October 2008 Edition - Satellite Launch Sector
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September 2008 Satellite NewsVisit www.satnews.com for today's news

September 30, 2008
New UAV Markets Report Now Available
Research and Markets has introduced the Frost & Sullivan report entitled European Civil and Commercial UAV Markets.   Full Story

Unmanned Control Demo'd Successfully By AAI
AAI Corporation, an operating unit of Textron Systems, successfully demonstrated several new technologies for command-and-control of unmanned air and ground vehicles during the first week of August at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.   Full Story

Paradigm and NSSL Assist with Smiles on Ships
Everything is shipshape now that Satellite communications provider NSSL has been selected by Paradigm Services Ltd (PSL) to provide welfare Internet services to a selection of Fleet assets. This is an extension to the Inmarsat based services already provided to PSL for their Skynet 5 service.   Full Story

SpaceX Falcon 1 Flight 4 . . . Still Flying
Just an update regarding the successful launch of Flight 4 of the Falcon 1 that occurred on Sunday, September 28 from the Reagan Test Site (RTS) on Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) in the Central Pacific, about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. We watched the live webcast and enjoyed the cheers that went up from the control room.   Full Story

Hughes' SPACEWAY-3 Proves Boeing's Packet Switching Efficacy For DoD
Boeing [NYSE: BA] has used an operational, commercial communications satellite to demonstrate the maturity of its Internet-like, space-based packet-switching technology. This occurred during a program review of the company's proposed Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).   Full Story

Export Of Space Technology Examined By The Space Foundation
The Space Foundation has published a white paper entitled "ITAR and the U.S. Space Industry."?he paper examines the effect of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which govern the export of space technology.   Full Story

ISS Assists U.S.A.F. With Material Tests
Air Force Research Laboratory officials recently partnered with NASA to conduct materials experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS).   Full Story

Does NASA Mars' Lander Need Snow Shoes — Sees Falling Snow
So far NASA doesn't have a requisition order to equip Mars Lander with snow shoes, but snow falling from Martian clouds has been detected. Spacecraft soil test experiments also have provided evidence of past interaction between minerals and liquid water, processes that occur on Earth.   Full Story

ViaSat Garners MIDS Boon From SPAWAR
ViaSat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) has been awarded an additional order valued at approximately US$7 million for Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) terminals from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), San Diego.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Astrium ESA EU — EchoStar Corporation SkyWay USA — MSV FCC — Hughes Network Systems —   Full Story


September 29, 2008
NASA Mars' Cracks Spill Water
Ever since NASA has been studying Mars, on its surface and from afar, we've been treated to some wondrous revelations. Now the Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed hundreds of small fractures exposed on the Martian surface that billions of years ago directed flows of water through underground Martian sandstone.   Full Story

NASA Stardust Star at Smithsonian
NASA's Stardust sample return capsule brought home the world's first particles from a comet to join the collection of flight elite in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. The capsule will go on public display in the museum's Milestones of Flight Gallery on October 1, the 50th anniversary of NASA.   Full Story

ViaSat VRT-100 BGAN Receives Approval for Inmarsat Case Approval
ViaSat Inc. [NASDAQ:VSAT] received Inmarsat Case Approval for the ViaSat VRT-100 Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) terminal, which can be invaluable to first responders of civil emergencies such as fire, police homeland security, relief agencies, and news media personnel. The ViaSat VRT-100 enables one to quickly set up reliable communications even in the midst of extreme weather conditions.   Full Story

Flight 4 of Falcon 1 Ready, Get Set . . .
Mere hours from now, if all goes well Falcon 1 is currently cleared for liftoff sometime between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. (California time) Sunday September 28th. However, if anything requires investigation, the launch will be postponed, but you’ll be informed.   Full Story

European Space Council and EUMETSAT Establish Priorities
In attendance at the European Space Council in Brussels on September 26 was EUMETSAT Director-General, Dr. Lars Prahm, whose presence validated the importance of Europe's satellite applications services in operational meteorology. The Space Council set four new priorities for the European Space Policy: space and climate change, contribution of space to the Lisbon strategy, space and security, and space exploration.   Full Story

Falcon 1 Flight 4 Liftoff Perfect
We watched live as the SpaceX Falcon 1 Flight 4 webcast shared their launch. We confess to simultaneously watching a football game that we opted to turn off and instead watch the webcast. The football game was a disapointment, the successful launch was a joy to see! As was the separation that came several minutes later.   Full Story

Chandrayaan-1 Contributions From Europe Now Completed
Three instruments from European companies have now been delivered to the Indian Space Agency for that agency's Chandrayaan-1 mission to the Moon. The instruments have now been fully tested and integrated with the spacecraft.   Full Story

Shenzhou-7 Spacewalker + Associates Arrive Home
The Chinese Shenzhou-7 (Sacred Vessel) astronauts have landed back on earth, safely, but somewhat shaken up, thanks to the land-based bouncing their capsule received.   Full Story

DARPA Wants VIBRANT Results From VIRAT For UAV Data
Kitware has won a US$6.7 million DARPA contract to develop a prototype Video and Image-Based Retrieval and Analysis Tool (VIBRANT), which will become part of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s Video and Image Retrieval and Analysis Tool (VIRAT) program.   Full Story

Jules Verne Bids All Adieu
Shortly after 15:30 CEST (13:30 UT) on Monday, September 29th, the European Space Agency's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle will initiate a controlled destructive re-entry high above an uninhabited area of the Pacific Ocean.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Eutelsat Communications Numeo S.A. — Kontron — NSSL Paradigm Services — SkyTrac Systems Hydro One —   Full Story


September 28, 2008
Shenzhou 7 Has Left the Module
On Saturday China's first spacewalk took place by mission commander Zhai Zhigang who floated out of the orbiter module's hatch in the spacewalk, shown live on state broadcaster CCTV. Tethered to handles attached to the Shenzhou 7 ship's orbital module's exterior, Zhai remained outside for about 13 minutes before climbing back inside and closing the hatch behind him.   Full Story


September 26, 2008
Intelsat's Galaxy 19 Refreshes N. American Fleet
Intelsat, Ltd., announced today that at 5:28 a.m. EDT the Galaxy 19 satellite was successfully launched aboard a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket. The satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral, will operate from 97 West, replacing the Galaxy 25 spacecraft. Galaxy 19 will provide 50-state coverage, in addition to reaching the Caribbean, Canada and Mexico, to video, government and network customers.   Full Story

Space Systems/Loral's Successful Galaxy 19 is Number 56
It takes team work and so Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications [Nasdaq:LORL], announced that the Galaxy 19 satellite built for Intelsat is performing post launch maneuvers according to plan. The satellite's solar arrays deployed on schedule several hours after separation, from its launch aboard a Zenit-3SL rocket from Sea Launch's Odyssey Launch Platform at the Equator.   Full Story

Sea Launch Successfully Delivers Galaxy 19 to Orbit
Early this morning, the Sea Launch Company successfully delivered the Galaxy 19 satellite to orbit from its ocean-based platform on the Equator. This is the international company’s fifth successful launch from sea in 2008.   Full Story

Chavez Confident Of Satellite Launch For Venezuela
During his "Alo, Presidente" radio program early last week, Hugo Chavez, the purported leader of Venezuela, stated the Simon Bolivar satellite will be lifted into orbit on November 2nd.   Full Story

China's Off to the Space Race as Taikonauts Take On Tasks and Spacewalk
China's Shenzhou 7 spacecraft carrying a three-man crew lifted off today from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and is now in Earth orbit. During the upcoming three-day mission, Chinese astronauts, called taikonauts, will launch a small satellite and conduct their country's first spacewalk. Shenzhou 7 and the body of the rocket that launched it will be visible to the naked eye as they orbit Earth.   Full Story

Iridium's OpenPort Opens World for Maritime Broadband Service
Iridium's OpenPort™, an enhanced-bandwidth marine satellite communication service, has been put to the test with sea trials and achieved good results. Iridium OpenPort offers marine satellite services at a lower cost with more features, and will be available in October, with more than 4,000 orders already waiting.   Full Story

ISIS MYC 08 Invests All With Information Next Month
The 3rd annual ISCe Satellite Investment Symposium (ISIS NYC ‘08), to be held October 14th at the 3 West Club in New York City, will feature prominent industry executives, financial analysts, private equity representatives, bankers and the financial media.   Full Story

Minotaur Makes Orbital Sciences Proud — Again!
Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) has successfully launched their Minotaur II rocket for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) in support of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Near-Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE).   Full Story

Raytheon Getting To NOAA NPOESS
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has achieved a significant program milestone for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).   Full Story

Maneuvering Underway For Galaxy-19
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has announced the Galaxy 19 satellite built for Intelsat is performing post launch maneuvers, all according to plan. The satellite's solar arrays deployed on schedule several hours after separation, following yesterday morning's successful launch aboard a Zenit-3SL rocket from Sea Launch's Odyssey Launch Platform at the Equator.   Full Story

XipLink Welcomes Trispen Technologies' Intellectual and Capital Assets
XipLink, a standards-based wireless optimization has signed an agreement to acquire certain intellectual and capital assets of Pretoria, South Africa based Trispen Technologies, already a long-time partner in providing Security Software for Wireless Network Optimization.   Full Story

Kudos To Ikonos, Lockheed Martin + GeoEye
The IKONOS commercial remote sensing satellite, designed and built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], has achieved its ninth year of on-orbit service and continues to provide high-resolution imagery of the Earth to commercial and government customers around the world.   Full Story

Mobile Satellite Ventures Smart Mutual Aid's SOS in U.S.
Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) once again has created, and will manage, the South East Satellite Mutual Aid Radio Talkgroup (SE-SMART) operating on the MSV satellite communications network. SE-SMART is the eighth, multi-state, regionally-focused and managed talkgroup provided by MSV to facilitate rapid, reliable and interoperable communications over satellite for public safety operations and emergency responders.   Full Story

NASA's Glory Story Puts You On a SpaceChip
NASA invites everyone to "Send Your Name Around the Earth" and put your name in orbit for years to come. NASA's Glory satellite is the first mission dedicated to understanding the effects of particles in the atmosphere and the sun's variability on our climate.   Full Story


September 25, 2008
SATCON Is Where It's At . . .
October 15-16 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City, New York is SATCON, where content and communications coverage will be addressing a myriad of issues. A popular event, in fact, as of today, 95 percent of the exhibit space has been sold out, with no room for expansion, totaling more than 225 companies.   Full Story

NASA Huddles to Delay Hubble Mission
An adjustment to the launch date of the space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope now appears to be on October 14 at 10:19 p.m. EDT. For further info a news conference is scheduled for Friday, October 3, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to announce an official launch date.   Full Story

Showtime Arabia Believes In GlobeCast
GlobeCast has signed a new five-year deal with Showtime Arabia to provide content management and delivery services for 13 of their global channels. Services will range from multiplexing, uplink, and aggregation to playout from 1’s central London Technical Operations Centre.   Full Story

U.S.A.F. + U.S. Navy Combine Talents For Trans-Atlantic UAS Flight
An Air Combat Command RQ-4A Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system from the 9th Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, made a trans-Atlantic flight on September 20th with the assistance of Navy officials.   Full Story

APSCC Awards AsiaSat Manager
Per Hovstad and four other representatives from the APSCC (Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council) member companies were presented the ‘Asia Spectrum Defense Team’ Special Award at the 2008 APSCC Awards Ceremony held on the 23rd of September in Jeju Island, Korea.   Full Story

UAVs To Bring Hellfire To Bear
There's a new variant of the Hellfire missile, especially developed to be carried and fired by UAVs, about to be deployed by the U.S. Army.   Full Story

3DI Implements iDirect Skycelerator and Pumps Up Throughput to Military
Pumping up data throughput on the network by as much as 500 percent for critical military and government needs without increasing recurring monthly bandwidth costs is big news.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— ORBCOMM —   Full Story


September 24, 2008
Ka-band Solution Provided By Arrowhead
Arrowhead Global Solutions has been awarded a task order with an estimated life cycle value of US$11.5 million by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to provide space segment and operations and maintenance (O&M) support for the Global Broadcast Service (GBS) to deliver critical information to the warfighter.   Full Story

Financially Speaking — Iridium + GHL Acquisition Corp.
There's a joining of forces upcoming — GHL Acquisition Corp. [AMEX: GHQ] and Iridium Holdings LLC have signed a definitive agreement to combine their resources.   Full Story

Action By COM DEV USA Leads To Passive Award
COM DEV USA, LLC, a subsidiary of COM DEV International Ltd. (TSX: CDV), has been awarded a US$1.6 million Authorization to Proceed (ATP) to supply passive microwave components for a U.S. Government civil space program.   Full Story

Comtech EF Data Is Highly Cooperative and SatModems Debut
Comtech EF Data Corporation now has a strategic cooperation agreement with Vados Systems that encompasses the integration of Comtech EF Data’s Vipersat Management System (VMS) product with Vados Systems’ vadEDGE product range. Plus, two new satellite modems are unveiled.   Full Story

Demodulation A Hughes Specialty
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) has intro'd their high performance Wideband Configurable Demodulator Subsystem (CDS).   Full Story

Reaper UAV To Receive Improved Targeting From Raytheon
A US$58 million contract has been awarded to Raytheon Company by the U.S. Air Force for the firm to work on unmanned aerial vehicles. Specifically, the contract is for the Reaper program and updated/new targeting systems.   Full Story

Aruba Networks Stands Tall to Bring Internet to Troops in Iraq
Good work by Aruba Networks, Inc. [NASDAQ: ARUN], provider of wireless LANs and secure mobility solutions, deployed their wireless networks by Babylon Telecommunications Inc. at Joint Base Balad in Iraq to provide Internet access to over 20,000 soldiers.   Full Story

Telecoms Sans Frontieres Deployed to Haiti — Cyclones x4 in Less than 30
Word comes to us from Oisin Walton (TSF) in Gonaives and Adele Waugaman (UN Foundation) who are part of two teams of Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) emergency telecommunications specialists deployed to Haiti as it was hit by four cyclones—Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike—all in less than a month.   Full Story

Flight 4 of Falcon 1 Fired Up
Standard procedures of the Flight 4 of Falcon 1 include rigorous testing. On Saturday we reported that the testing took place and reports were to be available soon. The results are in and, as expected, no major issues came up.   Full Story

NASA Wears 50 Well
Time flys but not as fast as the lauches that take place at NASA. Fifty years is truly golden for NASA and NASA Television and www.nasa.gov will broadcast a gala event commemorating the agency's Golden Anniversary on Wednesday, September 24, at 8 p.m. EDT.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— EMS Technologies — OmniGlobe Networks — Orbit Technology Group — Stratos Global Corporation — XipLink —   Full Story


September 23, 2008
Suppliers + Primes, Good Business Sense
The California Space Authority (CSA) is going to host a Supplier Transformation Forum at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach on October 7, 2008. In learning how to better partner with Prime companies, aerospace suppliers in California will be better positioned to compete in a global marketplace.   Full Story

Sovcomflot's Unicom Says "Da" 60x For KVH Antennas
KVH Industries, Inc. is working with?Unicom (a member of Sovcomflot, Russia's largest shipping company) to equip their fleet with KVH's TracVision? M9 satellite TV antennas.   Full Story

NOAA Sats To Benefit From Receiving RT Logic Comm Replacements
RT Logic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Integral Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ-ISYS), has been awarded a contract award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for their Multi-Mission L & S Band Receiver (ML & SBR) project.   Full Story

Nigeria Targeted For SkyVision Combi Service From SkyVision
SkyVision is committing a 2 billion NGN investment in Nigeria and welcomes the first ten new customers who are now completing the installation of their SkyVision Combi platform, scheduled to deliver service before year-end.   Full Story

Clyde Space Empowers RASAT
Clyde Space delivered two flight model Battery Charge Regulator (BCR) System to The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.   Full Story

Super 10x Contract For Arianespace
A contract on Saturday, September 20, for the acquisition of ten Soyuz launch vehicles was signed between Ariane   Full Story

SatCelCom Biggie Announcement By MSV, ICO, + Qualcomm
Combined satellite-cellular communications will become a reality for consumers, enterprise, government, and public safety users with an agreement announced by, and among, Mobile Satellite Ventures LP (MSV), a subsidiary of SkyTerra Communications, Inc. (OTCBB: SKYT), ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Limited (ICO) (NASDAQ: ICOG), and Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM).   Full Story

NASA and USAF In Hypersonic Race to Answers
A new partnership between NASA and the United States Air Force is underway as they look to university and industry partners to work together to advance hypersonic research. Hypersonic speed is defined as Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, and faster.   Full Story

Being Short-Listed By The ESA Is A Good Thing For Logica
Logica is one of two companies short-listed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the System Support component of the 2.1 billion euros Galileo procurement and one of two companies short-listed for the Ground Mission Segment (GMS).   Full Story

ORBITZ
— DataPath Inc. — Loral Space & Communications — QinetiQ North America — Xicom Technology —   Full Story

NASA's Mars Rovers Taking Advantage of the Opportunity
NASA's Mars Rover, Opportunity, is heading towards a crater more than 20 times larger than its home for the past two years. In order to accomplish this task Opportunity would need to drive approximately 7 miles to the southeast, matching the total distance it has traveled since landing on Mars in early 2004.   Full Story


September 22, 2008
Navevo's BBNav for Disabled Deserves Blue Ribbon
Technology helping the disabled, a win-win for Navevo, a GPS software developer in the UK, who announced BBNav the first dedicated Blue Badge sat-nav solution to support disabled drivers and their care givers. Visit an unfamiliar town and BBNav informs where you can park, where the public toilets with disabled facilities are, and indicates the nearest shopmobility if you have a powered scooter or wheelchair.   Full Story

NASA's First — Simultaneous Shuttles Shuttled to Pads
For the first time since July 2001, two shuttles are on the launch pads at the same time at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Space shuttle Endeavour completed a 4.2-mile journey to Launch Pad 39B on Friday, September 19, at 5:59 a.m. CDT.   Full Story

Camcopter UAV Is Materially Sound
Advanced Composites has been selected by Schiebel as one of its preferred suppliers of material for its Camcopter S-100 Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV).   Full Story

Two New South African UAVs Debut
Midrand-based Advanced Technologies and Engineering (ATE) has doubled its unmanned aerial systems (UAS) offerings. The Company unveiled two new unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at the Africa Aerospace and Defence show in Cape Town.   Full Story

UAVs To Demo Refueling Capabilities
Cobham plc is preparing to demo what the Company believes will be the first in-flight docking of two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as it continues development of its autonomous aerial refueling system.   Full Story

Proactive Communications Is Just That, With Network Configurator
Proactive Communications, Inc. (PCI), launched PCI Network ConfiguratorTM, the industry’s first estimating tool to help companies understand basic system requirements for satellite communications networks.   Full Story

Gilat Satellite Networks Gets Going With 03b
Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. and O3b Networks Ltd. have just announced plans for a new line of satellite terminals designed specifically for O3b Networks Ltd. O3b Networks, funded by Google Inc., Liberty Global, Inc., and HSBC Principal Investments, recently announced the Company will deploy the world’s first ultra-low-latency, Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), Ka-band, fiber-speed satellite network.   Full Story

Thales Jumps Onto The JTRS MilCom Team
Thales Communications, Inc., has announced the Company's participation on the winning team selected by the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO) to provide the tactical communications and networking solutions for the JTRS Airborne, Maritime, and Fixed Site (AMF) program.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Office of Space Commercialization — Integral APSCC — NASA SAIC — SES NEW SKIES SkyVision — SingTel Chunghwa Telecom — XipLink —   Full Story


September 20, 2008
Nimiq4 Takes Off On a Breeze — Provides DTHTV 'O Canada'
Success for International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M launch vehicle carrying the Nimiq 4 satellite into space for Telesat at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 3:48 a.m. today local time (5:48 p.m. Friday EDT, 21:48 Friday GMT). This was the fourth launch of the year, and 47th overall, for ILS.   Full Story

Falcon1 Flight 4 Fit to Fly
It's become a routine, and a successful one at that for the SpaceX team at the Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands. A static flight was conducted today, Saturday, of the Falcon 1 Flight 4, and launch is planned for sometime between Tuesday and Thursday (California time).   Full Story


September 19, 2008
Newtec's Box of PEP Has Paid Off With CSI Product of the Year
Newtec, an innovator in the satellite and communications industry received a Cable & Satellite International (CSI) Product of the Year Award 2008 during a ceremony held at the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) this last week in Amsterdam. The award's category was “best playout/connectivity service/solution” for its Mobile PEP-Box Terminal EL810, formerly known as PEP-Box 1000.   Full Story

XMM-Newton Uncovers Black Hole One Million Times Our Sun's Size
The European Space Agency's (ESA) XMM-Newton has uncovered a well-tuned periodic signal from a super-massive black hole lodged at the center of a galaxy, ending a long quest for such an object. The discovery provides scientists with a clearer picture on black hole accretion processes and an excellent tool to study active galactic nuclei (AGNs).   Full Story

Arquiva's Distribution of Masters' Series Goes to Court
Arqiva is providing TV broadcast distribution services for the 2008 ATP Masters Series on behalf of ATP Media. Arqiva has already provided distribution services for seven of the tournament's 10 international legs, most recently in Cincinnati this August.   Full Story

Celestial Success For General Dynamic's LEOP
General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems has successfully completed the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Fermi, previously known as the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope or GLAST, is a nexgen, high-energy, gamma-ray satellite designed to make observations of celestial gamma-ray sources.   Full Story

Qualified Secret Clearance Only — ATCi's Sat Surveillance and Monitoring
Antenna Technology Communications Inc., a provider of commercial satellite communications systems, will be hosting the industry's first comprehensive Satellite Surveillance and Monitoring Technology Conference on October 26-28, at ATCi's corporate headquarters located in Chandler, Arizona, with an opening welcome reception on Sunday October 26. This seminar is limited to qualified U.S. citizens who hold Secret Clearance or above.   Full Story

Globalstar Catches and Measures Wind
How to measure the wind — Globalstar, Inc. [Nasdaq:GSAT], a major provider of mobile satellite voice and data services to businesses, governments and individuals, today announced that Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. (RES Americas), a   Full Story

Speed Is Good For Inmarsat
Inmarsat is increasing the guaranteed IP data speed available on its Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service in response to demands from the media sector.   Full Story

Spitzer Notes Water, Water, Everywhere, Even In Emerging Solar System
Water is being blasted to pieces by a young star's laser-like jets, according to new observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The discovery provides a better understanding of how water is processed in emerging solar systems.   Full Story

UK Security Ramps Up Robust Space Program
John Auburn, VEGA’s Aerospace Business Development Director and Chairman of UKspace, has called upon the UK Government to “reinstate a robust national Space program” in order to “guarantee national security in an increasingly complex international environment.”   Full Story

China's Shuttle Launch Will Be Expensive To Attend
From the Shanghai Daily, September 18th issue, the story is headlined "Space launch fans need spacious wallets". Space travel fans who want to see the launch of China's Shenzhou VII shuttle at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center later this month will have to pay 15,000 yuan (US$2,206) for the experience.   Full Story

U.S.A.F. Predator Training In SoCal To Start Soon
Members of the 163rd Reconnaissance Wing at March Air Reserve Base in California are now ready to begin training the Airmen on the MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft system.   Full Story

Orbit and Milano Teleport Send Sats to ISeaGlobal
Orbit Technology Group, a provider in the field of advanced mobile SatCom and tracking antenna systems for marine, air, train and other ground application, and Milano Teleport announce an additional order for Orbit's OrSat systems, worth in excess of $1.6 million. This is an add-on order to an original contract of $1.9 million.   Full Story


September 18, 2008
JAMPRO Jams At IBC
During IBC 2008, Jampro revealed products from their radio and television antenna inventory to appreciative visitors to their stand. Some of the Company's products on display included the following..   Full Story

Crawford Goes Fishing For New Biz
Crawford Satellite Services has launched two additional HD feeds for MavTV and World Fishing Network (WFN). Using MPEG-4 technology, Crawford transmits each feed to AMC-10, SES AMERICOM’s HD-PRIME? cable neighborhood.   Full Story

Financially Speaking... GeoEye, Inc...
GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) has received notice from Nasdaq that as a result of filing its restated financial reports and current quarterly report on Form 10Q on September 8th, all compliance issues have been resolved — GeoEye remains in good standing on The Nasdaq Global Market exchange.   Full Story

No Nimiq-4 Go
From International Launch Services (ILS) comes word that the launch of a Proton launch vehicle with the Nimiq 4 satellite was postponed for 24 hours.   Full Story

SES NEW SKIES' NSS-12 Offers A Broader Future For CETel
SES NEW SKIES, an SES Company (Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG), has announced that CETel has formally contracted with the Company to provide services on the upcoming NSS-12 satellite to serve the Middle East and African market for VSAT services and corporate networks.   Full Story

Northrop Grumman Completes Their AEHF Integration Goodies
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has completed integrating all electronic units of the payload module for the third Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF) military communications satellite.   Full Story

Predatory Practices By Raytheon
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has developed an advanced common ground control system, or CGCS, for the U.S. Air Force to address mission capability needs for the Predator unmanned aircraft system.   Full Story

KVH's TACNAV Heading Into Southeast Asia
KVH Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: KVHI) has received a new contract from a southeast Asian customer for the purchase of KVH's TACNAV(r) military vehicle navigation systems and displays.   Full Story

In An Emergency, Numerex Senses It Can Help
Numerex Corp. (NASDAQ: NMRX) has expanded its relationship with IAP Worldwide Services, Inc (IAP). The expanded relationship includes the purchase of Numerex SX1 remote monitoring sensors to incorporate into its emergency response efforts.   Full Story

DMCii Scientist's Image Is Quite Consistent
Remote sensing solution provider DMCii's Chief Scientist, Dr. Steve Mackin, has pioneered a new approach for deriving quality control indicators from Disaster Monitoring Constellation data.   Full Story

Thrane & Thrane's BGAN Contributions To A Speedy + Watery World
Thrane & Thrane is ensuring the legion of Volvo Ocean Race fans around the world receive even better television coverage by extending its sponsorship offering to include land based EXPLORER 700 BGAN terminals.   Full Story

NASA Creates Its Own eClips
NASA has a created a free Web-based educational product for anyone interested in learning, that is available across the country. NASA eClips consists of more than 55 short, 5-10 minute video segments, which are available on-demand via the Internet for the 2008-2009 school year.   Full Story

2008 Records Broken, I'll Be Seeing You at IBC2009
IBC2008 has been a record breaking year in visitor numbers, registrations and exhibitors, as folks interacted with new technology, demonstrations and learning about fascinating topics related to the the industry.   Full Story


September 17, 2008
NASA's Aqua Sat Reveals Arctic Sea On the Rocks, Lowest Point This Year
NASA has circulated some amazing photos of the Arctic sea ice coverage that show its lowest extent for the year, and the second-lowest amount recorded since the dawn of the satellite era, according to observations from the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder.   Full Story

Orbital and USAF Minotaur IV Test A-OK
The thrill of watching a successful ground test of a rocket was enjoyed by Orbital Sciences Corporation [NYSE: ORB] when they completed the full-scale "pathfinder" ground operations of the Minotaur IV space launch vehicle in preparation for its inaugural flight that is currently scheduled to take place in early 2009.   Full Story

AT&T Amplifies A-GPS Technologies
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has deployed assisted GPS technology (A-GPS) within its wireless network to enhance existing and planned location-based services (LBS) used with A-GPS capable devices. The company will also launch two new navigation applications in the coming weeks, MapQuest Navigator and AAA Mobile Navigator.   Full Story

SpotBeaming The Winners Is The California Space Authority
The California Space Authority (CSA) has announced the 2008 SpotBeam Award Winners. The awards will be formally presented at the SpotBeam Awards Dinner on November 19, 2008 at The Proud Bird in Los Angeles, California. “Celebrating its fifth year, the CSA SpotBeam Awards program highlights the significant accomplishments of individuals, organizations, and programs that contributed to the success of California space enterprise in 2008,” said CSA Executive Director Andrea Seastrand. SpotBeam Award categories and winners include:   Full Story

UAVs Provide Support For Georgia In Conflict With Russia
"A clear winner in the recent Russo-Georgian War is unmanned aircraft," said Larry Dickerson, Unmanned Vehicles Analyst for Forecast International. "This fighting shows that even small conflicts are likely to see the participation of unmanned air vehicles," Dickerson said.   Full Story

Orbit Joy — Antenna Approvals Now Include Anatel
Orbit announces Anatel type approval, the third approval, for its OrSat, a Ku-band maritime stabilized antenna system, which offers Intelsat and Eutelsat type approvals.   Full Story

Third AEHF's Electronics Integrated By Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has completed integrating all electronic units of the payload module for the third Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF) military communications satellite.   Full Story

DVB-S2 Incorporated Into Unity 4600 SatReceiver By WEGENER
Wegener Corporation's WEGENER(r) Unity(r) 4600 satellite media receiver now supports nexgen DVB-S2 satellite demodulation as a standard feature. With its advanced coding and Forward Error Correction (FEC) options, DVB-S2 modulation provides broadcasters’ with additional flexibility to manage inclement weather, satellite service provider limitations, and bandwidth consumption.   Full Story

USAF Still Plans To Award TSAT Contract This Fall
From Reuters, we learn the U.S. Air Force still plans to award Boeing or Lockheed Martin Corp a contract worth billions of dollars this fall to build a group of advanced military communications satellites, the general in charge of Air Force Space Command said on Tuesday.   Full Story

Super Pixels Demos At IBC Win Special Award
The NHK, BBC, RAI, and EBU were distinguished with a Special Award at this year's IBC (International Broadcasting Convention) for live demos of nexgen HDTV in Super Hi-Vision.   Full Story

SatCom Equipment + Training Boon For DRS
DRS Technical Services, Inc. (NYSE: DRS) has been awarded a US$15,733,333 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract for satellite communications equipment and training.   Full Story

GlobeCast Offers Ivory Coast TAM TAM TV
GlobeCast Gets TAM TAM TV, the first private television channel in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), to provide a broadcast solution that combines remote broadcast delivery via Internet with satellite distribution of the general entertainment channel.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Bridge Technologies TANDBERG Television — Crawford Satellite Services — Harris Corporation — PBLSat — TerreStar Harbinger Capital Management —   Full Story


September 16, 2008
NASA Ares I Partners With 27 Sweet Alabama Firms
NASA would be the first one to tell you that it takes a ton of help to get their rockets out the door and up into space, and so it goes with the Ares I rocket. Described as America's next flagship in space, the Ares I is now in development by NASA and its industry partners, to carry human explorers and new missions of discovery to the moon and beyond.   Full Story

FAST Action By NASA + Innovative Partners
For the first time last week, NASA used microgravity research flights aboard commercially-owned aircraft to test hardware and technologies. These flights, on an airplane operated by the Zero Gravity Corporation, simulated the weightless conditions of space.   Full Story

SkyPort Weathers The Weather
SkyPort Global Communication’s Network Operations Center in Houston performed flawlessly when tested by the full force of Hurricane Ike, enabling SkyPort to provide round-the-clock support to the National Guard and other first responders following the devastation.   Full Story

NASA Reveals Plans For MAVEN Spacecraft
NASA has selected a Mars robotic mission that will provide information about the Red Planet's atmosphere, climate history, and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before. Called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, the $485 million mission is scheduled for launch in late 2013.   Full Story

ViaSat Enters Paradise
Paradise Datacom has reached an agreement with ViaSat Inc. to embed the latter's Paired Carrier Multiple Access (PCMA) technology into Paradise Datacom modems for improved bandwidth efficiency.   Full Story

Vinasat Gains ISEy Enhancements
ISE (Integral Systems Europe), a subsidiary of Integral Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISYS), has delivered and installed a fully integrated CSM (Carrier Signal Monitoring), transponder planning, and Network Management system for the Vinasat satellite.   Full Story

Lockheed Martin SpaceCom System To Help USAF Space Commanders Communicate
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT - News) has successfully delivered a space communications system that will bring more accurate and timely decision-making information to U.S. Air Force Space Commanders. This upgrade to the Combatant Commanders Integrated Command and Control System (CCIC2S) communications processing system enhances space message delivery reliability to and from the Space Data Operations Center.   Full Story

MSC.Software's European Summit On Simulation In the Aerospace Industry
The MSC.Software [Nasdaq:MSCS] European Aerospace Summit Corp., a global provider of enterprise simulation solutions, including simulation software and services, today announced that keynote presentations from Airbus, Alenia and others will be featured at the forthcoming MSC.Software European Aerospace Summit October 7-8, 2008 at the Atria Mercure Hotel in Toulouse, France.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— SkyPort Global Communications — GLONASS Putin — WEGENR Mega Hertz —   Full Story

ViaSat Rides a Big Wave of SurfBeam for Italy
ViaSat [NASDAQ:VSAT] received an order for 5,000 SurfBeam(R) Ka-band broadband terminals from OpenSky for the launch of Eutelsat Tooway consumer broadband service in Italy. This is just the start, as OpenSky is projecting that the 5,000 terminals are approximately a three-month supply.   Full Story


September 15, 2008
Sensing The Proper Position is Directed Perceptions
Directed Perception, Inc., a manufacturer of products for the control and positioning of sensors, has now made availability their PTU-D48 family of computer controlled pan-tilt units. These units are designed for high speed, accurate positioning of cameras, thermal images, lasers, antennas, and other payloads up to 15 lbs in weight.   Full Story

Publishing Protocols Are Suitened By Inmedius
Inmedius, Inc. has released S1000Dtransition V3.0 to efficiently publish structured S1000D Data Modules (DM) to common types of output and print. The latest release includes complete support of ASD S1000D™ Issue 3.0 schemas, and has been updated concurrently with Inmedius S1000Dmanager™ and S1000DauthorPro™ for seamless compatibility.   Full Story

MSV Network and W-SMART Help Emergency Services B-SMART
Through tragedies much is learned, and so it is with emergency services organizations — in terms of communications. Lessons learned and investments and improvements in technology resulted in Regional Satellite Mutual Aid Radio Talkgroups over the Mobile Satellite Ventures' (MSV) communications network that now extends coast to coast and beyond.   Full Story

Arabsat's BADR-6 is Hot
The Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat) is exhibiting at IBC presenting its entire range of services supported by the latest satellite broadcasting technology, including its newly launched BADR-6, which makes its fleet not only the largest but also the youngest.   Full Story

SatTV Target Of Saudi Cleric's Ire...
From the Media Line News Agency, and subsequently published at The Jerusalem Post, comes an article headlined "Top Saudi cleric: Kill immoral satellite TV channel owners". Not a headline meant to endear Arab-owned satellite TV operators and broadcasters, to be certain.   Full Story

GeoEye To Initiate Commercial SatOps Soon For GeoEye-1
With the GeoEye-1 satellite's successful launch on September 6th, GeoEye will be ready to start full commercial operations for GeoEye-1 imaging products a few months after launch. For the next 45- to 60-days, engineering and calibration tests will be completed.   Full Story

Moons Around The Rings
This mosaic of two Cassini images shows Pan and Prometheus creating features in nearby rings. Pan (28 kilometers, or 17 miles across), in the Encke Gap at left, is trailed by a series of edge waves in the outer boundary of the gap.   Full Story

Lander Looks At Dancing Devils On Surface Of Mars
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has photographed several dust devils dancing across the arctic plain last week and sensed a dip in air pressure as one passed near the lander.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— 1st Bengaluru Space Expo — DataPath Metracom — iDirect CYBERNET — Spacecom HBO Central Europe — Talia Telesat iDirect — WB Walton Enterprises —   Full Story


September 12, 2008
Hurricane Season Finds Iridium Satellite Prepared
Iridium Satellite LLC reports that its mobile satellite communications service has been providing peak levels of reliable, critical lifelines to first responders in the Gulf Coast Region since news of hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike started to appear.   Full Story

NASA's Ares I Passes Blueprint Muster
The figurative canvas has come off, and now NASA knows what the preliminary design of the Ares I rocket will resemble, which is a major step toward building the nation's next generation launch vehicle. Starting in 2015, the Ares I rocket will launch the Orion crew exploration vehicle, including its crew of four to six astronauts, and small cargo payloads to the International Space Station.   Full Story

STM's SuperPico Provides SuperCritical Services
A critical link for rural military deployment as well as civilian use is that line of communication to the rest of the world. Helping connect these areas is the STM Group with their break-through SuperPicoTM GSM base stations.   Full Story

Stormy Ike Is Getting Really Icky + Also Delays Progress
Hurricane Ike is getting larger as a tropical cyclone with hurricane force winds that reach out as far as 115 miles from the storm center, with tropical force winds outward to 275 miles. As of 10:00 a.m., September 11th, hurricane warnings are up, ranging from Morgan City Louisiana to Baffin Bay, Texas.   Full Story

SatReceivers Receive New WEGENER Tuner Cards For DVB-S2 Benefits
Wegener Corporation (Nasdaq: WGNR) has announced that Educational Media Foundation has ordered 600 DVB-S2 tuner cards to upgrade their currently deployed WEGENER Unity 4600 satellite receivers to the latest high efficiency satellite modulation. Based in Rocklin, California, Educational Media Foundation is a not-for-profit company that operates the K-LOVE and Air 1 radio networks.   Full Story

A Moving Day For Shuttle Endeavour
Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, September 18th, in preparation for shuttle Atlantis' mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Endeavour will stand by in the unlikely event a rescue mission is necessary following Atlantis' launch, which is targeted for October 10th.   Full Story

Eager Eyes @ IBC For Newtec Goodies
Newtec has added new modulation, demodulation, and upconverter equipment to its satellite broadband portfolio for show at IBC2008 in Amsterdam. Within the 1 product family, there's the high speed modulator EL178, high speed demodulator EL978, and EL478, a high speed modem.   Full Story

UK-DMC Satellite Transfers Bundle In Space
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) can boast 'a first' now that the first use of the 'bundle' protocol in space has been demonstrated with their UK-DMC satellite. Sensor data was successfully delivered from the satellite using this disruption- and delay-tolerant networking protocol designed for the Interplanetary Internet.   Full Story

Stellar Speakers Added For CASBAA 2008
The roll-call for the CASBAA Convention 2008 in Hong Kong from October 28th-30th has received a major boost to global headliners Barry Diller (IAC), Bill Roedy (MTVNI), Roma Khanna (NBCU) and Darren Childs (BBC Worldwide Channels) — they will now be joined by the Asia Pacific pay-TV's top leadership of Converged Carriers and Content including:   Full Story

Satlynx' Streaming Solution
Satlynx has introduced a transportable media streaming solution comprised of equipment that can be installed into and on almost any vehicle, plus a flexible and affordable service. Satlynx Media Streaming addresses the growing online market of event owners, content providers, radio stations, and media companies with a need to capture audio or video at events and to stream the content to a production facility for publication online or further distribution.   Full Story

Aircell Gogo(es) with Air Canada, Eeh?
It's official, Aircell and Air Canada will offer the Aircell mobile broadband service, Gogo™, to passengers on trans-border flights expanding Aircell’s North American footprint, making Air Canada the first Canadian airline to offer inflight Wi-Fi.   Full Story

Maritime Data Reporting Upgrade Via Stratos Global
Stratos Global Corporation has signed an agreement with Thrane & Thrane to upgrade the Stratos Land Earth Stations (LES) to enable Enhanced Pre-Assigned Data Reporting (EPADR), which increases the efficiency of maritime data reporting.   Full Story

Norsat's R&D Designs Receive Canadian Government Funding
Norsat International Inc. (”Norsat”) (TSX: NII and OTC BB: NSATF) will use a new repayable investment from the Canadian federal government to invest in research and development (R&D) activities to accelerate its product development timeline.   Full Story

Bundle SatCom Benefits Demo'd By SSTL
The first use of the ‘bundle’ protocol in space has been demonstrated with the UK-DMC satellite built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL). Sensor data was successfully delivered from the satellite using this disruption- and delay-tolerant networking protocol designed for the Interplanetary Internet. Wireless ad-hoc communication networks, and networks operating in extreme environments, suffer frequent outages and disruption and require careful engineering to meet their needs. Spacecraft and probes operating beyond Earth orbit have intermittent communication contact limited by orbital dynamics.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— COM DEV International —   Full Story


September 11, 2008
SpectraTime Ensures IRNSS Is Never Late
Space atomic clocks are the epitome of accuracy, and SpectraTime, a company of the Orolia group, will supply Rubidium Space Clocks to the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS). With this new contract, SpectraTime is on the way to having the largest number of atomic clocks in space on-board satellites with a contract valued at approximately EUR 4 million.   Full Story

SWE-DISH Drive(s)-Away With New Client — Geo TV Pakistan
SWE-DISH Satellite Systems AB, a DataPath(R) company delivered a fleet of SWE-DISH Drive-Away CCT120s to Geo Television Network (Geo TV) in Pakistan making it one of the largest deployments of satellite news-gathering systems in Pakistan.   Full Story

An Awarding Day At World Satellite Business Week
Euroconsult has announced the winners of the 5th Annual Awards for Excellence in Satellite Management. These prestigious awards are the industry’s highest accolade, recognizing exceptional performance in several categories. The Excellence in Satellite Management Awards are presented each year at the World Satellite Business Week, the industry’s annual summit for senior executives. The winners of the 5th Awards for Excellence in Satellite Management are:   Full Story

AVL Has A Lock On Positioning
AvL is recognized as a leading producer of SNG antenna systems in the United States. The company recently introduced their 90x66-cm iSNG Carry-On (9066) Flyaway Antenna, which meets airline requirements for cabin baggage.   Full Story

IDC Is IBC SatIntense
International Datacasting Corporation (TSX:IDC) will be showcasing their SuperFlex product lines for IPTV, Digital Cinema, and other multimedia applications at IBC from September 12 to 16 in Amsterdam in Hall 1, C.29. PROFline BV will also be presenting its complete line of products for FM radio broadcast and satellite distribution for customers in Europe and around the world. The firms will be be presenting...   Full Story

NASA Explores Nuclear Fission as Electrical Source on Moon
While you might not picture a flat screen TV showing the Super Bowl on the Moon, or an astronaut blow drying their hair, their need for electricity is going to be very real. Therefore, in anticipation of NASA astronauts power source needs when they return to the moon and establish a lunar outpost, NASA engineers are exploring the possibility of nuclear fission to provide the necessary power.   Full Story

First ComSat For Argentina Now Under Contract
In a ceremony headed by the President of Argentina, Ms. Dr. Cristina Fernandez, on August 28th, 2008, the contract covering phases II to IV of the design and construction of the first Argentine Geostationary Communications Satellite — ARSAT-1 — was signed between INVAP and AR-SAT (Empresa Argentina de Soluciones Satelitales, SA).   Full Story

NASA Gamma-Ray Burst Aimed at Earth — Go Ahead, Make My Day
Fireworks in space were visible with the naked eye on March 19. Data from satellites and observatories around the globe show a jet from a powerful stellar explosion witnessed March 19 was aimed almost directly at Earth, and NASA's Swift satellite detected the explosion, formally named GRB 080319B, at 2:13 a.m. EDT that morning and pinpointed its position in the constellation Bootes.   Full Story

Space Launch Complex 40 At Canaveral OK'd For Use By SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has been granted an Operational License by the U.S. Air Force for the use of Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the Florida coast. Receipt of the license, in conjunction with the approved Site Plan, paves the way for SpaceX to initiate Falcon 9 launch operations later this year.   Full Story

TANDBERG Television Offers Solutions for Telenor IPTV
TANDBERG Television, part of the Ericsson Group [NASDAQ:ERIC] announced that their MPEG-4 AVC compression and IP multiplexing solutions are being used by Telenor Satellite Broadcasting to provide IP video contribution and direct-to-consumer IPTV services in Scandinavia.   Full Story

UAVs To Receive Computers From Parvus
Parvus Corporation has received a sub-contracting agreement with Aurora Flight Sciences to supply common Mission Computers for Aurora’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) under several prime contracts.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Globecomm Systems —   Full Story


September 10, 2008
Intelsat Hits a Home Run
Satellites provide all kinds of information, from defense to weather to photo mapping, and now Intelsat, Ltd., a provider of commercial satellite services, announced that Major League Baseball International (MLBI) signed a contract for international distribution to its rights holders in Asia, Europe and Latin America.   Full Story

Delve Into ND SatComs' Newbies
ND SatCom will be introducing at IBC 2008 in Amsterdam a new Antenna Control Unit (ACU) generation. The ACU 5010 for SkyRAY Light is to be exhibited at ND SatCom’s outdoor booth OE320 from September 12-16, 2008.   Full Story

Mobile Media Via Satellite Forum Set For London
At Savoy Place, in London, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Mobile Multimedia Via Satellite forum will occur on October 20th. Organized by the Satellite Systems and Applications Technical and Professional Network, this exciting forum will provide the perfect platform for discussing path-breaking technology, implementation of new standards, and the challenges associated with their potential applications for Mobile Multimedia via Satellite.   Full Story

SWE-DISH Licensed to Carry Suitcase
SWE-DISH Satellite Systems AB, is officially certified and awarded a U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license for the SWE-DISH Suitcase(R) CCT90 ultra-portable SATCOM terminal. The Suitcase CCT90 is a highly compact and quick-to-air broadband satellite terminal, featuring a 0.9-meter antenna and advanced CommuniCase(R) Technology.   Full Story

SatCom Is Steady On, Says Euroconsult
The international research and analyst firm that specializes in the satellite and digital broadcasting sectors, Euroconsult, has announced that growth in the fixed satellite market has maintained its healthy pace, driven in particular by digital entertainment and emerging digital markets.   Full Story

SatFantastic For Thales Alenia Space — EIGHTEEN!
Thales Alenia Space has started construction of 16 of its Low Earth Orbit communications satellites for Jersey, Channel Islands-based O3b Networks Limited, with options for additional spacecrafts.   Full Story

Space Security Is Logica's Focus For Galileo
Logica has been awarded a framework contract by the GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA) for the provision of security for the Galileo program.   Full Story

GOCE No Go
The preparatory activities for the launch of ESA's GOCE satellite from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia was halted during the afternoon of September 7th by Eurockot.   Full Story

Lockheed Martin's Support Highly Valued By U.S. Navy's C4ISR Project
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, cost-plus fixed fee contract, by the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego (SSC-SD), for C4ISR Systems Lifecycle Support Services.   Full Story

Hurricane Ike Trimmed By Cuba As Revealed By TRMM
font color="#003366">As Hurricane Ike battered Cuba on September 8, 2008, the rugged island punched back. These two images illustrate just how much Ike changed as it moved across Cuba.   Full Story

EUROBIRD-9 Bringing HD + SD Goodies To Russian Audiences
Platforma HD, the new Russian all-HDTV platform, has selected the EUROBIRD-9 satellite operated by Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) to deliver new HD content across the western parts of Russia to the Urals.   Full Story

SSTL Tests Galileo On the Go
Good test results are always encouraging, and so it was when SSTL completed an in-orbit test campaign analyzing signals from the new GIOVE-B satellite for ESA. The results indicate that GIOVE-B is operating well and further validates all the technologies integral to the EU-funded Galileo Satellite Navigation project.   Full Story

Global Satellite's ComCenter Heads To The Sea For Ships
?Global Satellite USA has launched their ComCenter ‘Outdoor’, a complete Iridium voice and data satellite network, designed for the harshest of environments found at sea.   Full Story

Asia-Pacific Sat Awards At APSCC Conference
Satellite operators and manufacturers, launch vehicle service providers, risk management and financing professionals, equipment manufacturers, satellite service providers, government regulators, users, and academics from around the world will gather at the APSCC 2008 Satellite Conference and Exhibition on September 22-25 in Jeju, Korea.   Full Story

Tip Top TacSat-2 Team Receive AIAA Awards
The TacSat-2 Spacecraft Team receive the AIAA Space Systems Award on September 10, which is presented to recognize outstanding achievements in the architecture, analysis, design and implementation of space systems.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Arqiva Limited Intelsat — Gilat Satellite Networks — Intelsat IND —   Full Story


September 9, 2008
Nimiq-4 Getting Set To Get Higher
International Launch Services (ILS) is getting set to launch the Nimiq-4 satellite on Friday, September 19th.   Full Story

EMS Tech's Cloud High Communication Products Debut
EMS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELMG) has launched their Aura™ Ku-band family of antenna systems for in-flight entertainment and connectivity.   Full Story

New MSV SatTalkgroup Established
Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) has added the sixth regional Satellite Mutual Aid Radio Talkgroup to its expanding family of nationwide and regionally-focused talkgroups.   Full Story

Newtec Deals ACM A New Implementation Solution
Newtec will be revealing and launching FlexACM at IBC 2008 in Amsterdam. This is a new solution that allows simple, yet efficient, implementation of ACM (Adaptive Coding and Modulation) in IP trunking and IP backbone systems.   Full Story

SWE-DISH Reveals New Dish Delights
SWE-DISH Satellite Systems AB, a DataPath? company, is adding a 1.2-meter antenna module to the CommuniCase? Technology product line, creating the new SWE-DISH Suitcase? CCT120. SWE-DISH Suitcase terminals are light, compact, and easy to use, and have assisted the manner in which journalists, military personnel, and emergency first responders communicate from remote locations.   Full Story

Financially Speaking... GeoEye...
GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) has filed their restated financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for 2005, 2006, and 2007 and for the quarters ending September 30, 2007 and March 31, 2008. In addition, the Company filed its financial statements for the period ending June 30, 2008 and is now current with its financial filings.   Full Story

ViaSat + Eutelsat Get Grounded For KA-SAT
ViaSat (NASDAQ:VSAT) has received a $50 million contract award from Skylogic, the broadband subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications (Eutelsat Communications-Euronext Paris: ETL), for on-ground baseband infrastructure for the previously announced, high-capacity, KA-SAT Ka-band satellite system.   Full Story

Giving Their Portfolio 3G Wireless Service Is Spacenet
Spacenet Inc. has added EV-DO, a 3G high-speed wireless data service, to its portfolio of satellite and common carrier broadband services. This new offering enables enterprise and government customers to leverage EV-DO as part of a hybrid network for primary or stand-by communications, or at locations where other wireline alternatives are not available.   Full Story

ITT — ITT's a Good Thing!
Mission accomplished for ITT Corporation as they celebrated the successful launch of the GeoEye-1 satellite and its ITT-built imaging payload from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Once fully operational, GeoEye-1 will boast the highest resolution of any commercial satellite imaging system on the market.   Full Story

Register Early and Save for the ISCe Satellite Investment Symposium
If you are smart enough to register now for the ISCe Satellite Investment Symposium (ISIS) NYC on October 14, 2008 at the 3 West Club, in New York City you'll enjoy some savings.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— COMSYS VSAT 2008 — Globecomm Systems — MEASAT Satellite Systems — Nagravision —   Full Story


September 7, 2008
In Order To Protect And Serve Against Asteroid Anxieties...
For the past two years, the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) — the international organization of astronauts and cosmonauts from 33 countries — has been developing a program to protect the Earth from asteroid impacts.   Full Story

GeoEye-1 Gains Success With VAFB Launch
GeoEye, Inc. has reported the successful launch and deployment of GeoEye-1, the world's highest resolution, commercial Earth-imaging satellite. GeoEye's ground station in Norway relayed the downlink signal it received from GeoEye-1 confirming that the satellite successfully separated from the second stage of the launch vehicle and began automatically initializing its onboard systems.   Full Story

Launch Date Deliberations By NASA Completed... STS-125 + -126 Set
NASA has adjusted the target launch dates for the two remaining 2008 space shuttle missions. Shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope is targeted for October 10th, while Endeavour's STS-126 supply mission to the International Space Station has moved to November 12th.   Full Story

ISS Sees Indomitable Ike
Hurricane Ike was still a Category 4 storm when these photos were taken from the International Space Station's vantage point of 220 miles above the Earth.   Full Story

Intersputnik + ProtoStar In Cahoots With ProtoStar-I
ProtoStar I Ltd., a subsidiary of Bermuda-based ProtoStar Ltd., has confirmed the signing of an Orbital Location services agreement with the INTERSPUTNIK International Organization of Space Communications (Intersputnik) of Russia.   Full Story

SWR On The SNG Road With ND SatCom
The German public broadcaster S?dwestrundfunk (SWR) recently ordered an SNG vehicle (Satellite News Gathering) with satellite uplink and TV production technology from ND SatCom, an SES ASTRA company. The satellite uplink consists of a SkyRAY Compact 1500plus antenna subsystem and is HD/SD-ready, being one of the first within the Association of Public Broadcasting Corporations (ARD) in Germany.   Full Story

Plenty Of Space Power From Small Packages
Clyde Space has been awarded an Innovation Triangle Initiative (ITI) contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to perform characterization and qualification testing on a Lithium Polymer Cell battery to demonstrate its suitability for use on Small Satellites.   Full Story

No I-View TUAV System For Australian Army
The Australian Minister for Defence, the Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon MP, has announced that the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) and Boeing Australia have agreed to terminate the contract for the delivery of a Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (TUAV) System.   Full Story

Aerojet's Pulse Quickens For Orion
Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, has successfully completed a hot-fire testing program of NASA's Orion Crew Module's 160 lb. thrust mono-propellant engine. Test program objectives were met by demonstrating pulse mode operation of the engine at expected Orion flight conditions.   Full Story


September 5, 2008
Paris, City of Lights Shine on Euroconsult
It's just a week away, when Euroconsult, the international research and analyst firm that specializes in the satellite sector, conducts their 12th annual World Satellite Business Week. The conference is in Paris, France, from September 8-11, and is attended by over 400 senior executives, representing companies that generate 95 percent of commercial satellite industry revenues. This conference is the only event of its caliber that is dedicated to the satellite industry, where industry actors benchmark, network, and conduct business.   Full Story

Newtec's New Concept and Products Redefined
What a refreshing process Newtec has devised — to further improve their products' usability, installation and operation they are redefining their entire product line that pertains to the satellite and communications industry. In other words, they are listening to their customers and are providing products and market needs for products that are easy to understand, purchase, install and operate, and will unveil the results of this extensive program at IBC2008 in Amsterdam, September 11-16.   Full Story

NASA's Push to Exoplanets Via Sagan Fellowships
NASA announced their new Carl Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowships in Exoplanet Exploration, created to inspire the next generation of explorers seeking to learn more about planets, and possibly life, around other stars. NASA's new Sagan fellowships will allow talented young scientists to follow the path by Sagan with award stipends of approximately $60,000 per year, for a period of up to three years, to selected postdoctoral scientists. Topics can range from techniques for detecting the glow of a dim planet in the blinding glare of its host star, to searching for the crucial ingredients of life in other planetary systems. A call for Sagan Fellowship proposals went out to the scientific community earlier this week, with selections to be announced in February 2009.   Full Story

Intelsat's Romania Connection
Intelsat, Ltd. has announced that Romania Cable Systems and Romania Data Systems S.A. (RCS & RDS), a DTH video content provider in Eastern Europe, have signed a multi-year, multi-transponder expansion contract for capacity at 1 degree W. The additional capacity will be used to offer a larger DTH bouquet for RCS & RDS’ DigiTV service and also introduce new sports channels for its Romanian audience.   Full Story

GeoEye Given OK For Launch
The 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California, has approved a September 6th launch for GeoEye-1. Hurricane Hanna has changed course away from Florida, so the Company's launch provider, United Launch Alliance (ULA), has mobilized personnel from the East Coast to the West Coast to support the new launch date. Final preparations for launch are underway.   Full Story

Go Back To School, With Help From NASA
NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate will accept scholarship applications from September 5, 2008, through January 16, 2009, for the academic year starting in fall 2009. NASA expects to award 20 undergraduate and five graduate scholarships to students in aeronautics or related fields.   Full Story

Lockheed Martin's ICARUS Handles UAV + UAS Like A Hawk
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has successfully demonstrated the Intelligent Control and Autonomous Re-planning of Unmanned Systems (ICARUS) suite of technologies as part of an exercise conducted from August 12th through 14th. The Edge Command and Control/Hybrid Operations (ECC/HO) week-long exercise was conducted at the Naval Air Station Oceana Dam Neck Annex, Dam Neck, Virginia.   Full Story

MITEQ Racks Up Another Converter + A New Catalog
MITEQ had added their Model DNB2-11.725TR, Multiband Block Converter, to its 1/3 rack family of products.</b></font> This model is designed for applications where multiple frequency translations are needed between Ku- and L-band. MITEQ has also released its comprehensive Fall 2008 Satellite Communication and Earth Station Equipment CD Catalog.   Full Story

Life Expectancy Of W5 Satellite Is Reduced
Following the incident in the night of June 16th and 17th, affecting part of the power generator subsystem of the W5 satellite, Eutelsat set up a technical investigation on the satellite’s performance, together with its manufacturer, Thales Alenia Space.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— ND SATCOM — ORBCOMM —   Full Story


September 4, 2008
Google Sees Spot(s)
Spot Image Corp. has been named a Google Earth Enterprise Partner, and will leverage this new partnership with Google to deliver imagery through current and planned web-based solutions to its clients through Google Earth. What this translates out to mean is that Spot Image Corp. will develop ‘ready-to-use’ image data sets for Google Earth and Google Earth Enterprise users in addition to creating a variety of advanced new information services and solutions. Spot Image Corp. plans to tap into the Google Earth Enterprise architecture to integrate the rich information content of SPOT satellite imagery into maps (2D) and Globes (3D).   Full Story

NASA's Atlantis Let's Roll
Space shuttle Atlantis is tentatively scheduled to roll out to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10 a.m. EDT, on Thursday, September 4. Managers will meet at 5:30 a.m. Thursday to confirm that weather conditions created by Tropical Storm Hanna will allow for the move. Atlantis is targeted to lift off October 8, on an 11-day mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.   Full Story

Tata Sky Reaches New Heights
NDS, a major provider of technology solutions for digital pay-TV announced that Tata Sky, the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) service provider in India, has launched India’s first EPG in the Hindi language in partnership with NDS.   Full Story

GlobeCast is Flying High with Eurobird and It's Music to MTV's Ears
Because of GlobeCast's recently acquired second transponder on Eutelsat’s EUROBIRD™ 9 satellite interested parties have certainly benefitted. MTV has become the first major broadcaster to buy in to the content management and delivery company in order to provide distribution and capacity for MTV Portugal.   Full Story

Boeing's Thermal Test Ensures WGS Sealed for Space
Up until now Boeing's [NYSE: BA] tests of Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellites inside a thermal-vacuum chamber have been completed successfully and in record time. Once again their technicians prepare the third Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite for an around-the-clock sequence of tests inside a thermal-vacuum chamber at the company's satellite manufacturing facility. Boeing is building six WGS satellites for the U.S. Air Force; the first was put into operation in April.   Full Story

Ball Aerospace Is On the Ball for WorldView-2
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has begun the integration of the completed imaging instrument for the next-generation WorldView-2 commercial imaging satellite being built for DigitalGlobe scheduled to be launched in the third quarter of 2009. WorldView-2 will expand DigitalGlobe’s collection capabilities by nearly one million square kilometers per day, enable intra-day revisits to a specific geographic area, and enhance DigitalGlobe’s ability to collect up-to-date imagery for customer needs.   Full Story

Télécoms Sans Frontières Helps Haiti After Hurricanes
Telecoms Sans Frontieres (TSF) crews of IT and telecoms specialists can intervene anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours after any sudden onset disaster or conflict, and in a matter of minutes, set up a satellite-based telecoms centre offering broadband Internet, phone and fax lines. Now they providing assistance following the devastating courses of hurricanes Gustav and Hanna in the Caribbean. TSF deployed a team of emergency telecommunications specialist to Haiti on Wednesday. The departed from TSF Americas base in Managua, Nicaragua to arrive in Gonaives, a city in the North seriously affected by the heavy rains and winds of the successive hurricanes.   Full Story

Food Is Important For A Balanced Diet... And The ISS Crew...
Next week, the residents of the International Space Station will receive a new shipment of food, fuel, and supplies next week. NASA Television will broadcast the arrival of these materials. Expedition 17 Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineers Oleg Kononenko and Greg Chamitoff are awaiting the arrival of the unpiloted ISS Progress 30 resupply craft, which will automatically dock to the aft port of the Zvezda service module at 4:01 p.m. CDT, Friday, September 12.   Full Story

WildBlue's $50 Million in Green Funding
WildBlue Communications, Inc., a provider of broadband Internet over satellite service throughout rural America, today announced it has completed a $50 million equity financing to support its continued growth. The financing was led by Liberty Media [Nasdaq: LCAPA/B, LINTA/B and LMDIA/B], Intelsat, the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative and the private equity firm of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers, however, terms of the financing were not disclosed.   Full Story

California Space Authority Wags and Webs
The California Space Authority (CSA), in conjunction with its sister organization, the California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI), has established the California Space Enterprise Speakers Bureau. Additionally, CSA has opened up their new website, the virtual California Space Education Center.   Full Story

MSV's Emergency Fifth Talkgroup To Launch In Pacific Northwest
Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) has joined with the State of Washington's Military Department Emergency Management Division to launch the NorthWest Satellite Mutual Aid Radio Talkgroup serving public safety interests throughout seven states in the northwestern United States including Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.   Full Story

Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Tailless Jet Scheduled For Carrier Demo
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is on track for the first flight of its revolutionary Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator for the U.S. Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. The first of two X-47B carrier demonstration system air vehicles is well over 50 percent complete and ahead of its build schedule.   Full Story

Historic Jules Verne ATV Mission To End In Fiery Fall
In just a few days time, the historical Jules Verne mission will come to a close. After the ATV Control Centre commands the opening of the Automated Transfer Vehicle hooks, the European Space Agency's (ESA) first resupply and reboost vehicle will perform a fully automated undocking with the International Space Station on September 5th at 23:30 CEST (21:30 UT).   Full Story

Aurora Garners Orbital's Minotaur IV Structures Award
Aurora Flight Sciences has been awarded a contract from Orbital to build Minotaur IV Composite Structures. Aurora plans to build the composite parts in its low-cost manufacturing facilities in West Virginia, where the company can provide a combination of lean manufacturing, low labor costs, and advanced processing methods in modern facilities, resulting in an economical acquisition cost for the Minotaur IV Composite Structures.   Full Story

MQ-8B Fire Scout VUAS First Flight Flawless
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) prepares to move forward with selective demonstrations after conducting the first flight of its company-owned MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Unmanned Air System (VUAS) designated as "P6." The flight was conducted at the Webster Field Annex portion of Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. P6 is part an on-going effort to expand upon the development capabilities of the MQ-8B Fire Scout.   Full Story

ASC's Transportable Antenna Is Highly Suited For Worldwide Communications
ASC Signal Corporation, (formerly Andrew Corporation Satellite Communications Group), launched their 4.6 Meter Trifold? Transportable antenna. The antenna is F-1 and E-2 Ka-band compliant, and available to customers around the world. Developed specifically to meet a wide range of regulatory standards, including INTELSAT’s standard F-1 and E-2 specifications.   Full Story

ORBITZ
— Saab AB — Canadian Space Agency —   Full Story


September 3, 2008
iDirect Gets Iraq On Track to Rebuild
Rebuilding Iraq is a monumental task and logistics are mind boggling. iDirect, Inc. (iDirect), a company of VT Systems Inc., and TigrisNet, a U.K.-based global provider of IT solutions and satellite communications are assisting with the bandwidth efficiencies to provide enterprise broadband applications, including Voice over IP (VoIP), videoconferencing, file transfer, and Internet access.   Full Story

Nexgen Energy Is Space Certified
The Space Foundation announces Deeya Energy™ L-Cell™ technology as a recently added Certified Space Technology. The Space Certification program was created by the Space Foundation, in cooperation with NASA, to raise awareness and understanding about the significant and practical benefits of technologies originally developed for the space program which have been adapted into products and services that improve life on Earth. Deeya Energy is a technology start-up dedicated to developing and manufacturing electrical energy storage systems based on its proprietary technology, L-Cell.   Full Story

Hanna Hassles Specialists Needed For GeoEye Launch
GeoEye, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEOY) has had to slip the launch of its GeoEye-1 satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. While the launch vehicle and satellite are on the pad and ready for a launch later this week, United Launch Alliance (ULA) advised the Company Hurricane Hanna's projected path off the east coast of Florida has impacted the availability of certified Delta II launch specialists available to travel to VAFB to support the GeoEye-1 launch.   Full Story

Iridium Holds the Key to Scholarship and Reliability
Here's a win-win story — Iridium Satellite LLC has donated $17,000 to the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International's Silent Key Scholarship Fund which provides current and future public-safety communications professionals with training and educational opportunities. The scholarship was established in honor of deceased APCO International members.   Full Story

CASBAA Conference Wants No Interference
Co-hosted by Nilesat and supported by CASBAA, the 2008 Satellite Interference Conference organized by the Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group, will bring together leading satellite industry executives from over a dozen countries for three days of candid and informative problem solving discussions on satellite interference. Held at the Nile Hilton Hotel in Cairo, Egypt, this annual event is a working meeting.   Full Story

Elbit's Hermes UAV Gains More Ground
Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESLT) has been awarded a contract to supply Hermes? 450 UAV systems to a country in the Americas, for the total of approximately $25 million. The contract also includes Skylark? I systems, all to be delivered within a year. Hermes 450 is a unique Elbit Systems development and has been the base platform of the IDF's operational UAV fleet, as well as the basis for the U.K.'s armed forces' UAV program Watchkeeper, the largest such program in Europe.   Full Story

UAV Market Projection Finds Strong Gains
The UAV market has grown rapidly in the last decade, providing considerable value strategically and tactically. The global appetite for UAVs shows no sign of abating. Instead, there is a growing indication that countries are increasingly looking for an even greater variety of systems and capabilities, military and civilian. The latest visiongain report “The UAV Market Report: Forecasts and analysis 2008-2018” analyzes the market for UAVs.   Full Story

Capacity Contract Cemented 'Tween SISLink + Eutelsat
SISLink has signed a new contract with Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) for a total of 4,000 hours of capacity in average 9 MHz slots on a range of Eutelsat satellites until June 1. 2009. This new contract, which continues an almost 20-year relationship between the two companies, equips SISLink to meet growing requirements from agencies and broadcasting organizations to provide TV coverage of sports and news events.   Full Story

Royal Netherlands Navy Commits To Stratos' FleetBroadband
Stratos Global Corporation has successfully completed a FleetBroadband field trial with its long-standing customer, the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN). The successful trial led to the RNLN's purchase of the FleetBroadband from Stratos service, which it will use to manage its daily operations at sea. RNLN is the first organization to commercially deploy the FleetBroadband service.   Full Story

Don't Lose Your Mobile Assets — CabLink To Totally Track
TransCore has debuted CabLink™ satellite mobile terminals with nexgen technology for small to mid-sized carriers and private fleets that need economical options for in-cab communications and sensor-enabled tracking and monitoring of mobile assets. The introduction of CabLink showcases a new streamlined design from the previous Text & Track product, integrates multiple components into one smaller unit, expands onboard processing capabilities, and increases engine monitoring functionality.   Full Story


September 2, 2008
Space Stuff Avoided By ISS
An unusual activity had to be completed by the International Space Station's crew last week that required firing the ISS' booster rockets to lower the orbit of the station. This was necessary in order to avoid space debris that is believed to have traveled as close as one mile to the ISS itself.   Full Story

Storms Captured By NASA SatStars...
This first satellite image was captured on September 1st at 13:32 UTC (9:32 a.m. EDT from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-12). In the image, Hurricane Gustav is just crossing the Louisiana coast while Tropical Storm Hanna spins near the Turks and Caicos Islands. GOES is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.   Full Story

This CASBAA Is No Secret
The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) will be held in Hong Kong from October 28-30 (Tuesday-Thursday), at the Dome. Although it is well over a month away, if you register before September 3, you can save up to $380 U.S. The CASBAA Convention 2008 will be bigger this year, and to accommodate the numbers it will be held at the futuristic CASBAA Dome, which is a hi-tech, large scale, outdoor structure in West Kowloon. The preferred hotel is W Hong Kong.   Full Story

Smile When GeoEye-1 Flies By
GeoEye-1 satellite, designed and built by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, has a big job ahead of it after its launch on Thursday, September 4, from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California. The satellite will be able to see an object the size of home plate on a baseball diamond but also map the location of an object that size to within about nine feet (three meters) of its true location on the surface of the Earth without need for ground control points. Together, GeoEye's IKONOS and GeoEye-1 satellites can collect almost one million square kilometers of imagery per day.   Full Story

Talking About Space And Defense...
The command chiefs will once again bring their unique perspectives to the Strategic Space and Defense conference via an important panel discussion about the on-the-ground reality in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other theaters around the globe, conference organizers have confirmed. The panel, "Frontline Views of the Chiefs," will take place on Wednesday, October 8th at 1430 hrs.   Full Story

The Wonderful World Of Meteorological Satellites To Be Presented
On 8-12 September 2008, meteorologists, scientists and researchers will meet for the 2008 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Conference in Darmstadt, Germany. The conference will be hosted by EUMETSAT, with the support of the Deutsche Wetterdienst (DWD), the German Meteorological Service.   Full Story

Immense Energy Radiation Traced To Crab Nebula Venue
Scientists have been able to locate where particles in the vicinity of the rotating neutron-star in the Crab Nebula are accelerated to immense energies, thanks to data from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Integral gamma-ray observatory. Resulting from more than 600 individual observations of the nebula, this discovery puts into place another piece of the puzzle in understanding how neutron stars work.   Full Story

Moving On Up . . .Times Two at Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation [NYSE:NOC] appointed Donald E. McHugh Jr. vice president and controller of its Technical Services sector (top photo), and David Reith director of business operations and chief financial officer of National Security Technologies LLC (NSTec), located at the Nevada Test site, of which Northrop Grumman Corporation is the managing partner.   Full Story

Good Vibrations for STSS Demos
The two Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) demonstration satellites being built by prime contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation [NYSE:NOC] for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) withstood the tests of maximum sound and vibration levels and it looks like they're good to go.   Full Story


September 1, 2008
Satellite Imagery Reveals Torching & Destruction Of Georgian Villages
From Human Rights Watch comes news of recent satellite images released by the UN program UNOSAT that confirm the widespread torching of ethnic Georgian villages inside South Ossetia. Detailed analysis of the damage depicted in five ethnic Georgian villages shows the destruction of these villages around the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, was caused by intentional burning and not armed combat. The new satellite images, taken by a commercial satellite on August 19th, were analyzed by experts of the Geneva-based UNOSAT program, which is part of the UN Institute for Training and Research and produces satellite-derived mapping in support of UN agencies and the international humanitarian community.   Full Story

NASA's Carl Sagan Legacy and Apple Pie
While Carl Sagan is no longer alive, his famous expression of 'billions and billions of stars, planets, and galaxies' is oft quoted, and his legacy lives on in many areas. Wednesday, September 3, NASA will hold a news conference on at 10:30 a.m. EDT, at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, Cullman Hall of the Universe, American Museum of Natural History in New York, to announce its new Carl Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowships in Exoplanet Exploration.   Full Story

High-Five for RapidEye's Rapid Launch of Five
A major accomplishment, to be sure as the five-satellite RapidEye constellation was successfully launched onboard Dnepr from Baikonur, Kazakhstan at 0715 UTC today. Following this morning's launch, the spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle in slightly different orbits to allow constellation phasing and will eventually be positioned equally spaced within the same orbit about 19 minutes apart.   Full Story

Military Communications and COTS 2008 Now Available
It's no secret that military communications remain an essential part of security operations. That technology extends in range from equipping military personnel with devices so they can communicate on operations to providing centralized systems for organizing battle and security operations on land, sea and in the air. Currently, all military forces rely heavily on sophisticated electronic communications systems, with technology transferring to and from civilian communications systems, both those in use and those in development.   Full Story


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