swiftest Displacement of People
Two TSF experts deployed from Bangkok today to Islamabad for a mission in emergency telecommunications in and around North-West Pakistan.   Full Story

digiGO! — Expand Networks Is An Interop Winner
Expand Networks — specializing in WAN optimization solutions — has been awarded Best of Interop in the Performance Optimization category.   Full Story

digiGO! — Outlining The Global Teen Market
The Strategy Analytics report, “Capturing Teen Market Opportunities,” provides insight on digital opportunities from research covering global teen behavior, through analysis of over 30,000 teens in more than 30 countries.   Full Story

Oui! Orbit Strikes Up the Band (Ku- and C-) for the French Navy
Orbit Technology Group. announced the award of an order, in excess of $4 million, by the French Navy via DCNS, in which Orbit will supply the French Navy with Ku-Band (brand name OrSat) and C-Band Marine Satellite Communication systems.   Full Story

Iridium Wants to Test Your Satellite Phone — Does It Have the Answer?
Emergency preparedness can mean the difference between life and tragedy.   Full Story

Canadian UAV Competition For College Engineering Students Takes Off
From The Tribune, we learn that Niagara College soared into second place at the Canada Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Design/Build and Fly Competition, hosted by CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.   Full Story

digiGO! — @ Broadcast Asia: JAMPRO (Stand 7G1-8, Hall 8)
Jampro Antennas, Inc. has announced plans to exhibit a full range of antenna and RF component offerings at Broadcast Asia 2009.?   Full Story

U.S.A.F. Space Command + Boeing Respond To GAO GPS Report
The U.S.A.F. Air Force Space Command and Boeing have both responded to a recent GOA GPS report...   Full Story

Swedish Space Acquires Universal Space Sets Up One-Stop Shopping
All necessary approvals from the U.S. Government are complete for the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), a global provider of mission critical systems and services to the aerospace industry to complete the acquisition of U.S.-based Universal Space Network (USN), a leader in space operations for telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) services.   Full Story

Two Satellites Crucial To Future NASA Lunar Landings
NASA's return to the moon will get a boost in June with the launch of two satellites that will return a wealth of data about Earth's nearest neighbor.   Full Story

African Sports and News Networks Flyaway with System from ATCi
Antenna Technology Communications Inc. (ATCi), a provider of commercial satellite communications systems and services, announced the introduction of its specialized family of pre-packaged flyaway systems.   Full Story

PDR Perfection For Lockheed Martin's GPS IIIA
The Global Positioning Systems Wing has successfully completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the GPS IIIA Spacecraft Program.?   Full Story

Magnificent Seven Return After Hubble Mission
The seven astronauts who upgraded NASA's Hubble Space Telescope are expected to return to Earth aboard space shuttle Atlantis on Friday after an 11-day mission.   Full Story

digiGO! — @ Broadcast Asia: Vislink News + Entertainment (Stand 7E2 - 05)
Vislink News and Entertainment will exhibit its latest microwave communications product — the OB5000, a COFDM and high data rate modulator/demodulator with built-in video encoders and decoders supporting 4:2:2 SD and optional HD formats — at ?Broadcast Asia.   Full Story

'Chuting Conquest By ATK For Ares I
Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) along with NASA, the U.S. Army, and the United Space Alliance (USA) have successfully conducted a drop test of the three main parachutes that will slow the descent of the Ares I first stage booster, allowing it to be recovered, refurbished, and reused. The test was conducted at the Army's Yuma Proving Grounds.   Full Story


May 20, 2009
@ CommunicAsia: GlobeCast (Hall 6, 6F2-01)
GlobeCast will be demo'ing its media sharing platforms and highlighting its top HD platforms as well as upcoming coverage of sporting events.   Full Story

A Toast Unlike Any Other By Expedition 19 Astronauts
NASA's Mission Control gave the Expedition 19 astronaut crew aboard the International Space Station a "go" to drink water that the station's new recycling system has purified.   Full Story

Elected & Moving Up . . . Society of Satellite Professionals International
Wegener Corporation [Nasdaq: WGNR], a provider of equipment for television, audio and data distribution networks worldwide, today announced that Kamy Merithew, Vice President of Marketing for WEGENER, has been elected President of the 2009 Board of Directors for the Society of Satellite Professionals International Southeast Chapter (SSPI-SE).   Full Story

From Today Until 2019, An Analysis Of The UAV Market
The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Market 2009-2019 — examines one of the defence industry's most interesting and promising markets.   Full Story

It's the Yeast They Could Do As PharmaSat Takes Off and Packs a Wallops
More good news from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Tuesday when NASA's PharmaSat nanosatellite successfully launched at 7:55 p.m. EDT and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport located at Wallops Island,   Full Story

No Earth Sterilization By Asteroids Is The Hypothesis Of New NASA Study
A NASA-funded study indicates that an intense asteroid bombardment nearly 4 billion years ago may not have sterilized the early Earth as completely as previously thought.   Full Story

Comtech Brings Cutting Edge Comms To New SatModem
Comtech EF Data Corporation has unveiled their new CDM-740 Satellite Modem.   Full Story

The Wonders Of DTT + MobileTV Via Sat Expounded Upon In Free Webinar From Newtec
Join Newtec for a FREE Webinar entitled "Multistream: Efficient Distribution of Digital Terrestrial and Mobile TV Content over Satellite".   Full Story

Well Met — Globe Wireless Obtains ISO Certification
Globe Wireless has successfully passed a comprehensive and rigorous assessment of its Quality Management System and processes, and is now a fully certified ISO 9001-2008 organization meeting internationally defined and accepted standards of quality.   Full Story

Moving On Up... @ Integral Systems...
Integral Systems, Inc., (Nasdaq: ISYS) has announced that Bruce L. Lev joined its Board of Directors, effective May 8, 2009.   Full Story

New Alphabus Platform To Be Employed For Alphasat I-XL Satellite
Inmarsat has selected Arianespace to launch their new Alphasat I-XL communications satellite.   Full Story

W2A Completes Commercial Service Entry For Eutelsat
Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) has announced the full entry into commercial service of the Ku-band and C-band missions of the W2A satellite which was launched on April 3rd.   Full Story


May 19, 2009
A Jamming Jihad? Al-Hiwar's SatChannel's Signal Skirmish...
Arabic-language satellite channel Al-Hiwar has suffered a bout of what they claim is deliberate jamming.   Full Story

The Ultimate Catch-and-Release as Atlantis' Crew Bids Adiu to Hubble
No doubt it was a bittersweet experience earlier today as the STS-125 crew bid a final farewell to the Hubble Space Telescope.   Full Story

A Swiss Precision Deal For Rotocraft UAV Development
Swedish aerospace company Saab has struck a deal with Swiss UAV to collaborate on the development and marketing of rotorcraft unmanned air vehicles.   Full Story

Power To the UAV
Military motion and power electronics specialist Bental Industries Ltd. in Neve Yarak, Israel, is partnering with small engine producer 3W International in Rodermark, Germany, to produce integrated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) engines.   Full Story

A WISE SDL Completion Sends The Instrument Packing To Ball Aerospace
Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) has completed NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) science instrument.   Full Story

A Migration Marvel For NewCom Int'l
NewCom International has successfully migrated all satellite services previously served by five transponders in Express 3A to the new Express AM 44.   Full Story

Plugging Into ArcGIS With New GSI Tools
Geodynamic Solutions Inc. (GSI), a wholly owned subsidiary of LandWorks Inc., has intro'd WebMaps™ Enterprise GIS Suite 2.0, a set of four plug-in tools for ESRI’s ArcGIS Server? 9.3.   Full Story

Express AM5 + AM6 Find A Development Home With ISS Reshetnev
The Russian national satellite communications operator — Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) — has declared Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev (ISS Reshetnev) the winner of the open tender for design, development, and manufacture of the Express AM5 and Express AM6 satellites.   Full Story

TacSat-3 Takes To The Skies Via A Minotaur I — Launch Successful At Wallops
The sky lit up briefly the evening of May 19th as an Air Force Minotaur I rocket launched the Air Force Research Laboratory's TacSat-3 satellite, NASA's PharmaSat microsatellite and NASA's CubeSat Technology Demonstration experiments into a low earth orbit. The launch occurred at 7:55 p.m. EDT, 20 minutes into the scheduled launch window.   Full Story

Gateway Communications Has African Retail Connections
Gateway Communications, has got what it takes to provide telecommunications services for the South African retail community with AfricaConnect.   Full Story

TerreStar-1 Safe & Sound In French Guiana, Now Getting "Interfaced"
The Spaceport's S5 payload preparation facility has become the center of attention for Arianespace's upcoming Ariane 5 mission as the TerreStar-1 satellite passenger begins its pre-launch checkout process.   Full Story

Here's Looking @ Earth: The Devil's In The Diversions
During the 1960s, the Soviet Union undertook a major water diversion project on the arid plains of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.   Full Story

Summit Connects Iraq via VSAT
Positive moves are taking place in Iraq.   Full Story

60K Worth Of Connections For IPSTAR Australia
IPSTAR Australia Pty Ltd (IPA), a subsidiary of Thaicom Public Company Limited, has now surpassed 60,000 connections since the firm's inception in 2003.   Full Story


May 18, 2009
The Ultimate Makeover as Spacewalkers Begin Hubble Repairs
As this news is coming to you it is now 3 hours, 19 minutes into todays, Saturdays, spacewalk. . .   Full Story

Powerful Partnership: Firehole Tech + AeroMorphology, A UAV Win
Firehole Technologies, Inc. has a new partnership with the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) industry specialist, AeroMorphology LLC, which will focus on taking the solutions developed by Firehole to the UAV industry.   Full Story

Scrubs Are For Operating Room Professionals — Hopefully Not For The Next TacSat-3 Launch
The U.S.A.F. will attempt to launch a Minotaur I rocket carrying with it the Air Force Research Laboratory’s TacSat-3 satellite, NASA’s PharmaSat microsatellite and NASA’s CubeSat Technology Demonstration experiments — this is the fourth attempt to launch the rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Pad 0B and it will occur on May 19th during a four hour long launch window, starting at 7:35 p.m. EDT. A backup date of May 20th has also been established, should such become necessary. The launch windows are identical for both days.   Full Story

Ten Years Of Flying High — ARINC Celebrates GLOBALink's Tenth
ARINC Incorporated, together with partners Aviation Data Communication Corp. (ADCC) of China and Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, Ltd. (AEROTHAI), this past week commemorated the tenth anniversary of GLOBALink data link services for airlines operating in the Asia/Pacific region.   Full Story

Triple UAS Play By AAI
AAI Corporation, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, has flown three of its small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) simultaneously at the Smoky Hill Air National Guard Range.   Full Story

"Foodies" In Asia Get MEASAT-3 Programming
MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. (“MEASAT”) announced that leading food and lifestyle channel, Asian Food Channel (“AFC”), had renewed its contract of video distribution via the MEASAT-3 satellite.   Full Story

Powerful Partnership: Elbit Systems + General Dynamics Into UAS
Defense electronics company Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) U.S. subsidiary Elbit Systems of America, LLC, and a General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) unit have formed a joint venture to build unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for the US military.   Full Story

Here's Looking @ Earth — Mauna Kea Makes For A Topical Volcano Shot From Space
The island of Hawaii is home to four volcanoes monitored by volcanologists: Mauna Loa, Hualalai, Kilauea, and Mauna Kea.   Full Story

Cassini Captures: Stunning Sun 'n Saturn Shot
Rays of light from the sun have taken many different paths to compose this glorious image of Saturn and its rings.   Full Story

Radical Rubble Rips Not In Glonass' Future
Russia will not cut funding for its Glonass satellite navigation program despite the current economic crisis, a deputy prime minister said on Tuesday, according to a new report from RIA Novosti.   Full Story

ProtoStar/Indostar II Is Calling Home...
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and ProtoStar Ltd. both indicated the IndoStar II/ProtoStar II satellite is healthy and operating normally following the successful acquisition of the spacecraft’s first on-orbit signals.   Full Story

3G UAV Already In The Works At General Atomics
Bruce Rolfsen of the Air Force Times reports that the U.S.A.F. is looking at a 3G of armed remote-control planes, even as it continues to build up its fleet of MQ-1 Predators and MQ-9 Reapers.   Full Story

A Win For QinetiQ + Their Zephyr UAV
QinetiQ’s Zephyr is a very high-flying, ultra-light, solar powered UAV that's designed to break existing flight length records.   Full Story

UAV Insights From Reportlinker
Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available — World Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) & System Market.   Full Story

STS-132 Assignments By NASA
NASA has assigned the crew for space shuttle mission STS-132, targeted for launch in April 2010.   Full Story

FAST Times @ NASA
NASA has selected 21 technology demonstration projects to fly on reduced gravity aircraft flights during the week of Aug. 10 through its Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training program known as FAST.   Full Story

Preparing to Launch TerreStar-1 the Big Boy of Satellites from French Guiana
If you like articles that have to do with breaking records for being the biggest, fastest or whatever, here's one for you.   Full Story

Putin Pushes For More Launch Vehicles — Could Capture 50 Percent Of Market
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has stated Russia must strengthen its competitive positions on the global commercial space launch market by expanding its launch facilities and developing new types of carrier rockets.   Full Story

Progress Attains Permanent Splashdown
The Progress M-66 cargo spacecraft reentered the Earth's atmosphere on Monday before plunging into a "spaceship cemetery" in the southern Pacific, Russia's Mission Control said.   Full Story

Swimming Into The Maritime Space Is Norsat Int'l
Norsat International Inc. (”Norsat”) (TSX – NII.TO; OTC BB – NSATF.OB) has been selected by the Minister of Agriculture of Italy to manage the satellite based vessel monitoring system (VMS), also known as Blue Box — this is Norsat’s initial entry into the maritime satellite space.   Full Story

NASA's Lunar Divining Rod To Launch On June 17th
The Mission Objectives of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) include confirming the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon’s South Pole.   Full Story

The Node Takes Flight — From Turin, Italy, To Kennedy Space Center, Florida
The official departure ceremony of Node 3 took place at the site of ESA’s Node 3 prime contractor Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, on May 16th.   Full Story

Nigeria's Satellite Share Losing Ground
As reported by Obinna Ezeobi of PUNCH On The Web, Nigeria’s shareholding in the Regional African Satellite project has been whittled down to 2.6 per cent and now lags behind many other African countries, as stated by Director-General, Regional African Satellite Communications Organisation, Dr. Jones Kilimbe.   Full Story


May 15, 2009
Atlantic Bird 7 Sings a Sweet Tune as Astrium Delivers to Middle East and Africa
Eutelsat Communications [Euronext Paris: ETL], a major satellite operator, announced today that it has selected Astrium to deliver its new satellite for 7 degrees West called ATLANTIC BIRD™ 7.   Full Story

ICO Is Not Happy With EC's MSS Decision
ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Limited (ICO) (NASDAQ:ICOG) learned the European Commission (EC) has not selected ICO’s subsidiary, ICO Satellite Limited, for S-band mobile satellite services (MSS).   Full Story

TerreStar Europe Is Also Not Happy With EC's MSS Decision
TerreStar Europe Limited, an indirect, majority-owned subsidiary of TerreStar Corporation (NASDAQ:TSTR), has issued the following statement with respect to the European Commission order regarding 2GHz MSS S-Band spectrum authorizations:   Full Story

Popcorn Optional — Digital Cinema Now Showing at Theaters as Global Vision Signs with IDC
Pass the popcorn and get ready to be entertained as Global Vision today signed a value added reseller agreement with International Datacasting Corporation [TSX:IDC] for their Digital Cinema product line.   Full Story

No Icarus Type Meltdown As Atlantis Safely Flies By the Sun
In this tightly cropped image, the NASA space shuttle Atlantis is seen in silhouette during solar transit, Tuesday, May 12, 2009, from Florida.   Full Story


May 14, 2009
Space Foundation Awards Validate that Two Are Better than One
The Space Foundation announced today two winners of the 2009 Lucy Enos Memorial Scholarship: Jessica Kamalu, high school mathematics teacher at Ke Kula Kaiapuni ‘o Anuenue, Honolulu; and Rod Floro, sixth grade physical science teacher at Kamehameha Schools Middle School, Hawai’i Campus, Keaau.   Full Story

Ariane 5 Lifts Off — Herschel and Planck Have Keys to Go Back to the Future
These are exciting times, SatNews.com has been reporting almost a launch a day, and this day is no exception — two of the most ambitious missions ever attempted to unveil the secrets of the darkest, coldest and oldest parts of the Universe got off to a successful start this afternoon.   Full Story

GMV Motivates Into Asia
GMV, a multinational company headquartered in Spain, has opened two commercial offices in Asia — one in Malaysia and the other in the Korean Republic.   Full Story

We All Scream For X-Stream — Vizada Hears The Calls
Vizada has successfully completed testing of the Inmarsat BGAN X-Stream service with a number of media customers, including CNN and Al-Arabiya News Channel. The service is now commercially available through Vizada.   Full Story

Safer + Smarter Landings, Courtesy Of Honeywell's SmartPath
Honeywell (NYSE: HON) has completed the installation for their SmartPath Precision Landing System at Bremen Airport in Germany.   Full Story

Here's Looking @ Earth — Shiveluch Getting All Steamed Up
The Shiveluch Volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula released a small plume of vapor as the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite passed overhead on May 10, 2009.   Full Story

Inmarsat Takes The European Union, Not By Storm, But By S-Band
The European Union (EU) has selected Inmarsat to establish a next-generation mobile satellite communications system across the continent.   Full Story

Retired U.S.M.C. Maj. General To Be NASA's Next Chief? Monday Morning We'll Know...
It could well be that the next NASA administrator will be Major General Charles F. Bolden Jr., himself a former astronaut.   Full Story

Financially Speaking... ViaSat...
ViaSat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) has announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2009.   Full Story

Backhauling Nigerian CellOps Is Gateway Communications
African mobile telecoms service provider Gateway Communications announced it has been selected by Etisalat to provide a cellular backhaul for the operator’s mobile network in Nigeria.   Full Story


May 13, 2009
It's No Shaving Accident with Nick on Surface of Atlantis
The Atlantis astronauts uncovered a 21-inch stretch of nicks on their space shuttle Tuesday, but NASA said the damage did not appear to be serious.   Full Story

Renault's Radio is Ready to Receive
Renault takes a big step forward to include ONDAS Media S.A., the satellite radio company for Europe, as part of their commercial agreement to install satellite radio receivers in Renault vehicles and its affiliates across Europe.   Full Story

Silver Bullet Provides Good Luck to Kennedy Space Center
NASA Shuttle Launch Director Michael Leinbach shows his lucky silver bullet while in firing room #4 of the NASA Kennedy Space Center, Launch Control Center, Monday, May 11, 2009, at Cape Canaveral, Florida.   Full Story

Herschel + Planck Fairing Well
On Sunday May 10th the Ariane 5 ECA fairing was lowered over the Herschel spacecraft and the SYLDA, under which the Planck spacecraft sits, to be integrated finally with the launcher — both spacecraft are now ready for the launch scheduled for May 14th at 13:12 UTC.   Full Story

No Gifts Please for Celebration of 10 Years of First Dnepr Launc
SSTL and ISC Kosmotras are celebrating 10 years of successful cooperation, since the SSTL mini-satellite UoSAT-12 made history as the first successful orbital injection by the Dnepr launch vehicle in April 1999.   Full Story

Side-by-Side Asian Summits = Double the Information to Succeed
The CommunicAsia2009 Summit, held alongside CommunicAsia2009 which is Asia’s largest infocomm exhibition, will highlight infrastructure technologies and how to leverage on these to increase profitability.   Full Story

TACSAT-3 Toss To Take Place May 19
The TACSAT-3 team at Wallops Flight Facility worked with precision to overcome a ground support equipment issue early in the countdown and attempted a launch late in the 3 hour launch window.   Full Story

Pakistan Plays It Close To The Vest With U.S. UAVs
In a story bylined by Christopher Szabo in Digital Journal|World he reports that the U.S. has offered Pakistan control of numerous overflights involving both the Predator and the more powerful Reaper UAVs and at least two flights under Pakistani direction have been flown.   Full Story

Ariane's Countdown to Launch the Keys to Unlock Mysteries of the Universe
Arianespace’s heavy-lift mission, with two satellite passengers that will help unlock some of the universe’s mysteries, has moved to the launch zone in preparation for liftoff tomorrow morning, May 14.   Full Story

digiGO! — "Over and Above" Opportunities Opening For Mobile Operators
Mobile Phone operators are now looking beyond the handset to fuel further growth and they foresee a broad range of consumer electronics devices as vehicles for 3G and 4G wireless service access.   Full Story

TIA Tests For CDMA Nets In New Doc Revision
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA has released TIA-1043-A Issues Over the Air Interoperability Specification for cdma2000? Air Interface.   Full Story

MetaVR's Virtual Afghan Terrain Derived From SatImagery For NATO Warfighter Training
To meet the needs of training NATO soldiers for warfare in Afghanistan, MetaVR has built 3D geospecific terrain covering 9,600 square kilometers, featuring a high-resolution virtual village with more than 500 buildings in the Afghan province of Kabul.   Full Story

MicroBAT's Big Time Italian MOD Demo
Bental Industries, Ltd. has successfully demo'd their MicroBAT to Italian senior MOD staff, including the Chief of Staff of Italy's armed forces and the country's defense minister.   Full Story

Financially Speaking... Intelsat...
Intelsat, Ltd. has reported results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2009.   Full Story

Weathering One Year Of Meteosat-8 RSS
May 13th marked Today marked the first anniversary of the start of the Rapid Scanning Service (RSS) on EUMETSAT’s Meteosat-8 geostationary weather satellite, which, for one year now, has been successfully delivering this vital service in support of Nowcasting of severe weather events.   Full Story

Inmarsat BGAN X-Stream's New Audience — Al Jazeera English — Courtesy Of Stratos Global
Stratos Global Corporation is the first media organization to deploy the new Inmarsat BGAN X-Stream mobile broadband satellite service for Al Jazeera English .   Full Story

First Impressions Are Impressive as Astronauts Grab Hubble
Another milestone met, as Atlantis' astronauts grabbed the Hubble Space Telescope on Wednesday, then comes the dangerous and unprecedented spacewalking repairs they will attempt over the next five days.   Full Story

Soyuz Ferrying Function Requires More Millions
RIA Novosti is reporting that Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and NASA have agreed on a new price for ferrying U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) after 2012, a Russian space official said on Wednesday.   Full Story


May 12, 2009
You've Heard Of Trickle Down? This Is Triple Up, atrexx style
atrexx has launched a triple-feature iDirect platform on the Telstar 11N satellite that could radically improve satellite-based services throughout the African continent.   Full Story

Oh Da! Russia OOO As Iridium Steps in to the Russian Telecom Market
Both parties are taking it seriously as Iridium Satellite LLC, the mobile satellite services (MSS) operator with global coverage, announces today the formation of a company, Iridium Communications Russia, OOO in which they will pursue a license for providing MSS services in Russia.   Full Story

IDC Keeps On Trunking For SES AMERICOM-NEW SKIES
International Datacasting Corporation (TSX:IDC) has been selected by SES AMERICOM-NEW SKIES to provide equipment to customers who will be upgrading to DVB-S2 platform offerings via the Company's IPsys IP trunking service.   Full Story

Lifting Milestones Result in Clearing for Heavy-Lift Arian 5
The heavy-lift Ariane 5 for Arianespace's upcoming space exploration mission is now complete following the installation of its payload fairing over the dual passengers of Europe's Herschel space telescope and the Planck observatory.   Full Story

Moving on Up Temporarily . . . NASA Review Commission
While the Obama administration says it will not set any long-term priorities in space until late August at the earliest, in addition NASA, won't initiate any new contracts for a return trip to the moon.   Full Story

Guest Opinion: Space Cadets from Oz
The new Australian government has just released its new Defence White Paper, explaining the military and strategic policies it hopes to pursue over the near-to-medium term.   Full Story

The Shadow Knows — Hours A'Plenty
AAI Corporation, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced their Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TUAS) have exceeded 400,000 flight hours.   Full Story

Numerex Buoys Up French Geolocation Services Company
Dolink, a provider of satellite-based geolocation services for yachts and pleasure boats, headquartered in Nantes, France, has selected Numerex Corporation's SX1-powered tracking platform for its remote reporting and monitoring applications.   Full Story

AsiaSat 3S Capacity Gets A Prayerful Of Content
Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) has announced Faizan Productions (Pvt.) Ltd. has signed a lease agreement for the use of C-band capacity on AsiaSat 3S to broadcast “Madani”, a religious channel, to Asia, the Middle East and Australasia.   Full Story

Masten Makes The Xombie Fly
Masten Space Systems completed their first vertical take-off, vertical-landing (VTVL) rocket flight demo last Friday.   Full Story

Cassini Captures: Saturn Shines On...
Sunlight illuminates a bright crescent on Saturn's moon Enceladus while Saturnshine dimly lights more of the moon.   Full Story

Global VSAT Forum Presents New Hughes Equipment Online Training Courses
The Global VSAT Forum (GVF), Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), and SatProf have announced at Sviaz 2009 in Moscow, Russia, that they will jointly launch a web-based platform at http://gvf.coursehost.com that enables faster, more cost-effective delivery of installation training on Hughes broadband satellite systems throughout the world.   Full Story


May 11, 2009
INTERESTING: NASA Approves Partial Privatization of the Space Program
NASA's critics have long asked: Why does the space agency need to design and build its own rockets and spacecraft?   Full Story

Business in Space — Space Foundation
The $257 billion global space economy grew more than 2.5 percent in 2008 and the outlook for continued growth is good, primarily because of the increasing impact of space-related consumer products and services — and because of the wide diversity of businesses models and opportunities.   Full Story

Atlantis Good to GOOOOOO!
No birds were observed in the flight path — and so at last the Atlantis was good to go — and it did — just as planned! Today was a picture perfect day with a picture perfect launch off of Launch Pad 39-A.   Full Story

Financially Speaking... GeoEye...
GeoEye, Inc. has reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2009.   Full Story

EMS SATCOM Airs It Out
EMS SATCOM's first delivery of their new single SwiftBroadband channel eNfusion HSD-Xi High-speed Data Terminal has now occurred.   Full Story

New Geospatial Data Toolkit Reveals All
Blue Marble Geographics released GeoCore, an all-in-one geospatial data translation toolkit that supports coordinate, geometry, vector, CAD, raster, and LIDAR data.   Full Story

Acquiring Minds Want To Know... CETeL GmbH + ND SatCom's Managed Services Division
CETel GmbH has acquired the Managed Services Division of ND SatCom as of April 1st, 2009.   Full Story

Financially Speaking... EchoStar Corporation...
EchoStar Corporation (Nasdaq: SATS) has reported total revenue of $480 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, a 13.5 percent decrease compared with $555 million for the corresponding period in 2008.   Full Story

Moving On Up... At SkyTerra...
SkyTerra (OTCBB: SKYT) has appointed Jeffrey Carlisle Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.   Full Story

WorldView-2 Winning Ways
Geoimage and DigitalGlobe have announced the winner of their competition to witness the launch of DigitalGlobe’s Worldview-2 satellite from California later this year.   Full Story

ATK Rockets Ram Shuttle Hubbleward...
Alliant Techsystem's Reusable Solid Rocket Motors (RSRM) ignited and sent NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis and its crew on their journey to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.   Full Story

Inmarsat Improves Its Maritime Offering
Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT) has launched its new FleetBroadband 150 service.   Full Story

Financially Speaking... ORBCOMM Inc...
ORBCOMM Inc. (Nasdaq: ORBC), a global satellite data communications company focused on two-way Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2009.   Full Story

A Three-Dimensionally Elevating Experience For Intermap Technologies
Intermap Technologies' Intermap Federal Services, Inc. subsidiary has received a USD $1.2 million contract to provide 3D digital elevation data and other map products for an international project.   Full Story


May 10, 2009
NASA and NOAA — Winning Contract GOES-(R) to Lockheed Martin x2
Great news for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., especially when the current economy needs a thyroid check.   Full Story

IndoStar II/ProtoStar II Catch a Breeze and Get a Lift on a Proton
Edging ever closer to the launch date of May 16 at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Launch Pad 39, the IndoStar II/ ProtoStar II communications satellite, manufactured by the Boeing Company is scheduled to lift off on a Proton M/Breeze M at 06:57 Baikonur; May 16: 00:57 GMT; May 15: 20:57 EDT.   Full Story

Transponder Triumph For Telekom Malaysia With MEASAT-3
MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd (“MEASAT”) has announced Telekom Malaysia Berhad (“TM”) has renewed a contract for the leasing of transponder capacity on the MEASAT-3 satellite.   Full Story

ESA's TIGER African Water Project Extended
ESA kicked off the second phase of its TIGER initiative at the Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.   Full Story

FuelGas Feature For STS-111 UAV From Sanswire-TAO
Sanswire-TAO Corp. has begun to modify and test the propulsion system which will power the 111-ft. non-rigid, multi-segmented, rapid deployment/rapid folding Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) currently in production for multiple surveillance and homeland security applications.   Full Story

Fueling The Raven UAV With Proven Technology
Protonex Technology Corporation (LSE: AIM: PTX and PTXU) has received a $265,000 contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for advanced development of high performance fuel cell systems for small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).   Full Story

Utah's Dugway Proving Ground To Become Army UAV Test Center
Dugway Proving Ground has been selected as a site to integrate systems and conduct testing on the U.S. Army's Hunter, Shadow, and Sky Warrior unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a news release issued Thursday by several members of Utah's congressional delegation.   Full Story

Three Times Is No Charm for Cancelled Launch at Wallops — Where and When?
This time the countdown got to within 2 minutes and 15 seconds of liftoff, but a low-voltage reading from somewhere inside the Minotaur 1 rocket or its payload last night aborted the count at about 10:43 p.m.   Full Story

SPECIAL Guest Perspective: "Hey! Who's Flying This Thing?"
2008 was a great year for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Will 2009 be as grand?   Full Story

X-45 Xerting Xtreme Xaminations
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] is, according to Defense Update, reviving the X-45 unmanned aerial system to be used for testing and demo of advanced unmanned air system technologies, under a company funded research program code-named Phantom Ray.   Full Story

When Pigs Fly — Atlantis Readies for Journey
The stops and starts of prepping for the Atlantis' journey to repair the Hubble telescope are narrowing down to just hours before the launch.   Full Story

Cargo Shuttles Off To ISS
RIA Novosti is reporting that Russia has launched a Progress M-02M cargo spacecraft from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), this according to a spokesman for Russia's space agency Roscosmos.   Full Story

A Final Flick From Hubble's Retiring Camera
The Hubble community bids farewell to the soon-to-be decommissioned Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 onboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.   Full Story


May 8, 2009
Moving On Up . . . at Genesis Networks
Paul Dujardin, founder and chairman of Genesis Networks, today announced the appointment of Mike Antonovich as president and CEO of the company, a provider of next-generation global video transmission services and operator of one of the world's most advanced video fiber networks.   Full Story

No Woohoos For Wallops, Again
No you're not reading yesterday' news.   Full Story

Numerex Opens Up to Open Platform For M2M FAST
Numerex Corp. [Nasdaq: NMRX], a single-source provider of secure wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions, today announced the availability of the first Open Platform as a Service aimed at the M2M market.   Full Story

Not Too Shabby as Numerex Reports First Quarter 2009 Results
Numerex Corp. (Nasdaq: NMRX), a single-source provider of secure wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) network services and solutions, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2009.   Full Story

Raytheon Works Out and Looks Out With the GextGen
Something that needed to be addressed has been recognized resulting in the award to Raytheon Company of a seven-month, firm-fixed-price contract to study the NextGen Integrated Communications, Navigation and Surveillance architecture and determine the National Airspace System's needs for 2018 to 2025.   Full Story

digiGO! — Crawford is Fiber Net Live In Columbia, South Carolina
Crawford Satellite Services has extended its fiber network (Crawford Connect) with live connectivity via Studio-on-Main, which is managed by local production company, KitchenFish, and located one block away from the State capitol building.   Full Story


May 7, 2009
NASA's Final Budget — Finally... And Comments from Space Foundation
Numbers are in today from Washington regarding NASA's budget, which amounts to an $18.69 billion budget for fiscal year 2010 to advance Earth science, complete the International Space Station, explore the solar system and conduct aeronautics research.   Full Story

Sticky Solution as Cardiac Patients Take NASA Super Plastic to Heart
Win-win stories are always great to share, and this one involves a NASA technology that was developed for an aerospace high-speed research program that is now part of an implantable device for heart failure patients.   Full Story

What Global Economic Crisis? Asks Satellite SCADA/M2M Industry
Encouraging information is somewhat limited these days, however, NSR today released its newest market survey and forecast report: Global SCADA and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) via Satellite Markets.   Full Story

From Fleet 33 To OpenPort, Globe Wireless Offers Trade In Program
Globe Wireless has debuted an Inmarsat Fleet 33 to Iridium OpenPort upgrade program.   Full Story

Spitzer Sans Helium = A New + Warmer Mission
The primary mission of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is about to end after more than five and a half years of probing the cosmos with its keen infrared eye.   Full Story

Taking No Risks It's a Go for the Pathfinder STSS ATRR
The Missile Defense Agency, supported by NASA and the commercial firm United Launch Alliance, successfully launched the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Advanced Technology Risk Reduction (ATRR) satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at approximately 1:24 p.m. PDT (4:24 p.m. EDT).   Full Story

Smaller Footprint, Improved Performance For SBRs From Diodes Inc.
Diodes Incorporated has introduced model SBR10U200P5, the first in a series of high-voltage Super Barrier Rectifiers (SBR?) packaged in the compact, thermally-efficient, proprietary PowerDI5? package.   Full Story

Ban The Wireless Ban, Say Industry Organizations
In a letter to Congress dated May 6th, The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), CTIA-The Wireless Association, The Satellite Industry Association (SIA), TechAmerica, and The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) collectively voiced their opposition to a proposed ban on the usage of wireless telecommunications on U.S. commercial flights.   Full Story

As Space Shuttle Climbs High It Will Be Televised in High Def
NASA Television will provide live high definition coverage of Monday's scheduled launch of space shuttle Atlantis on its STS-125 mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.   Full Story

Da! Russia Launches A.S. Popov
Success as the Express AM44 satellite, named after A.S. Popov, has been put into operation at the 11 West regular orbital slot within the satellite constellation of the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC). Orbital tests of the Express AM44 payload are completed positively.   Full Story

Ahoy! Raytheon's KillerBee Unmanned Aircraft System Can Be Recovered At Sea
No creatures were hurt in their capture at sea, according to Raytheon Company's [NYSE: RTN] KillerBee unmanned aircraft system as it demonstrated it can be recovered from a net on a moving platform, simulating an at-sea recovery.   Full Story

Surprise to Many — President/CEO of National Association of Broadcasters Resigns
David Rehr has announced that he is resigning as president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters.   Full Story

DataPath + Rockwell Collins Union Has Stockholder Approval
DataPath, Inc. has announced that holders of DataPath's common stock have approved the merger agreement pursuant to which DataPath will become a wholly?owned subsidiary of Rockwell Collins, Inc. (NYSE: COL)   Full Story

Mantis UAV Breakout Later This Month
AvioNews is reporting that BAE Systems will fly its Mantis UAV later this month.   Full Story

Sagem Tech Enables More Accurate UAV Threat Assessment For Boots On The Ground
The French army’s 61st Artillery Regiment recently field tested the new ERS-RVT terminal designed by Sagem, a SAFRAN Group company, for tactical data exchange and direct image reception from the Sperwer UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).   Full Story

An Expansive GeoEye
GeoEye, Inc. has completed an expansion, nearly doubling the production space of its St. Louis, Missouri, advanced production facility.   Full Story

The Heat Is On Textron
Textron Defense Systems, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, has been selected to provide thermal protection heat shields for the Orion crew exploration vehicle.   Full Story

SS/L To Bring New ComSat Into Play For AsiaSat
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications (NASDAQ: LORL) announced the Company has been selected to provide a new communications satellite, named AsiaSat 5C, to Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat).   Full Story

Tooway Toots Its Spanish Influence
El Corte Ingls and Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) have announced the Tooway™ satellite broadband service will be available through Spain’s leading retailer.   Full Story

Obama Orders Once Over Of NASA's Constellation Commitment
President Barack Hussein Obama on Thursday ordered a review of a rocket NASA hopes will replace its shuttle fleet, but the agency insisted the future of manned U.S .space flights was safe.   Full Story

Here's Looking @ Earth: NASA's MESSENGER, Memory Maker
Launched on August 3, 2004, NASA’s Mercury MESSENGER spacecraft has been rocketing around the inner solar system for the past few years, doing flybys of Earth, Venus, and its primary target — Mercury — as it prepares for the final phase of its mission.   Full Story

This Ain't Your Everyday Cookie! Microbes In Space...
An article by Michael Schirber for Astrobiology Magazine reveals a new research project is in the works with plans to monitor samples of organic compounds and living organisms as they orbit the Earth in a small satellite.   Full Story

Moving On Out... Kohler Departs Space Florida
Steve Kohler has resigned from his position as president at Space Florida, with many rumors circulating such was the result of displeasure with his work by the powers that be in Florida's state capital.   Full Story


May 6, 2009
NASA Talks Finance$
Should be an interesting meeting when NASA's Acting Administrator Chris Scolese briefs the news media about the agency's fiscal year 2010 budget at 2:30 p.m. EDT, Thursday, May 7.   Full Story

Down for the Count — STS-125 Crew in Final Quarantine
The red carpet may not be there, but the impressiveness of the mission still wows the crowds.   Full Story

Ready Set — No Go for Wallops Launch
Originally planned for a May 6 launch the U.S. Air Force planned to launch a Minotaur 1 rocket with a new satellite from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, however a heavy cloud cover has scrapped those plans.   Full Story

DirecTV Takes the Liberty
Arrangements have transpired resulting in satellite television company DirecTV Group Inc. merging with John Malone's Liberty Entertainment, resulting in a simplification of DirecTV's ownership and setting the stage for future deals.   Full Story

Information Payoff at the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Payloads Conference
As the number of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) continues to multiply, so does the need for highly advanced payload technologies to support these systems.   Full Story

C2SAT's China Capture
C2SAT (NGM Stock Market Exchange, C2ST) has been actively working to establish a new presence in China, one that will cover both local production capabilities and product sales.   Full Story


May 5, 2009
Report of Joint NASA ESA Mission: UK to bid for Mars sample centre
Rocks from Mars could be brought to the UK within the next 20 years, if a bid to host a study facility is successful.   Full Story

Goodrich Corp. Acquires Cloud Cap to Further into UAV Market
Goodrich Corp. said Friday it acquired privately held Cloud Cap Technology Inc., a provider of avionics for small unmanned aerial vehicles. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.   Full Story

ULA Sends One Up For Missile Defense Agency
A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, on behalf of the NASA Launch Services Program, successfully launched the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Advanced Technology Risk Reduction (ATRR) mission for the United States Missile Defense Agency at 1:24 p.m., PDT. on May 5th.   Full Story

Financially Speaking... Harris Corporation...
Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) reported GAAP net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 of $114 million, or $.86 per diluted share, compared with GAAP net income of $108 million, or $.78 per diluted share, in the prior-year quarter.   Full Story

MQ-8B Fire Scout Enjoys Successful Test Flight Ops with U.S. Navy
A Northrop Grumman Corporation-developed (NYSE:NOC) MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) successfully completed fully autonomous flight operations onboard the USS McInerney (FFG-8) frigate.   Full Story

ATERMES Up To MicroBAT Payload Systems For UAVs
Bental Industries, Ltd. has signed a new cooperation agreement with ATERMES, via Goldtec Technologies Ltd Israel, sole distributor for Bental's products in France and Belgium.   Full Story

Combat Damage To UAS? Fret Not, Rockwell Collins To The Rescue — AMAZING!
Rockwell Collins has been awarded the third phase of a damage tolerance contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which will find the Company demo'ing a completely autonomous takeoff, recovery from extreme damage and failure, and autonomous landing of an unmanned subscale F/A-18 with additional flight tests to be conducted on an operational Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS).   Full Story

SatCom Size Of The Compact Kind From KVH
KVH has debuted the newest, smallest antenna in the Company's line of Inmarsat FleetBroadband satellite communications systems — the compact and affordable new TracPhone? FB150 maritime satellite communications system.   Full Story

C-COM iNetVu Congregation Cluster Continues
C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. (TSXV: CMI) has received orders worth in excess of $2,300,000 USD for its iNetVu Mobile satellite antenna systems from its resellers in Vietnam, China, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and Iraq.   Full Story

Claiming An Insurance Victory Is Spacenet
Spacenet Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd.(Nasdaq:GILT), has announced the Company's Connexstar satellite communications services have been deployed as part of an incident response vehicle for Erie Insurance.   Full Story

SPOT Image Is Spot On With KOMPSAT-2
SPOT Image Corporation has entered into an agreement with KAI Image as the distributor of KOMPSAT-2 products to customers across North America.   Full Story

Cable Conundrum Cleared Up By MegaPhase
MegaPhase, a leading manufacturer of super-flexible and highly reliable coaxial cables and assemblies, is changing how advanced aircraft avionics and EW systems are built and maintained.   Full Story

Globe Galvanizes OpenPort For Customers
Globe Wireless has successfully concluded a rigorous testing program for the new Iridium OpenPort maritime satcom system and is delivering units to customers.   Full Story


May 4, 2009
Six Years Of Fantastic Galaxial Studies
NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer Mission now marks its sixth anniversary studying galaxies beyond our Milky Way using its sensitive ultraviolet telescope, the only such far-ultraviolet detector in space.   Full Story

Here's Looking @ Earth... Sea's S-Shaped Scuds Snatched By MODIS
It took the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite a full five minutes to fly over this expansive cloud pattern on April 29, 2009.   Full Story

500 Employees at NASA Ames Offered Buyouts
Last week word spread that NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field offered buyouts to nearly 500 employees. Currently there are 3,000 employees and of those about 1,250 are described as 'civil servants.'   Full Story

Space Shuttle Retires — So Do 900 NASA Employees
As NASA retires its space shuttle fleet in 2010, 900 manufacturing jobs over the next five months will also go away.   Full Story

Guest Perspective: Resurrection of Globalstar and Iridium and an Awakening Industry
When cell service is unavailable, satellite service is there.   Full Story

BBC News: The space giant is coming
The most distant cosmic explosion ever recorded would have made a fascinating target for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), according to scientists now building the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.   Full Story

'Compass' China's Constellation to Offer Free Services
According to Xinhua writer Wang Cong in Beijing is writing that China will be able to provide free global navigation and positioning services by 2020 with its own constellation of satellites named "Compass."   Full Story

Late Breaking News: NASA managers present two shuttle extension options to lawmakers
In what is likely to be the final attempt to close the minimum five year gap between the current shuttle retirement date and debuting of Ares/Orion manned flight capability, NASA has presented an expansive shuttle extension study to lawmakers within the past couple of days . . .   Full Story

16,000 Launches Pack a Wallops
Still working Virginia's Eastern Shore has been a center of aerospace research for decades.   Full Story

POP + MMP Stream For Thuraya
Thuraya Telecommunications Company has established of a Point Of Presence (POP) and Meet Me Point (MMP) to enhance the performance of its high-speed broadband solution, ThurayaIP, for streaming customers.   Full Story

Getting HD Video To The Troops Is Curtiss-Wright
Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing in Letchworth, England, is introducing the XMC-280 military embedded computing video interface for demanding military video processing applications.   Full Story

Congress MUST Pay Attention To Safeguarding Sat + Space Tech
The U.S. aerospace industry has urged Congress to take steps to safeguard the U.S. technology and industrial base supporting aerospace technology related to satellite electronics and other aerospace systems related to the the nation's space-based military defense systems, which officials say is under threat from a shrinking aerospace workforce, outdated export control rules, and a cumbersome defense acquisition system.   Full Story

Making The SatTV Move Is Bezeq Israel Telecom
Israel's largest phone and telecom company is planning to become more involved with satellite TV unit YES.   Full Story

Subtle SatImagery Successfully Shrouds Soldiers' Stuff
An interesting technology has been developed by Military Wraps that involves the application of satellite imagery to produce far better camo for the armed forces, as initially reported by Technovelgy.   Full Story

RIng Shadowing Attracts Cassini's Interest
A rather unique view of the shadow of the moon Mimas is shown — the moon's shadow extends elegantly across Saturn's A and F rings.   Full Story

RUAG Readies Receivers For GSAT-8
RUAG Aerospace in G?teborg, Sweden has won its first contract in India for delivery to SAC in Ahmedabad of five Ku-band Receivers for the payload of GSAT-8, also known as INSAT 4G.   Full Story


May 2, 2009
Hubble Repair "Could Be" Quite A Heroic Mission
According to veteran reporter and U.S.A.F. veteran Scott Harris of News 13 in central Florida, his latest story reveals that many are calling the space shuttle Atlantis launch on May 11th to repair and upgrade the Hubble space telescope the most dangerous mission in a long time.   Full Story


May 1, 2009
Docking Solution For Iridium 9555 SatPhones
Applied Satellite Engineering (ASE) has started shipping two of their Newest Docking Stations — the DK 075 and DK 050.   Full Story

Communications & Power Dish Out the Power to SWE-DISH
Communications & Power Industries, Inc. (CPI) has been awarded a three-year contract to supply high-power, solid-state power amplifiers to SWE-DISH Satellite Systems, a DataPath company, for use in the SWE-DISH IPT Suitcase(R) and SWE-DISH CommuniCase(R) Technology (CCT) product lines.   Full Story

Comtech Telecommunctions Increased Funding
Comtech Telecommunications Corp. [Nasdaq:CMTL] announced today that its Orlando, Florida subsidiary, Comtech Systems, Inc., has received a $1.6 million increase in funding to its previously announced AN/TRC-170 engineering and support contract, with a total funding to date under this contract is $9.4 million.   Full Story

Acquiring Minds Want To Know... Codan Ltd. + Locus Microwave
Codan Limited has announced a strategic expansion of its satellite communications business, acquiring Pennsylvania-based Locus Microwave Incorporated.   Full Story

The Hubble Hustle — A Final Visit
On May 11 , the Space Shuttle Atlantis will launch with a crew of seven to visit the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and carry out the fifth and final servicing mission.   Full Story

OCX RFP USAF 4 GPS II + GPS III — Roger That
Officials from Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s Global Positioning Systems Wing announced the release of a request for proposal (RFP) for Phase B of the Next Generation GPS Control Segment (OCX) contracts.??   Full Story

CERES Contract Captured
NASA's Langley Research Center has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman to support the design, manufacture, assembly, test and calibration of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System, or CERES, Flight Model 6 instrument.   Full Story

Ya, Swedish Space Corp. Acquires Universal Space Network
It's good to go for the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), which has received all necessary approvals from the U.S. Government and has completed the acquisition of U.S.-based Universal Space Network (USN) that deals with space operations for telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) services.   Full Story

Space Foundation Honors Hall o' Famers
The Space Foundation inducted three individuals and three organizations into the Space Technology Hall of Fame last month for their roles in developing two technologies that originated with space exploration and have now had a positive impact on life on Earth.   Full Story


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