September 2008 Edition - European Market
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August 2008 Satellite NewsVisit www.satnews.com for today's news

August 29, 2008
SatService GmbH Strikes Up a New Band
SatService GmbH (Gesellschaft fur Kommunikationssysteme) releases its new sat-nms LRXD 14L-Band Distributor which is designed for satellite ground terminals where a 19-inch rack mount unit is not possible due to space limitations, for example in satellite news gathering terminals. SatSErvice GmbH will be at IBC 2008 in Amsterdam in Hall 1, Booth F55.   Full Story

ND SatCom's Redundancy is Good for TDF
ND SatCom, an SES ASTRA company, will deliver a turnkey redundant 5 1 uplink station for TDF’s teleport in Nantes,France at the end of 2008. The installation supports TDF’s position as a leading broadcast network operator and strengthens the company’s backup business in case there are transmission breakdowns at other urban teleports due to bad weather.   Full Story

How The ISS Avoids Celestial Crud + Damaging Debris
The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Europe's ISS logistics spacecraft, was used to perform its first debris avoidance maneuver for the International Space Station (SS). The maneuver was started last Wednesday at 18:11 CEST (16:11 UT) and finished 5 minutes 2 seconds later.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— News Corp. — Norsat International — GlobeCast Hong Kong Ltd. —   Full Story


August 28, 2008
ANG And Their Shadows To Receive AAI Training
AAI Corporation, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced the Company's family of Training Aids, Devices, Simulators, and Simulations (TADSS) has been selected to support training for Army National Guard units operating the RQ-7B Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TUAS). Awarded by the U.S. Army's Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation in Orlando, Florida, the initial order, valued at $11.9 million, includes 25 high fidelity Shadow Crew Trainers (SCT) and interactive multimedia instruction.   Full Story

Channelot's One-Box Solution 
Many companies will be debuting products at IBC this September, and Channelot, a manufacturer of low-power mobile TV and digital TV transmitters, a member of the RAD Group, UDcast, and a provider of wireless IP broadcast solutions is no exception. They will be unveiling the Channelot 100i, the first full-featured DVB-T/H micro-transmission station with an embedded UDcast iSplicer local content distribution adapter.   Full Story

Nextgen GlobalStar Sats Started By Thales Alenia + Arianespace
Globalstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSAT) announced that satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space has begun production assembly, integration, and testing of the first Globalstar 2G flight model satellites. Globalstar, Thales Alenia Space, and Arianespace company officials presented the latest updates to members of the media and investment community at the Thales Alenia Space satellite manufacturing facility located in Cannes, France.   Full Story

Satellites on the Move at APSCC
It's a First — APSCC conducts a military satellite services workshop. Much history takes place over a decade, and the APSCC 2008 Satellite Conference and Exhibition is no exception. Known as APSCC’s flagship contribution to the satellite industry, the conference has been providing a globally integrated platform that covers every sector of the satellite industry as well as a unique briefing and networking opportunity to the participants of the event. This year the APSCC 2008 event, scheduled for September 22-25 in Jeju Island, at the Lott Hotel, will be launched on a bigger platform covering more issues than ever regarding the Asia-Pacific satellite industry.   Full Story

NASA Mars Lander Digs Into Stone Soup
You won't find this on a restaurant's menu, but NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has scooped up a sample of soil from the bottom of a trench called Stone Soup. This is after the lander reached a depth about three times greater than in any trench Phoenix has excavated during its stay of 90 Martian days. Phoenix landed on May 25.   Full Story

GeoEye Into Gaming
GeoEye, a provider of satellite, aerial and geospatial information, has provided high-resolution images taken from its commercial Earth-imaging IKONOS satellite for integration into Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X for the Xbox 360 system, the Sony PLAYSTATION 3, and on Windows-based PC.   Full Story

Filing From The Field Finds Thrane & Thrane + Streambox In Cahoots
Streambox, Inc. and Thrane & Thrane have forged a closer partnership to develop enhanced integration between the Streambox? ACT-L3™ Portable Video Transport solutions and Thrane & Thrane's EXPLORER 700 and EXPLORER 727 terminals. Thrane & Thrane supplies satellite terminals for Inmarsat's broadband global area network (BGAN) communications system, and Streambox offers IP-centric solutions for live newsgathering and file-based video acquisition.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Avanti — The Boeing Company — Central Georgia Technical College & Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company — COMSYS VSAT2008 — Diversified Technial Systems U.S.A.F. — GeoEye S.E.C. — Hughes Network Systems - Orbital Sciences Corp. — Space-Based Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Conference — Thane & Thrane — Visilink plc & PMR —   Full Story


August 27, 2008
NASA's GLAST Is Past
NASA's newest observatory, the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, began exploring the universe in high-energy gamma rays. The spacecraft and its revolutionary instruments passed their orbital checkout with flying colors. However, word comes that NASA announced today that GLAST has actually now been renamed the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. \   Full Story

HD TV Isn't Blu
Discussions have taken place regarding what is going to happen with the arrival of Full HD television service, and what, if any affect it will have on the sales of Blu-ray discs or players. Experts from the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices service have conducted a report entitled “Full HD: Blu-ray Camp Claims Broadcasters ‘Mislead’ Consumers.”   Full Story

UAV Deconfliction Demo'd By Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Airspace Management System (UAMS) solved one of the more difficult challenges facing military services and their industry partners — the Company has successfully demonstrated the ability to deconflict groups of in-flight UAVs during a test near Pittsburgh, Pennyslvania.   Full Story

DataPath To Continue Field Services In Iraq
DataPath, Inc. has been awarded $1.9 million to continue providing field services for DataPath Deployable Ku Band Earth Terminals (DKETs) at a key communications hub in Iraq. The DKET systems were built and installed by DataPath and are used by the U.S. military as critical satellite communications (SATCOM) hubs that deliver high-bandwidth capabilities on the battlefield.   Full Story

MEASAT + GlobeCast Bringing History In HD To China
AETN All Asia Networks Pte. Ltd. (AAAN), a joint venture of A&E Television Networks (AETN) and ASTRO All Asia Entertainment Networks Limited (ASTRO), will launch The History Channel HD™ in Hong Kong and Singapore, the debut of The History Channel HD brand in the Asia-Pacific region. The launch will occur on September 1st in Singapore on StarHub and in Hong Kong later that month.   Full Story

Opportunity Knocks — Backs Out Of Martian Crater
NASA's Mars Exploration rover Opportunity is heading back out to the Red Planet's surrounding plains nearly one year after descending into a large Martian crater to examine exposed ancient rock layers. Having completed its job in the crater, Opportunity is now preparing to inspect loose cobbles on the plains. Some of these rocks, approximately fist-size and larger, were thrown long distances when objects hitting Mars blasted craters deeper than Victoria into the Red Planet.   Full Story

McCain, Hutchison + Vitter Request White House To Delay Shuttle Dismantling
From a blog at the OrlandoSentinel.com, we learn the Senator John McCain, joined by Republican colleagues Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and David Vitter of New Orleans, sent a letter to President Bush this week, saying that in light of tensions with Russia, the White House should tell NASA to halt any further dismantling of the shuttle infrastructure for at least a year to keep open the possibility of more shuttle flights beyond 2010.   Full Story

Cassini Scopes Janus
On a high-inclination orbit of Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft gazes down at the north polar region of Janus. This view looks toward Janus (179 kilometers, or 111 miles across) from a perspective 72? N of the moon's equator. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 14, 2008 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers.   Full Story


August 26, 2008
Space Shuttle Has Repair Rendezvous With Hubble
Space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, August 30th. Atlantis is targeted to lift off October 8th to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The first motion of the shuttle out of Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building is scheduled for 12:01 a.m. EDT.   Full Story

Endurance Record Attained By Solar Powered Zephyr UAV
Zephyr's reputation as the world's leading solar powered high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been reinforced with a world-beating three and a half day flight at the US Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. The solar powered plane built by ered with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) under their Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) Program, which is designed to move urgently needed technologies rapidly into the hands of U.S. forces in the field.   Full Story

Reaper UAS Completes First Weapons Engagement In Iraq
An MQ-9 Reaper dropped a 500-pound bomb against an anti-Iraqi target Aug. 16 in one of the first weapons engagements for the unmanned aircraft system. The Reaper began flying combat sorties in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom July 18th and joined the MQ-1 Predator as another UAS (unmanned aircraft system) patrolling the sky to protect coalition forces.   Full Story

NASA Rolls Atlantis As Fay Leaves
NASA rolled the orbiter Atlantis from its processing hangar into the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building after getting a break from Tropical Storm Fay to move the spaceship from one building to another. The quarter-mile move set the stage for the huge event in just about seven days. The excitement mounts as NASA preps for the Hubble service mission.   Full Story

Any Interest In Invisibility? (Off Topic, But Intriguing, To Say The Least)
Invisibility has long existed in the realm of imagination and fantasy, but for Army scientists and researchers studying ways to apply the latest technology to save Soldiers' lives, fantasy is slowly becoming a reality. Dr. Richard Hammond, a theoretical physicist who works in Optical Physics and Imaging Science at the U.S. Army's Research Office, participated in a blogger's roundtable to discuss the developments in the field of negative index materials research and meta materials.   Full Story

Arianespace To Handle Koreasat-6 Launch
Korean Telecom Corporation (KT Corporation) has selected Arianespace to launch their next communications satellite. To be known as Koreasat-6, the satellite will be boosted into geostationary transfer orbit by an Ariane 5 or Soyuz launcher from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's Spaceport, French Guiana, during the second half of 2010. Koreasat-6 is the second satellite to be launched by Arianespace for the Korean operator, following Koreasat-3, orbited in 1999.   Full Story

Northrop Grumman's King of Estimators and Analysis
Imagine Dick Coleman's responsibilities as director of cost/pricing analysis for Northrop Grumman's Information Technology (IT) sector. Then imagine taking the top honor, and receiving 2008 Society of Cost Estimating and Analysis National Lifetime Achievement award presented by Bill Haseltine, president of the Society of Cost Estimating and Analysis.   Full Story

KVH Stays on Trac and Gives Free Boost to Mini-VSAT
KVH's [Nasdaq: KVHI] newest satellite communications compression technology now offers a free additional boost to mini-VSAT Broadband data rates for TracPhone V7 users. Already a popular item, the TracPhone V7 is a compact size, has a rugged design, offers lower costs, and speedy broadband data connections, which is appreciated by both leisure and commercial mariners. The newTracPhone V7 and mini-VSAT Broadband service from KVH Industries, Inc., supports Internet and Voice over IP telephone services at sea.   Full Story

ESA's XMM-Newton Locates A Monster
ESA’s orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has discovered the most massive cluster of galaxies seen in the distant Universe until now. The galaxy cluster is so enormous there can only be a handful of them at that distance, making this a rare catch indeed. The discovery confirms the existence of dark energy. The newly-discovered monster, known only by the catalog number 2XMM J083026 524133, is estimated to contain as much mass as a thousand large galaxies.   Full Story

Thousands Of Inmarsat Terminals For Chinese Fishing Vessels
A total of 2,500 Chinese fishing vessels are to be equipped with Inmarsat Mini C terminals in the first stage of a landmark deal backed by the Chinese government. The contract is the first to be awarded as part of the Chinese Zhejiang project, which seeks to equip a total of 16,000 Chinese fishing vessels with satellite-based safety and communication services by the end of 2009.   Full Story

SatLink Flies With a HotBird
SatLink Communications Ltd. announced that Viacom's MTV Networks International has chosen the company to broadcast its newly launched channel, Nickelodeon Polska, a Polish-language channel targeted at viewers aged 2- to 12-years. SatLink is transmitting the channel on its MCPC (Multi Channel Per Carrier) platform on Hotbird 8 at 13 East for Digital-To-Home (DTH) digital broadcast.   Full Story

ORBITZ — Integral Systems — Juniper Networks — SES ASTRA —
— GlobeCast — Harris Corporation — RigNet Inc. — WildBlue Communications —   Full Story


August 25, 2008
NASA/ESA's Hubble's Filament Find
The Hubble Space Telescope has seemingly uncovered a mystery in space. The telescope has found the answer to a long-standing puzzle by observing the details of giant, but delicate, filaments shaped by a strong magnetic field around the active galaxy NGC 1275. These filaments are the only visible-light manifestation of the intricate relationship between the black hole hosted at the center of the galaxy and the surrounding cluster gas.   Full Story

ESA's Getting Set To Launch Core Work
The European Space Agency (ESA) is about to launch the most sophisticated mission ever to investigate the Earth’s gravitational field and to map the reference shape of our planet, known as the geoid, with unprecedented resolution and accuracy. The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) will be placed into a low altitude near sun-synchronous orbit by a Russian Rockot vehicle launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia, some 800 km north of Moscow.   Full Story

Rocket Failure Investigation To Be Started By NASA + ATK
An Alliant Techsystems suborbital rocket carrying two NASA hypersonic experiments was destroyed shortly after liftoff from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia Friday, August 22nd. No injuries or property damage were immediately reported. The exact launch time was 5:10 a.m. EDT. The anomaly that caused the failure occurred approximately 27 seconds into flight and is not known.   Full Story

Thuraya Goes Wide With Distribution in Asia Pacific
Thuraya must be celebrating. We received word that they have signed commercial partnerships with three Service Providers in the Asia Pacific rim. These partnerships further widen Thuraya’s distribution platform, and help with their portfolio of Thuraya communication products in the region.   Full Story

ILS + Inmarsat Launch Another Contract
International Launch Services (ILS) now has a contract today with Inmarsat for the launch of an S-band satellite to provide mobile broadcast and two-way telecommunications services throughout Europe.M/b> The contract follows last week’s successful launch of the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite on an ILS Proton Breeze M vehicle.   Full Story

SkyRAY Lights the Way
ND SatCom, an SES ASTRA company, will present their new VSAT application SkyRAY Light IPS HD for mobile video broadcasting at IBC 2008 in Amsterdam (indoor booth 1.C51). Described as an end-to-end solution as an all-IP package for the live video streaming based on the latest generation of H.264 AVC codec or store and forward video. The user-focused package contains three major components: ND SatCom’s lightweight VSAT antenna?SkyRAY Light 1200; the latest SkyWAN VSAT modem with a full set of IP functionalities; and an advanced H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HD/SD and MPEG-2 encoder.   Full Story

SatService At Your Service
SatService GmbH will be at IBC 2008 presenting some new products of the sat-nms product family. Representatives will be available to discuss system-integration business and turn-key satellite ground station solutions or an upgrade of your station, as well as representatives, distributors and sales partners/system-integrators interested.   Full Story


August 22, 2008
Intelsat Powers Olympics Into South America
Intelsat, Ltd. is currently offering transmission support for Latin American rightsholders and non-rightsholders of the Beijing Summer Games, delivering more than 12,000 hours of live coverage and recorded highlights to the region. Programmers include Globosat Programadora Ltda., ESPN Channels in Brazil, Organizacion de Telecomunicaciones Iberoamericanas (OTI), Terra Networks Brasil SA and Televisa S.A. de C.V. For Globosat Programadora Ltda., and ESPN Channels in Brazil, Intelsat is providing a fully managed network solution.   Full Story

Orbital Science's To Provide Intelsat With STAR Power
Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) has been selected by Intelsat, Ltd. to design, build and deliver the Intelsat-18 (IS-18) commercial communications satellite. The satellite will be based on Orbital's flight-proven STAR-2 platform and will generate approximately 4.9 kilowatts of payload power.   Full Story

UAS Development Does Mean To Stare
AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) (NASDAQ: AVAV) announces the receipt of $4.6 million in funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) capable of performing “hover/perch and stare” missions. The Stealthy, Persistent, Perch and Stare (SP2S) UAS is based on AV’s small Wasp UAS, a one-pound, 29-inch wingspan battery-powered air vehicle that is being procured and deployed by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps.   Full Story

Star-Cell Likes Sunny Side Up
Ericsson [NASDAQ:ERIC] has achieved a 'first' and it will improve the world's remote areas. Ericsson combined a GSM base station and satellite transmission in a solar-powered site, enabling Cambodian mobile operator Star-Cell to expand its network coverage in remote areas. The solution offers affordable communications for all and is based on Ericsson's energy-optimized, main-remote base-station.   Full Story

Fire Scout Completes First Flight
The U.S. Navy is moving closer to conducting Technical Evaluation with its Northrop Grumman Corporation-developed (NYSE:NOC) MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV). The Fire Scout recently completed its first flight with the BRITE Star II(r) electro-optical/infrared payload using a Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL).   Full Story

Jumping For JV Is Stratos Global + JSAT Corp.
Stratos Global Corporation has formed a joint venture company with JSAT Corporation (JSAT) to serve the mobile satellite communications needs of Japanese businesses and government agencies. The new company, called JSAT MOBILE Communications Inc. (JSAT MOBILE), will build upon the Japanese market success that Stratos has enjoyed over the past seven years. JSAT MOBILE will bring Stratos' portfolio of mobile satellite services (MSS), including Inmarsat and Iridium services, to the Japanese market.   Full Story

Globe Cast's World TV Channel Content Continues Climb
World TV, a division of GlobeCast, announced their content and rights aggregation business has expanded, with the initial launch of 14 of its international channels on Verizon FiOS TV. GlobeCast and World TV are providing Verizon with rights, content aggregation, encoding and encryption as well as fiber delivery.   Full Story

Entropic Enables EchoStar to Deliver to Two Set Top Boxes
Entropic Communications, Inc. [Nasdaq:ENTR], a provider of silicon solutions to enable connected home entertainment, announced the release of the RF5101, a new radio frequency integrated circuit recently added to its Band Translation Switch (BTS) product family.   Full Story

Hawaii Pacific Teleport Says Aloha To NSS-5
Hawaii Pacific Teleport announced they have put into service a Standard ‘A’ (15.5m) c-band antenna on the NSS-5 satellite at 183? E for an anchor customer who serves maritime end users across the Pacific Ocean.   Full Story

Busy Man in Space
It may be tiny but that doesn't stop the Isle of Man, which has had a busy week in space. August 15 saw the AMC-21 satellite, procured by SES’ leasing company, SES Satellite Leasing Limited in the Isle of Man, successfully roar into space onboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle from the French Guiana Spaceport in Kourou.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— NASA ASRC Research and Technology Solutions —   Full Story

NASA Disappointed Destroys Rocket After Launch
NASA destroyed an unmanned experimental rocket carrying a pair of research satellites Friday when it veered off course shortly after an early morning liftoff. At 5:10 a.m. Friday, August 22, the rocket was destroyed by range safety officials after liftoff from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. No injuries or property damage have been reported.   Full Story


August 21, 2008
Inmarsat-4 F3 Takes Off On a Breeze
Celebrations are underway after hard work and cooperation between international companies has paid off in a big way. The Proton Breeze M launch vehicle lifted the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite into orbit from Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan marking the third mission of the year for International Launch Services (ILS). After a 9-hour-3-minute mission, the launcher successfully released the satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.   Full Story

Put Your Money in the DISH and You're Converted
For those who will be involved in the TV converter realm now there is a new offer from DISH Network(R), which is offering a $9.99 programming package and $40 coupon-eligible converter box. The TR-40 CRA by DISH Network, an entry-level, digital-to-analog converter box, is now available for sale nationwide.   Full Story

CubeSats On Clyde Space's Mind... And Website...
Clyde Space has opened a website and online shop with all sorts of new features such as newsletters, blogs, case studies of previous missions, and more. However, what sets this website apart from other space company websites is that the site allows the visitor to buy spacecraft online with a credit card. There is currently a mini revolution taking place in the space industry; the revolution is called CubeSats and it has set in motion an unstoppable demand for standardized, low-cost spacecraft and spacecraft subsystems on demand.   Full Story

ND SatCom's IBC Inventiveness
ND SatCom, an SES ASTRA company, will be exhibiting at IBC 2008 in Amsterdam from September 12th through the 16th at both outdoor Stand OE320 and Indoor Stand 1.C51. The new products they'll be presenting are... SkyRAY Light IPS HD for live video streaming — Equipped with the latest SkyWAN? VSAT modem with a full set of IP functionalities and an advanced H.264/MPEG-4 AVC HD/SD and MPEG-2 encoder for the highest video quality per bandwidth performance and with the lowest latency (350s) on the market for high profile up to 4:2:2 chroma format, SkyRAY Light IPS HD is ND SatCom’s new VSAT application for mobile IP video broadcasting.   Full Story

ARTEMIS Sees All
Coming to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia is a first — the Tactical Satellite-3 mission is scheduled to demonstrate rapid data collection and transmission to the combatant commander in the theater of interest. During this upcoming flight a new capability will be demonstrated and tested; that of employing a hyperspectral imager with a space-based, onboard processor to obtain and send images within minutes to the warfighter on the ground.   Full Story

ECC Chipping Away At DVB-S2 Multi-Streams...
Efficient Channel Coding (ECC), a ViaSat company, has introduced a multi-stream extraction feature that enables its ECC3100 Digital Video Broadcast Satellite standard (DVB-S2) receiver chip to extract multiple data streams from a single DVB-S2 input. Embedding multi-stream soft-IP into the receiver FPGA eliminates the need to use multiple DVB-S2 application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), reducing circuit board size and cost.   Full Story

ECOS Brings Out VIPs To Northrop Grumman For EO Event
Hundreds of guests and employees attended an event featuring U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) and California's Lt. Governor John Garamendi and Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) chairman and CEO Ronald D. Sugar to highlight the contributions Earth observation satellites are making to global climate change monitoring.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Global Satcom Connections — Israel Aerospace Industries — Telenor's dtac — Northrop Grumman Corporation — SATCON —   Full Story

UAV — Military's Methusala
Quite an accomplishment, and it does its job quietly. The MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft system surpassed 400,000 flight hours during a mission in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility on August 18.   Full Story

Hughes Network Systems Sunny Forecast
Maybe the station owners thought it might serve as a distraction for the high cost of gas. Word comes from Hughes Network Systems, LLC , a broadband satellite network solutions and services provider, that enterprise customers of its HughesNet Managed Digital Signage service will now be able to display real-time weather information at their retail sites from AccuWeather, Inc., the leading provider of weather information for companies such as Gas Station TV and FuelCast.   Full Story


August 20, 2008
Hub-nubbing With VT iDirect
VT iDirect, Inc. (iDirect), a subsidiary of VT Systems Inc (VT Systems), has launched its Series 12200 Universal 4-Slot Industrialized Hub, which allows network operators to implement and manage a mobile satellite network in the field. The new 4-slot hub will operate using iDirect’s enhanced iDS 8.3 software, engineered for use in mobile applications. The software also supports iDirect’s new SkyMonitor Spectrum Analyzer, a core network management tool that allows satellite operators to troubleshoot and monitor network performance.   Full Story

Stein Well In Hand By ESA's Rosetta
On August 14th, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta conducted a successful trajectory correction maneuver using data obtained from the Agency's first-ever optical tracking of an asteroid target, (2867) Steins. Images from the spacecraft's cameras were used to calculate the asteroid's location and optimize its trajectory for fly-by next month.   Full Story

NASA Issues RFI for Companies to Assist on Moon
Here's a contract that could take you out of this world, and give you the moon in the process. NASA issued a Request for Information, or RFI, to gauge interest and solicit ideas from private companies in providing communications and navigation services that would support the development of exploration, scientific and commercial capabilities on the moon over the next 25 years.   Full Story

FCC Hits The Road To Enlighten All Regarding The Digital TV Transition
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has announced a nationwide initiative to increase awareness about the upcoming transition to digital television. The FCC identified target television markets for specific DTV outreach, including all those markets in which more than 100,000 households, or at least 15 percent of the households, rely solely on over-the-air signals for television.   Full Story

SpaceShipTwo Rocket Motor Development To Be Aided By SpaceDev
SpaceDev, Inc. (OTCBB: SPDV) has signed a multi-year contract with Scaled Composites to assist that firm in the development of a production rocket motor for the first commercial space vehicle designed for space tourism called SpaceShipTwo. The vehicle is being designed by Scaled for Virgin Galactic and is part of a complete space system that also includes the recently unveiled WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.   Full Story

Hypres Hankerin' To Help ONR With Digital-RF Goodies
Hypres Inc. has delivered two Digital-RFTM receiver systems to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Naval Research (ONR). The systems are designed to serve as versatile test beds for evaluating Digital-RF technology for wireless communications applications such as satellite and tactical communications, signals intelligence, electronic warfare, and software defined radio.   Full Story

BBN Technologies To Stabilize Milcom Connectivity
BBN Technologies has been awarded $8.9M in funding by the Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under the third phase of its Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) program. This latest award follows BBN’s successful completion of Phases One and Two, which resulted in a working prototype system.   Full Story

WunderWAN Technology To Be Demo'd By Expand Networks
Expand Networks has announced the Company will demonstrate WAN Optimization over Low Bandwidth High Latency Links at the Defense, Communications and Information Technology event at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale from August 19th to August 21st. Product briefings and demonstrations will be conducted at booth 1213.   Full Story

NASA's GLAST At Last, and It's Music to Their Ears
Exciting happenings will be revealed when NASA conducts a media teleconference on Tuesday, August 26, at 2 p.m. EDT, to announce the first results from NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, and the observatory's new name. The telecon also will include the Large Area Telescope's first light results, and a presentation of gamma-ray bursts that the GLAST Burst Monitor has seen since it went into operation.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— GeoEye, Inc. — Integral Systems —   Full Story


August 19, 2008
It's ISIS NYC '08 Time!
Company executives, industry analysts, and portfolio investment managers will gather in New York City this October 14th for the 3rd annual ISCe Satellite Investment Symposium (ISIS NYC ‘08). At this event, all will share their insights and predictions about the financial strength and future growth of the satellite business. Hannover Fairs USA, Inc., organizer of ISIS NYC ‘08 and the annual ISCe satellite conference and exhibition, will present an engaging one-day program with focused sessions and top-level speakers.   Full Story

Bringing Together The Milcom C4ISR Pros
GULF C4ISR is the only event for the Military Communication C4I/ C4ISR/NCW community, bringing together more than 200 government, industry, and military leaders, together with leading suppliers and industry experts, across an information packed 3 days of accurate, timely and cutting-edge military case studies. With speakers and research experts from across the Middle East and the world, you'll be able to meet many senior defence communication experts from the Gulf region. The purpose of the conference is to bring together practitioners, strategic heads of C4i, integrated project leaders, and technology leaders from defence organizations internationally to review the latest developments in this area.   Full Story

A Chopper's Grand Adventure
Early yesterday morning, N1US, a stock AgustaWestland A109 Grand Helicopter piloted by Scott Kasprowicz and Steve Sheik, successfully completed a round-the-world flight, touching down in New York having circumnavigated the globe in exactly 11 days, 7 hours, and 3 minutes. This feat smashed the previous record time for a helicopter flight around the world.   Full Story

TSF Lands and Begins Urgent Satellite Calls
As soon as a few hours after landing in Tbilisi, Telecoms Sans Frontieres began its first humanitarian calling operations enabling Georgians displaced by the conflict to give news to their anxious relatives of their survival, and any other information. In this process more than 200 families who fled the bombings in South Ossetia and Gori made calls to a loved one from operations taking place in camps installed at Tbilisi airport or in schools of the capital.   Full Story

UAV Base Preference Voiced
Gen. John D.W. Corley, Air Combat Command commander, with concurrence from the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, announced today that Holloman AFB, New Mexico, is the preferred potential location for an additional unmanned aircraft system formal Training unit. This is the first step in a series of actions that could lead to the initial stand-up of FTU operations for MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper combat operators, estimated to start in 2009, pending a favorable environmental impact analysis.   Full Story

This Unmanned Raptor Leaves AirSpace For Inner-Space At USAF Museum
Officials from industry, the Air Force, and the National Museum of the United States Air Force, gathered for the opening of the new RQ-4A Global Hawk exhibit August 12th at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system (UAV) that sends near-real-time reconnaissance imagery to air, ground, and sea forces.   Full Story

Expand at White Sands
An opportunity to bring together the world’s thought leaders and visionaries in personal and commercial spaceflight takes place at the 4th annual International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, New Mexico on October 22 – 23 at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces. Gary Payton, Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force Space Systems is the keynote speaker, and a forum of the Key Issues Related to the Eventual Success and Evolution of Vehicle Systems for Suborbital Human and Material Transportation will be a part of the program.   Full Story

XipLink Optimizes The Heck Out Of Bandwidth
XipLink has announced a single board computer version of its wireless bandwidth optimizer, the XE-104. The rugged board can be used to rapidly integrate specialized satellite acceleration software into custom communication controllers for maritime, aviation and other mobile satellite applications. Historically, TCP accelerators have been deployed in MilSat networks using appliances that followed the SCPS-TP standard for interoperability.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— iDirect, Inc. —   Full Story


August 18, 2008
No Constellation Concerns At RapidEye
With all of the necessary components for the launch of the RapidEye satellite constellation currently waiting in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, all appears to be set for the August launch for the German company RapidEye AG. All five earth observation satellites will be sent into orbit on a DNEPR-1 launch vehicle, released into a shared orbit at 630 km and will circle the globe 15 times daily.   Full Story

Suit Non-Compliance Results In Contract Termination By NASA
NASA has concluded that corrective action is appropriate in the Government Accountability Office bid protest of Exploration Systems & Technology, Inc. NASA determined that a compliance issue requires the termination of the contract for the Constellation Space Suit System with Oceaneering International, Inc. of Houston for the convenience of the government.   Full Story

Northrop Grumman + Its Global Hawks Awarded NASA Research Contract
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center has awarded a five-year contract to Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) for engineering and technical services to support NASA's use of Global Hawk unmanned aircraft for Earth science research. The contract supports NASA's planned operation of two Global Hawk aircraft, their associated ground control station, and related systems.   Full Story

Booster Recheck A-OK, GeoEye-1 Gets New Approved Launch Date
GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) has announced the Air Force 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base has now approved the September 4th launch date for GeoEye-1 clearing the way to complete final preparations for launch. The previously reported retest of a booster range safety antenna was successfully completed on Aug. 14th.   Full Story

Appeal Is Telenor's Next Step In Siberian Lawsuit Verdict
A court in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, shortly after 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning local time issued a verdict holding Telenor liable for USD 2,824,125,677 in damages, plus RUR 460,000 in costs, for allegedly having delayed VimpelCom's acquisition of Ukrainian Radio Systems, a small Ukrainian mobile operator.   Full Story

Advent Communications Is Swift With New Antenna
Advent Communications has an enhanced version of its popular 1.5m and 1.8m NewSwift antenna to support high power C- and and Ku-band RF and HD system requirements. To be shown at IBC 2008, the enhanced NewSwift antenna will have a larger electronics pod that will enable it to accommodate a pair of 400W C- or Ku-band TWTAs, either as 1 1 phase combined or 1:1 redundant pairs, or a 1:1 redundant pair of 750W C or Ku-band TWTAs, or a 1:1 redundant pair of outdoor SSPAs.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Limited — Thuraya Telecommunications Company Geonix —   Full Story


August 15, 2008
Ask the Astronaut
Every wish you could ask an astronaut a question? Ever wish you could ask an astronaut aboard the International Space Station a question? Now you can, as part of NASA's latest program.   Full Story

Moving On Up... HRL Laboratories...
HRL Laboratories, LLC, is a corporate research-and-development laboratory owned by The Boeing Company and General Motors. The lab specializes in research into sensors and materials, information and systems sciences, applied electromagnetics, and microelectronics. Now named as the President and CEO of HRL is Dr. William A. Jeffrey.   Full Story

Superbird-7 + AMC-21 Up, Up & Away To Orbital Slots
A successful launch has placed the Superbird-7 and AMC-21 telecommunications satellites into accurate geostationary transfer orbits. This was the 9th mission performed by Ariane 5s in a 12-month period, during which the workhorse vehicles carried 16 civilian and military telecommunications satellites along with the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for the International Space Station. The combined total payload weight equals 75,430 kg. Thursday's flight also marked the Ariane 5's 27th consecutive successful launch, and was the fifth of seven missions planned by Arianespace in 2008.   Full Story

A Beacon For the Air Force Research Laboratory
Beacon Power Corporation which designs and develops advanced products and services to support more stable and reliable electricity grid operation, has been awarded a contract through the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and co-funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. The contract, valued at $750,000, is for the preliminary design of a space-based flywheel energy storage system for satellite applications, and is a Phase II award under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Technology. Beacon announced completion of an associated Phase I project earlier this year.   Full Story

Ball Has OMPS For NPOESS Well In Hand
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.’s Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Protoflight Model (PFM) that will fly aboard the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) has entered final integration and acceptance testing. The Company expects to complete integration and testing in August and deliver the OMPS PFM for spacecraft integration no later than September 30th.   Full Story

Acquiring Minds Need To Know... Gilat Satellite Networks...
Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ:GILT)(TASE:GILT) has notified the consortium of private equity investors that had entered into an agreement with the company for its acquisition, that Gilat has fulfilled all of the conditions precedent for the closing of the transaction.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— IBC PREVIEW — Latens — Jampro Antennas —   Full Story


August 14, 2008
TSF Has Connections for Georgia
Ever ready to assist, Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) has been on alert since the conflict between Georgia and Russia began, and deployed an emergency crew of telecoms specialists to land in Tbilisi on Wednesday afternoon. This action came after five days of intense combat between both countries.   Full Story

Okeanos Explorer Is Dedicated to NOAA
Senior federal officials today in Seattle commissioned the Okeanos Explorer, the first federal ship solely dedicated to exploring the ocean. A former U.S. Navy surveillance vessel, Okeanos Explorer, was transferred to NOAA in 2004 and converted to perform ocean exploration.   Full Story

Intelsat Helps NPR Spread the Word
Intelsat, Ltd., a provider of commercial satellite services, announced that NPR (National Public Radio) signed a multi-transponder, multi-year contract renewal for satellite capacity to support the distribution of public radio programming across the United States. NPR operates the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS) on behalf of all public radio stations and program distributors.   Full Story

STM Group Meshes It All Together
STM Group offers the first DVB-RCS compatible mesh VSAT network system as an extension of its SatLink? product platform. The SatLink 1910 Mesh VSAT is enabled using a simple plug-in card upgrade to the current SatLink 1910. This equips the VSAT to receive burst communications on four, concurrent MF-TDMA carriers, which assures non-blocking mesh networking performance for voice and data to typical end-user sites.   Full Story

Inmarsat ComSat Launch Reset By ILS
The launch date for the Inmarsat-4 F3 communications satellite has now been reset by International Launch Services (ILS) to August 19th from launch pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (August 18th GMT) at 04:43, local time. Set to lift off aboard a Proton M/Breeze M launch vehicle, this satellite is based on the Eurostar 3000GM bus.   Full Story

Crane Created Consternation + Caused MEASAT-3a Launch Delay
Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) is helping to support its customer, MEASAT Satellite Systems (MSE: MEASAT) in replanning the MEASAT-3a satellite mission following an accident that occurred over the past weekend that damaged the spacecraft, the company stated today. While at the Baikonour, Kazakhstan launch site, an overhead crane operated by MEASAT’s launch service provider accidentally impacted the satellite.   Full Story

Reshetnev To Build + Launch AMOS-5 + They Ship Glonass-M
On July 30, in Tel Aviv, a contract was signed between the JSC “Academician M.F. Reshetnev” Information Satellite Systems” and Israeli-based Space Communication Ltd. The deal finds the former set to build the geostationary satellite system AMOS-5, based on the Express-1000H platform.   Full Story

Superbird-7 + AMC-21 Set To Fly
Pre-launch preparations are now underway for the Japanese Superbird-7 satellite. Built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation using their DS2000 bus, the satellite packs Ku-band capabilities and will occupy the orbital slot at 144? E. The satellite has now completed the fueling process. Superbird-7 will have a companion onboard the heavy lift Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle, that being SES AMERICOM's AMC-21 satellite.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Intelsat OlympuSAT — GeoEye Inc. —   Full Story


August 13, 2008
Moving On Up... Globecomm Systems...
Globecomm Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: GCOM) has appointed Tom Coyle as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Globecomm Systems. In his new position, Tom will be responsible for managing the Globecomm Systems business. This work includes design, provisioning, and management of complex, satellite based, communication networks, end-to-end solutions and system products.   Full Story

Boeing Has The Satellite Pulse
Boeing [NYSE: BA] is ready to use a new "pulse line" process for assembling satellites in El Segundo, California. The new process is expected to shorten the time required to build a space vehicle. The first satellites to be manufactured on the pulse line will be the Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellites Boeing is building for the U.S. Air Force.   Full Story

DataPath's COTM Commitment Results In MobiLink
DataPath, Inc. has introduced DataPath MobiLink™, an easy-to-deploy communications on-the-move (COTM) solution that delivers cost-effective, mobile network-centric warfare and first responder capabilities. MobiLink incorporates standard communications electronics and delivers them in a newly designed, compact package that enables integrated UHF/VHF land mobile radio (LMR) and satellite COTM.   Full Story

Olympics Broadcast In Russian Federation Via Express-AM Sats
The Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) has initiated satellite transmissions from the Beijing Summer Olympic Games to the territory of the Russian Federation. Using special frequency bands on advanced Express-AM satellites, Russian TV and radio broadcasters will ensure direct reports and occasional TV transmissions of the Games.   Full Story

NASA's Safety ASAP
Another acronym to add to your list is ASAP which represents the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. The ASAP has released its 2007 Annual Report that examines NASA's safety performance, and advises the agency on ways to better their performance.   Full Story

Orbital Sciences MEASAT Back To the Drawing Board
We reported yesterday about the delay in launching the MEASAT 3a satellite, but at that time didn't have all of the details. Since then we've learned that Orbital Sciences Corporation [NYSE: ORB] is supporting its customer, MEASAT Satellite Systems [MSE: MEASAT] in replanning the MEASAT 3a satellite mission following an accident that occurred over the weekend resulting in a damaged spacecraft.   Full Story

SATCON Satisfies...
How many trade shows, conferences, and exhibitions do we attend each year? And how many of these events do we leave behind and, a couple of weeks later, all we can recall are our sore feet and the number of corn pads used to protect blossoming blisters? SATCON cannot guarantee you won't still succumb to blisters — after all, there are hundreds of exhibitions to visit, and that does require a few thousands footfalls to "meet and greet" successfully.   Full Story

Moving On Up... At Broadpoint...
Broadpoint has named Bryan Olivier as its chief operating officer. Bryan has more than 27 years of experience in management, engineering, and network operations at leading companies in the telecommunications and energy industries.   Full Story

GeoEye-1 Launch Moved Out To Early September
GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) has announced that United Launch Alliance (ULA) has initiated a change in the target launch date for GeoEye-1 from August 22 to September 4, 2008. This added time is needed to allow for the positioning of resources to support receipt of down-range telemetry from the Delta II booster vehicle after launch and initial flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California.   Full Story

C-COM iNetVu Traveling To Asia For Installation
C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. (TSXV: CMI) has received an initial order for $650,000US for a number of its iNetVu Mobile satellite antenna systems from an Asian television station. The antennas will be deployed by the TV station for satellite news gathering. The C-COM developed proprietary auto-deploy (iNetVu™) Antenna System allows the delivery of high-speed satellite based Internet services into mobile environments, while stationary; virtually anywhere where one can drive.   Full Story

FCC Certifies MiniGPS Tech From GTX
GTX Corp develops miniaturized Global Positioning Service (GPS) satellite tracking and location-transmitting technology devices for integration into branded licensee consumer products. The company’s Personal Location Services (PLS) platform consists of a matchbooksized, location-reporting module that uses GTX Corp’s “always-on” Assisted-GPS tracking capabilities.   Full Story

Transactional Safety Important To Spacenet
Spacenet Inc. has joined the PCI Security Standards Council as a new participating organization. As a Participating Organization, Spacenet will work with the Council to evolve the PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) and other payment card data protection standards. The PCI DSS, endorsed by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc., requires merchants and service providers that store, process, or transmit customer payment card data, to adhere to information security controls and processes that ensure data integrity.   Full Story


August 12, 2008
Sky Detective Is a Valuable Monitor
Sky Detective, Inc., a provider of advanced CDMA/GPS assisted real-time and on-demand tracking devices using web-based GPS monitoring software to track individuals and valuable assets 24/7/365 released the next gen, TenTwenty. This software locates, maps and tracks people, packages and equipment 105 percent faster than the monitoring software currently available on the market.   Full Story

Constellation Considerations Capture NASA's Agenda
In a news conference yesterday, NASA managers discussed how the agency will be adjusting the budget, schedule, and technical performance milestones for its Constellation Program to ensure the first crewed flight of the Ares I rocket and Orion crew capsule in March 2015. The Constellation Program is developing the spacecraft and systems, including the Ares I and Ares V rockets, the Orion crew exploration vehicle, and the Altair lunar lander, that will take astronauts to the International Space Station after the retirement of the space shuttle, and eventually return humans to the moon.   Full Story

Hubble Has A Happy Birthday And Sends Us A Pictorial Gift
In commemoration of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope completing its 100,000th orbit during its 18th year of exploration and discovery, scientists aimed Hubble to take a snapshot of a dazzling region of celestial birth and renewal. Hubble peered into a small portion of the Tarantula nebula near the star cluster NGC 2074. The region is a firestorm of raw stellar creation, perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova explosion.   Full Story

GMV HiFive With hifly
GMV has released version 6.0 of its hifly(r) Satellite Control System, the latest version of its 100 percent flight-proven communication satellite operation software that supports satellites built by manufacturers around the world from launch and early operation procedures (LEOP) to routine on-station operations of satellites.   Full Story

MEASAT-3a Moving Back To The U.S. For Repairs
The schedule was set — MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd's MEASAT-3a was moving toward its launch date of August 21st from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Now, instead of blasting into orbit, MEASAT-3a must be returned to Orbital Sciences in the U.S. for repairs, only described as of this writing as "technical issues".   Full Story

New Actel FPGAs Can Handle Full Military Temperature Range
Actel Corporation has added new ProASIC3 and ProASIC3EL FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) to its military-qualified product offerings. Verified to operate across the full military temperature range (-55 to 125 degrees Celsius) and ranging in density from 600,000 to 3-million system gates, the new low-power devices are immune to neutron-induced configuration upsets ("firm errors"), saving board space and minimizing complexity in the system, Actel officials say.   Full Story

ICO's G1 To Deliver Even More Programming
ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Limited (ICO) (NASDAQ:ICOG) has reached agreements with Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. to provide content from the Cartoon Network and Adult Swim for use in ICO’s alpha trials of its mobile interactive media service, known as ICO mim™.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Loral Space & Communications Inc. — ORBCOMM Inc. —   Full Story


August 11, 2008
CTV's Channel 9 Chopper Given Latitude
Latitude Technologies SkyNode(r) S200-011 satellite voice and 2-way data equipment and Latitude’s LWS Sentinel™ tracking system have been selected by Talon Helicopters for use on C-FTHU — known across the British Columbia Lower Mainland as Chopper 9, the flagship “eye-in-the-sky” news and traffic helicopter of the Vancouver affiliate of CTV, Canada’s largest television network. Talon operates the Bell 206L-4 for CTV.   Full Story

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope Reveals Peony Nebula Star
The brightest known star is a massive star called Eta Carina. However, a new runner-up, now the second-brightest star in our galaxy, has been discovered in the galaxy's dusty and frenzied interior. This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the star in the central region of our Milky Way. Dubbed the Peony nebula star, this blazing ball of gas shines with the equivalent light of 3.2 million suns. The reigning champ, Eta Carina, produces the equivalent of 4.7 million suns worth of light. However, astronomers say these estimates are uncertain, and it's possible that the Peony nebula star could be even brighter than Eta Carina. If the Peony star is so bright, why doesn't it stand out more in this view? The answer is dust. This star is located in a very dusty region jam packed with stars. In fact, there could be other super bright stars still hidden deep in the stellar crowd. Spitzer's infrared eyes allowed it to pierce the dust and assess the Peony nebula star's true brightness. Likewise, infrared data from the European Southern Observatory's New Technology Telescope in Chile were integral in calculating the Peony nebula star's luminosity. The image below is courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Potsdam Univ.   Full Story

State Of Florida Proposed By Space Command To Take Over SLC 36
Air Force Space Command has proposed an action to make Space Launch Complex (SLC) 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, available for operational use by the State of Florida, subject to completion of the environmental impact analysis. The proposed action would grant the state access to the property under a real-estate license for an initial term of five years.   Full Story

SeaMobile Lets You See Your Programs At Sea
This is vacation time for most people, and those fortunate enough to go on a cruise may enjoy an added bonus from Wave Entertainment Network™, a division of SeaMobile? Enterprises.   Full Story

BADR-6 Sat Becomes ARABSAT's Own
The BADR-6 satellite, built by EADS Astrium, has been handed over to ARABSAT as part of the in-orbit delivery contract. The satellite has now entered commercial service. BADR-6 is the third spacecraft built by Astrium for ARABSAT, the communications satellite operator based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.   Full Story

Cassini Will Film Saturn's Moon 'Water Show'
Reports from NASA indicate that the fractures, or "tiger stripes," where icy jets erupt on Saturn's moon Enceladus will be the target of a close flyby by the Cassini spacecraft on Monday, August 11. And they're talking close when it's only 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the surface!   Full Story

Andrews Space Plug and Play Isn't For Kids
Andrews Space (Andrews) has been awarded a contract valued at more than $1.5M to develop plug and play spacecraft subsystems and demonstrate integrated spacecraft capability.?   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company —   Full Story


August 8, 2008
ViaSat Continues IW Development For DISA
ViaSat Inc. received a $9.3 million award from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to continue the development of the UHF SATCOM Integrated Waveform Channel Controller. This second phase of the Integrated Waveform (IW) development enables demand assigned services on UHF SATCOM networks to support new applications that require better performance and higher channel throughput.   Full Story

DataPath Continues Milcom Ops With DISA Award
DataPath, Inc. has been awarded $1.7 million to provide field services support for the Ramstein Air Base satellite communications teleport operated by the U.S. Air Force.   Full Story

Broadpoint and AT&T Provide Broad Gulf Coverage 
Broadpoint, a full-service telecommunications and network solutions company, has extended its alliance with AT&T in the form of a long-term contract extending AT&T’s wireless voice and data capabilities further into the?Gulf of Mexico. This provides critical connectivity to AT&T’s business customers as Broadpoint’s coverage spans over 100,000 square miles in the?Gulf of Mexico.   Full Story

Moving On Up . . . At KVH
Former SES AMERICOM executive Brent Bruun is KVH's [Nasdaq: KVHI] new Vice President of Business Development, and his focus is on expanding mini-VSAT Broadband coverage. Bruun will be instrumental in assisting KVH's planned worldwide rollout of the mini-VSAT Broadband satellite communications service.   Full Story

NASA Looks to Seanodes to Look at the Stars
Seanodes, the creator and leading developer of Shared Internal Storage solutions will assist NASA's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) in performing nightly scans of the skies to capture any new, undiscovered objects.   Full Story

MSS Provider Selection For Pan-European Comm Services Starts
According to Futron in a 2008 report, the satellite industry is a 77 billion euros market worldwide, growing at 16 percent in 2007. Of this, satellite services alone generated approximately 38 billion euros in global revenue. European companies represent an important force on this market: the European space industry holds 40 percent of world markets for manufacturing, launching, and operating satellites.   Full Story

SpaceX' Elon Musk — On The Record — "Timing is Everything"
On August 2nd, Falcon 1 executed a picture perfect first stage flight, ultimately reaching an altitude of 217 km, but encountered a problem just after stage separation that prevented the second stage from reaching orbit. At this point, we are certain as to the origin of the problem. Four methods of analysis — vehicle inertial measurement, chamber pressure, onboard video and a simple physics free body calculation — all give the same answer.   Full Story

SkyTrac’s Portable DSAT Is Small But Compliant
SkyTrac is always moving forward (and upward) with new products. SkyTrac's latest is the new portable DSAT-200 which is gaining acceptance with rotary and fixed wing operators to remain in compliance with government Automatic Flight Following (AFF) and/or do not require voice and/or full text capabilities.   Full Story

L-3 Technologies Travel's Well With New TWT
L-3 Electron Technologies, Inc. (L-3 ETI) has debuted their model 8923H dual-band 300W 30 GHz / 175W 45 GHz Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) amplifier. Designed for military SATCOM uplink applications, the new TWT has a remarkably small footprint and weighs less than four pounds.   Full Story

See the Athletes Sweat in Hi-Def at Beijing Games
DISH Network reached an agreement with NBC Universal to add high-def specialty channels to its HD lineup dedicated to two sports, NBC Olympic Soccer Channel and NBC Olympic Basketball Channel, at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will air on a number of NBCU channels, including NBC, USA, CNBC and Universal HD.   Full Story

Gimme Shelter — Globecomm Receives New Contract
Globecomm Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: GCOM) has been awarded an infrastructure contract from General Communication Inc. (NASDAQ: GNCMA) a $9 million contract. General Communications is based in Alaska and provides voice, video and data communication services to residential, commercial and government customers.   Full Story

SPACEWAY 3 Details To Be Offered At GSA Conference
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) will showcase their new broadband technology solutions at the U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA) 2008 FAS/ITS Network Services Conference 2008 in Dallas, Texas. Hughes will present an informative briefing focused on SPACEWAY™ 3, the world's first commercial satellite to employ on-board traffic switching and routing capability.   Full Story

Higher Education Ripe for Wi-Fi
ABI Research has forecast that Wi-Fi will be available in 99 percent of North American universities in 2013. Much of that penetration will be in the form of 802.11n equipment, making higher education clearly the number one market for early adopters of 802.11n.   Full Story

NASA Tanks For the Ride
Roll out the barrels, or in this case, space shuttle external fuel tank ET-129.   Full Story

U.S. Air Force Enables Florida to Spread Out in Space
A landmark announcement by the U.S. Air Force and the state of Florida today states that they will fundamentally expand the state’s position and prominence in aerospace and the space industry in all three key sectors: civil, military and commercial, thereby broadening participation in space-related activities.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Hughes Communications — ISPCS — Surrey Satellite Technology —   Full Story


August 7, 2008
Rosetta Pursues Asteroid Steins
Heading toward its first target-asteroid, (2867) Steins, ESA's Rosetta spacecraft is using its cameras to visually track the asteroid, and eventually determine its orbit with more accuracy. Rosetta started the optical navigation campaign this week on August 4, at a distance of about 24 million km from Steins; the campaign will continue until September 4, when the spacecraft will be approximately 950,000 km (570,000 miles) from the asteroid.   Full Story

Al Yah Goes Hybrid
Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PrJsc (Yahsat), the UAE’s first nationally-owned satellite operator and wholly-owned subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala), received secured commitments for $1.2 billion US to finance the Middle East’s first hybrid satellite communications system.   Full Story

Oui! World Satellite Business Week
This is a healthy industry, and the current stimulus in satcom and TV services benefits the international space industry. The 12th Edition of Euroconsult's World Satellite Business Week (September 8th-11th) at the Westin in Paris, France will tackle growth opportunities for the international space industry. Specific themes will be discussed throughout the week and many industry leaders will share their views on the market evolution and growth strategies.   Full Story

GlobeCast Ready To Connect For the Opening Ceremony
The 2008 Olympics are almost here, and GlobeCast is gearing up for the Games in Beijing by providing a comprehensive array of services to rightsholders and non-rightsholders for worldwide distribution. GlobeCast is managing the largest share of outward transmissions from the International Broadcasting Centre, and is providing services using advanced transmission standards including HD in MPEG-4 and DVB S2 modulation.   Full Story

DigitalGlobe and AEgis Take 3D Sim to Olympic Games
Hi tech at its best will be produced by a team effort of satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe, and expert modelling and simulation services AEgis Technologies Group to provide NBC Universal with access to a 3D digital model of Beijing. This will occur during the network’s broadcasts of the Olympic Games.   Full Story


August 6, 2008
Orbital To Tap Aerospace Expertise With Opening Of New Offices
Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) is expanding its workforce in the Southern California area with the opening of a new engineering and technology center in the Fall of this year. In order to augment Orbital's launch vehicle and space systems engineering capabilities, the company is finalizing plans to establish a West Coast office to tap the wealth of aerospace engineering expertise in the Southern California area.   Full Story

From Across The Pond, SSTL Opens U.S. Subsidiary
Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) has established a new subsidiary in the United States to take advantage of the growing international demand for economical, responsive, and highly capable spacecraft for a broad range of applications. The new company, Surrey Satellite Technology US LLC (SST-US), has opened an office in Colorado and will eventually have centers in California and Washington DC enabling SSTL to work closer and more efficiently with its customers.   Full Story

Instant VSAT Comm From Spacenet
Spacenet Inc. has debuted their new ION™ instant VSAT communications solution. The self-contained and ruggedized field kit enables rapid deployment of complete converged communications via satellite (VSAT) for emergency response teams and remote industrial operations such as oil rigs, mines, or construction sites. ION is available immediately with Spacenet's commercial grade Connexstar™ service, offering a turnkey voice, video, and broadband data solution.   Full Story

Satellites On The Move — APSCC 2008
The satellite industry in the Asia-Pacific region acknowledges an increase in demand for High Definition Television (HDTV) broadcast and turnaround services; the opening of Direct-to-Home (DTH) markets in China and India; and a number of broadband services via satellite significantly increasing in Asian countries and Australia.   Full Story

Boeing Opens Their New $10 Million Satellite Mission Control Center
The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has completed a $10 million, 20,500-square-foot satellite Mission Control Center (MCC) in El Segundo, California. The MCC can manage up to four commercial or government satellite missions at the same time and replaces another Boeing facility in El Segundo that was smaller and had limited capacity.   Full Story

Geospatial Imagery Integration Package Updated By ITT
ITT Visual Information Solutions has released its premier geospatial image processing and analysis software, ENVI. The new release, ENVI 4.5, allows the integration of geospatial imagery into geographic information system (GIS) workflows, by providing users with the ability to share data seamlessly between ENVI and ESRI’s ArcGIS.   Full Story

DISH Re-Focuses
You have read here about DISH Network's down-turn after a net subscriber loss of 25,000 for the second quarter, but CEO Charlie Ergen said the DBS company is working to address the challenges. The subscriber loss brought the total customer count to 13.585 million subscribers.   Full Story

Mars Soil Analyzed
Phoenix Mars mission scientists addressed their research in progress concerning an ongoing investigation of perchlorate salts detected in soil analyzed by the wet chemistry laboratory aboard NASA's Phoenix Lander. "Finding perchlorates is neither good nor bad for life, but it does make us reassess how we think about life on Mars," said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), the instrument that includes the wet chemistry laboratory.   Full Story

The Global View Via DigitalGlobe's New ImageConnect Service
At the annual ESRI International User Conference, DigitalGlobe announced the release of ImageConnect: Global, the most extensive online collection of high resolution International imagery available in the world. This new offering provides instant online access to 30.5 million sq km2 of premium imagery with in-depth coverage of 36 countries worldwide, much of which is not available through other web services or commercial portals.   Full Story

Eurovision Gets the Games Via ABS
No small task, the Beijing Olympics has its own set of challenges—and we're not even referring to the athletes! Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS), one of Asia’s major satellite operators will assist Eurovision, a distributor of sports and news content, as its satellite broadcast partner for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— AMERICOM Government Services — SATCON — Iridium Satellite — NDS Group plc — Paradise Datacom — SpaceX — ViaSat Inc. —   Full Story


August 5, 2008
Indian Government Takes Solid First Step Re: 3G Services
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) applauds the Indian government’s recent announcement of its guidelines for auction and allotment of spectrum for 3G telecom services and broadband wireless access. This long anticipated announcement will help ensure Indian consumers can access the latest wireless technologies for voice and data services.   Full Story

See Sats
It's a great day in the neighborhood. This week promises good views of the satellites in Earth's orbit, and at the SpaceWeather.com site you'll find about a half dozen of the most interesting.   Full Story

CAP's New Amplifier Suited To SatCom for Military + Homeland Security
CAP Wireless, Inc. has announced the debut of their CHPA0618-1 ultra-broadband power amplifier for broadband military platforms within the defense electronics and homeland security industries. The unit incorporates gallium arsenide (GaAs) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology into CAP’s patented Spatium™ broadband spatial combining architecture.   Full Story

Dishing the DISH Stories
DISH has been in the news recently for their ultra hi-def TV, but today the news isn't as positive. Friday morning, DISH Network was forced to remove from its lineup four broadcast stations scattered throughout the Midwest due to a carriage dispute with a broadcaster.   Full Story

UDcast Helps To Bring Internet To New Guinea
UDcast has delivered a network acceleration system to the universities in Papua New Guinea. The network was ordered by the Papua New Guinea Academic and Research Network, a consortium of private and state universities. The project was managed by Oceanic Broadband Solutions, a leading re   Full Story

Computer Glitch Holds Up Inmarsat-4 F3 Launch
There has been a delay of the Proton M Breeze M vehicle with the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite aboard, according to International Flight Services. Time is required to replace and retest an electrical component on the launcher.   Full Story

EchoStar Profits
Set-top box maker EchoStar Corp. enjoyed a second-quarter profit of $47.8 million, or $ .53 a share, as revenue rose to $483 million from $331 million.   Full Story

Iridium Satellite Makes Their NEXT Selection
Iridium Satellite LLC has announced the selection of two companies — Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space — to participate in the final phase of its procurement process for the company’s next-generation satellite constellation, “Iridium NEXT.” Iridium selected Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space as a result of their initial, innovative constellation design concepts; demonstrated understanding of performance requirements and capabilities; and preliminary cost estimates for the manufacture and launch of Iridium NEXT.   Full Story

Astrium + GISTDA Move Ever Closer To THEOS Launch
THEOS, the THailand Earth Observation Satellite developed by Astrium for the Thai Space Agency GISTDA (Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency) is expected to be launched on August 6th aboard a Dnepr rocket from the Yasny launch site in Russia. THEOS will observe the Earth from the same orbit as the French Spot-5 satellite at 820 km altitude.   Full Story

Newtec Brings TelliNet Into Military Service With ND SatCom
Newtec has announced their Tellitec? IP Software product TelliNet has been selected by satellite broadband supplier ND SatCom to be integrated with the SkyARCS platform to provide fast and secure Intranet access via satellite to the Bundeswehr (German Federal Armed Forces). ND SatCom Defence is the main supplier of military satcom solutions to the German Armed Forces.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Globecomm Systems — Integral Systems — NASA —— Telenor —   Full Story


August 4, 2008
NASA—Happy Golden
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the space act that created NASA. To commemorate NASA's beginning, the agency has released an immersive multimedia experience that takes visitors on an interactive tour of its first five decades of exploration. Combining current and historic video with state-of-the-art computer animation, the virtual exhibit takes a World's Fair approach to NASA history, featuring pavilions that host each decade of the agency's challenges and achievements.   Full Story

New IPP Product Monitors Reflected Power
Innovative Power Products, Inc. has debuted one of its many, small, broadband Dual Directional Couplers, Model IPP-3013. The 200 watt, Dual Directional Coupler covering 100 to 1000 MHz., is offered in a very small, 1.50 x 2.50-inch footprint, with SMA connectors.   Full Story

Moving On Up... At EMS Technologies...
EMS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELMG) has appointed Dr. Neil Mackay as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President for EMS Technologies, Inc., and he will report to EMS President and CEO, Paul Domorski.   Full Story

Mars Panorama—Say 'Cheese' 400x
In the midst of your "regular" daily satellite news, here's an update pertaining to the Phoenix, which is now planted steadfastly on Mars. What interestingly enough appears, at first glance, to be just one photo that the Phoenix spacecraft took of the arctic plane of Mars is not as it appears.   Full Story

SpaceX' Falcon 1 Launched But Anomaly Causes Rocket Failure
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) launched their Falcon 1 Flight 3 mission on Saturday, August 2nd. Unfortunately, the rocket failed after several minutes into the flight, the third such failure by SpaceX to launch this rocket. The anomaly that caused the failure has not yet been identified.   Full Story

Flight 19 Terminated By U.S.A.F.
The United States Air Force's Defense Support Program (DSP) Flight 19 satellite, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), was decommissioned last Friday following nine years of service. Northrop Grumman personnel stationed at the company's Telemetry and Orbital Test Station in Redondo Beach, California, terminated the downlink to Flight 19 at the Air Force's command.   Full Story

Styling In Asia With World Fashion Channel
No excuses for not being fashionable in Asia, thanks to Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) and World Fashion Channel (WFC). The two agencies have entered into a long term agreement for capacity on the ABS 1 satellite to improve and extend the channel's distribution in Asian broadcast gateway at 75 degrees East.   Full Story

DISHing Out Super Hi Def
DISH Network Corporation [Nasdaq: DISH] set the bar for the next-generation HD when they became the first in the industry to offer high definition programming in 1080p, the highest and best HD resolution available. This new functionality is part of DISH Network's most recent expansion in high definition services, that includes TurboHD, the first 100 percent, all-HD suite of programming packages.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Radyne Comtech — SES Astra — Vocality Int'l —   Full Story


August 3, 2008
SpaceX' Falcon 1 Launched But Anomaly Causes Rocket Failure
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) launched their Falcon 1 Flight 3 mission on Saturday, August 2nd. Unfortunately, the rocket failed after several minutes into the flight, the third such failure by SpaceX to launch this rocket. The anomaly that caused the failure has not yet been identified.   Full Story


August 1, 2008
Powerboating Benefits From SkyWave DMR Terminals
SkyWave Mobile Communications has supplied UK-based MarineTrack with DMR terminals for integration with their tracking and monitoring solutions. MarineTrack’s solution was recently used to safeguard participants in the 2008 Round Britain Powerboat Race, held in Portsmouth, UK, in June.   Full Story

NASA's Nanos Sail On
NASA is planning to fly two nanosatellites as secondary payloads aboard the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket in either August or September of this year. Spaceflight engineers and project managers at NASA's Ames Research Center, and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, teamed together to arrange a fast-paced, low-cost mission.   Full Story

NASA's LRO Test Submissions
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, also known as LRO, has completed the first round of environmental testing at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. These tests ensure the spacecraft is prepared for its mission to collect the highest resolution images and most comprehensive geological data set ever returned from the moon.   Full Story

Cheers! Meet For A Drink On Mars, As Phoenix Locates Water
Exciting news comes from the result of lab tests aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander with the identification of water found in a soil sample. The lander's robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples.   Full Story

Financially Speaking... Harris Corporation...
Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has reported preliminary results for its 2008 fiscal year and fourth quarter as a result of today's announcement by Harris Stratex Networks (NASDAQ:HSTX). For fiscal year 2008, Harris expects revenue of approximately $5.3 billion, an increase of 25 percent compared to $4.2 billion in the prior year.   Full Story

Phobos In Stereo + 3D, Thanks To ESA's Mars Express
Mars Express closed in on the intriguing martian moon Phobos at 6:49 CEST on July 23rd, flying past at 3 km/s, a mere 93 km from the moon. The European Space Agency's (ESA) spacecraft's fly-bys of the moon have returned its most detailed full-disc images ever, also in 3-D, using the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board.   Full Story

Space Systems/Loral—43 And Still Counting
No it's not referring to age, it's about the number of completed satellites that Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications [Nasdaq:LORL] has delivered to Intelsat. This provider of high-power commercial satellites announced that it delivered a satellite for Intelsat, a major provider of commercial satellite services, to Sea Launch Home Port in Long Beach, California, on Wednesday, July 30.   Full Story

Boeing To Power Up DARPA Program
A team led by Boeing [NYSE: BA] Advanced Systems has been awarded a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract for the first phase of the Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed (FAST) program. DARPA's FAST is a multiphase effort to design and develop a ground test prototype of a new High Power Generation Subsystem (HPGS) for spacecraft.   Full Story

Here's Looking At You—DigitalGlobe ImageAtlas
DigitalGlobe, a provider of high resolution satellite world imagery products and services, launched ImageAtlas 4.0. This is the newest version of its online store for high-resolution digital earth imagery, and enables companies in real estate, civil engineering, government, insurance, GIS and public safety to easily and affordably access on-demand satellite and aerial images of specific locations, properties and neighborhoods.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— DIRECTV — ITT Visual Information Systems — Juniper Networks — ONDAS Media S.A. — Raytheon Company — Strategy Analytics —   Full Story

EMS Will Point The Way For ViaSat-1
EMS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELMG) has announced their Defense & Space Systems Division (D&SS) was selected for a contract from Space Systems/Loral, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:LORL). The contract calls for EMS Technologies to provide antenna pointing equipment for ViaSat-1, which is expected to be the world's highest capacity broadband satellite when it launches over North America in 2011.   Full Story

Flight 19 Terminated By U.S.A.F.
The United States Air Force's Defense Support Program (DSP) Flight 19 satellite, built by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), was decommissioned last Friday following nine years of service. Northrop Grumman personnel stationed at the company's Telemetry and Orbital Test Station in Redondo Beach, California, terminated the downlink to Flight 19 at the Air Force's command. Flight 19 was launched on April 9, 1999 on a Titan IV launch vehicle with an Inertial Upper stage (IUS) rocket.   Full Story


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