Satcom News Summary
Satcom news for the week, courtesy of Bill McDonald…
Ariane 5 lifts off with Herschel and Planck on board – two of the most ambitious missions ever attempted to unveil secrets of remote parts of the Universe.
[SatNews – 05/14/2009]
Intelsat revenue increased 10% over previous year, while 1st quarter loss increased from $412.7m to $557.6m.
[Satellite Today – 05/14/2009]
TACSAT-3 team at Wallops Flight Facility almost gets the launch late in the window, but last minute Flight Termination System anomaly forces delay of launch to May 19.
[SatNews – 05/14/2009]
The European Union picks communications companies Inmarsat Ventures and Solaris Mobile (jointly owned by SES Astra and Eutelsat) to provide high-speed internet services from satellites to remote parts of Europe.
[Wireless Week – 05/14/2009]
DirectTV ordered by judge to temporarily stop running ads that use Charter bankruptcy to imply that Charter is liquidating in order to win over customers.
[CED Magazine – 05/14/2009]
Astronauts on space shuttle Atlantis grab Hubble Space Telescope, passing another milestone on the thus far impressive mission.
[SatNews – 05/13/2009]
Astronauts discover 21-inch stretch of nicks on shuttle Atlantis, but NASA says the damage does not appear to be serious.
[SatNews – 05/13/2009]
Russia’s Federal Space Agency and NASA agree on a new price for ferrying U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station after 2012.
[SatNews – 05/13/2009]
Loral Space and Communications reported slight decrease in revenues, while Telesat realized growth from Nimiq 4.
[Satellite Today – 05/13/2009]
MetaVR builds 3D geospecific terrain covering 9,600 square kilometers in Afghanistan featuring high-resolution virtual village with over 500 buildings using SatImagery.
[SatNews – 05/13/2009]
Orbcomm loses $7m in quarter due to failure of one of its U.S. Coast Guard Quick Launch satellites in March.
[Satellite Today – 05/13/2009]
Pakistani religioius network leases AsiaSat C-band capacity.
[Satellite Today – 05/13/2009]
Al Jazeera English uses BGAN X-Stream from Stratos Global to broadcast live television news coverage of military developments from Pakistan and news from throughout Middle East.
[SatNews – 05/13/2009]
U.S. Government Accountability Office releases repoart that U.S. Air Force 2F program is over budget, and GPS service may be interrupted by delay in acquiring new 2F satellites.
[Satellite Today – 05/12/2009]
U.S. Air Force working with Lockheed Martin to "harvest" government owned property, ground stations, and other technologies developed for cancelled TSAT for future programs.
[Reuters UK – 05/12/2009]
Iridium OpenPort new-generation global marine satellite communication system successfully completes sea trials, drawing positive reviews; commercial rollout now underway.
[PR Newswire – 05/12/2009]
SES AMERICOM-NEW SKIES selects International Datacasting Corporation’s SFX 3102 DVB-S/S2 receivers for its customers who will be upgrading to DVB-S2 via the company’s IPsys IP trunking service.
[SatNews – 05/12/2009]
TeleCommunications Systems, Inc. receives U.S. patent for encapsulation of encrypted data, enabling secure communications over IP network, allowing deployable systems such as satellite terminals to transmit secure data by having only an internet connection.
[EarthTimes – 05/12/2009]
Iridium pursues Russian market for mobile satellite services, forming "Iridium Communications Russia, OOO" to pursue a license there.
[Washington Business Journal – 05/11/2009]
Dish Network subscriber loss exacerbated by end of AT&T deal, even as Dish beats Wall Street estimates with 21% rise in profit, partly based on equipment sales.
[Associated Press hosted by Google – 05/11/2009]
Liberty Media Corp. CEO Greg Maffei says DirecTV may be sold to a telephone company.
[CED Magazine – 05/11/2009]
DataPath shareholders approve merger with Rockwell Collins.
[Satellite Today – 05/11/2009]
Europe will get a step up on the U.S. and NASA in space based astronomy when Planck and Herschel are launched virtually at the same time as the NASA mission to improve Hubble.
[Miami Herald – 05/10/2009]
EchoStar and DirecTV fight taxes in Ohio courts because cable competitors are not similarly taxed.
[CED Magazine – 05/08/2009]
Dish Network announces availability of free Remote Access service that allows its customers nationwide to program their DVRs with any Internet-connected device.
[CED Magazine – 05/08/2009]
Satellite broadband services grew solidly in 2008 following a strong 2007; a wide range of broadband networking, internet access services, and cellular backhaul, continued to exhibit their viability.
[NSR Report – Broadband Satellite Services, 8th Edition – May 2009]
Advance satellite coding and modulation techniques generate optimism about prospects for SCPC sales in 2009 and beyond.
[NSR Report – Advanced Satellite Coding and Modulation, 2nd Edition – May 2009]
