Really Rocket Science

Great experiment the http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140112p2a00m0na005000c.html have been working for 10 years: using a big net to capture space debris and then bundling it to plunge it into the atmosphere to get rid of it.

Japanese researchers will make the world’s first attempt to remove space debris with aluminum netting thanks to a small company here that produces fishing nets.

Nitto Seimo Co. was contacted by JAXA researcher Satomi Kawamoto in April 2004, asking if it could make a net using metallic string.

“I’d sought cooperation from various manufacturers but they’d turned me down one after another,” she recalled. “I was desperate.”

The engineers at Nitto Seimo, whose main products are fishing nets, were unsure why such a net was necessary but decided to accept the request anyway.

Most space waste, found in high concentrations at altitudes of 700 to 1,000 kilometers, comprise parts of manmade satellites and rockets that were launched into space in the past. About 100 million pieces in total are said to exist, and because they travel at extremely high speeds, a collision with a space aircraft could cause a major disaster.

There are about 22,000 pieces of space debris at sizes 10 centimeters or larger — considered dangerous — and researchers have a grasp on trends in their movement. As for smaller waste, however, there are too many of them now to take any measures. Since a 2009 collision between an American artificial satellite and a Russian satellite, the pace at which the volume of space junk is increasing has accelerated. However, only a few pieces of waste have been thus far successfully retrieved with the use of satellites.

The method proposed by JAXA entails attaching wire netting to large debris to generate a magnetic field, reducing its speed over a span of about a year and thereby dropping it toward Earth. Because most of the debris is expected to burn up from frictional heat when it enters the atmosphere, it is believed to be the least costly method.

To ensure the wire’s strength, Kawamoto asked that the wire be made into nets about 10 centimeters wide.

“For 10 years after we accepted the job, we continued working on it out of pride for our work even though it didn’t lead to sales,” said Koji Ozaki, a technical expert at Nitto Seimo. The 0.1 millimeter aluminum wire that was supplied to Nitto easily broke and was hard to weave, and at times the company could only produce 1 meter of netting when the order was for 100.

Nitto workers applied their know-how of fish netting to repeatedly convert machines used to weave fishing nets, and in 2007, was jointly granted a patent with JAXA. In 2009, the company completed the conversion of a fish-net machine into one used specifically for manufacturing wire netting for the removal of space debris.

Pretty awesome idea. Let’s see if it works. Remember: it’s called “space” for a reason — there’s a lot of it out there.

Might be a good idea for a reality TV show. Fishing. Space. Junk. It’s got all the right stuff.

 

Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Cygnus space capsule berths with International Space Station on re-supply mission. [Space News – 01/13/2013]

China’s space policy is open to the world, according to the new chief of China’s space industry. [Space Mart – 01/13/2013]

Iran is preparing to orbit three new home-made satellites in the future, according to Vice-President for Executive Affairs Mohammad Shariatmadari. [Space News – 01/13/2013]

Boeing completes first of two 702HP geomobile satellites, Centenario. for government of Mexico. [Space Daily – 01/10/2014]

Sky Perfect JSat selects SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to launch JCSat-14 communications satellite in 2015. [Space News – 01/10/2013]

KVH surpasses 100-vessel mark in 10-year contract to supply next-generation satellite communications to U.S. Coast Guard cutter fleet, with 29.2 terabytes of data and over 835,000 VOIP minutes provided thus far. [SatNews – 01/10/2014]

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceshipTwo reaches highest altitude to date in rocket-powered test flight over Mojave desert. [Space News – 01/10/2013]

Falcon 9 v1.1 appears to have met U.S. Air Force’s requirements to bid for national security launches and challenge the market incumbent, United Launch Alliance. [Space News – 01/09/2013]

Obama administration extends International Space Station support another four years. [Nextgov – 01/09/2013]

U.S. Air Force takes control of STPSat-3. [Space News – 01/09/2013]

Launch of Orbital Science’s Antares mission following one-day delay raises awareness of space weather-induced flight risks. [Via Satellite – 01/09/2014]

Energia chooses Sea Launch to launch the AngolaSat telecommunications satellite and the Energia 100 broadband satelli8te in 2016 in a dual-satellite mission. [Space News – 01/09/2013]

Lockheed Martin gets $3.9 million contract to track orbital debris. [Via Satellite – 01/09/2014]

Comtech gets $4.4 million contract from Brazilian military to upgrade its satellite network. [Yahoo Finance – 01/09/2014]

Macdonald Dettwiler & Associates gets $4 million deal for European communications satellite subsystem. [4-traders – 01/09/2014]

Hughes teams with Aruba Networks to provide retail Wi-Fi service. [Via Satellite – 01/09/2014]

Cobham Satcom and Comtech EF Data partner to provide collaborative maritime solutions. [Via Satellite – 01/09/2014]

Huge solar flare causes Orbital Science’s Antares team to scrub ISS resupply mission. [NBC News – 01/08/2013]

Zinwell Corp is developing a new satellite digital outdoor unit (D-ODU) using MaxLinear’s channel stacking system on chip (SoC). [Via Satellite – 01/09/2014]

Use of satellite imagery is strongly related to economic growth – Asia good example as one of the most dynamic regional EO markets over the past five years. [NSR – 01/08/2014]

GATR Technologies wins $440 million contract with U.S. Army for inflatable satellite communications antennas. [BusinessWire – 01/08/2014]

Dish withdraws $2.2 billion bid to buy bankrupt LightSquared, as trial got underway over whether Dish’s Charles Ergen had unlawfully bought LightSquared’s debt in effort to take over the company. [Reuters – 01/08/2013]

ESA’s Gaia spacecraft reaches operational orbit. [Via Satellite – 01/08/2014]

Global Eagle plans expansion of in-flight connectivity across South Asia. [Via Satellite – 01/08/2014]

Spacecom to broadcast African CHAN football championships via Amos 5 satellite. [Via SAtellite – 01/08/2014]

Entropic announces first fully-integrated set-top box (STB) system-on-a-chip for satellite receivers and IP clients. [Via Satellite – 01/08/2014]

SpaceX successfully completes second GEO communications satellite launch, delivering Thaicom 6 into orbit. [[Via Satellite – 01/07/2014]

Mars One plans two, or possibly three, communications satellites for the Red Planet. [Via Satellite – 01/07/2014]

Arianespace postpones launch of Ariane 5 ECA mission, citing need to change-out unspecified equipment on the VA217 Ariane 5 ECA launcher. [Via Satellite – 01/07/2014]

Sea Launch Zenit 2S rocket completes inspection, preps for April launch. [Via Satellite – 01/07/2014]

Computer Security firm analysis states that VSAT terminals may pose a soft target for hackers, finding more than 10,000 terminals of 3 million investigated to be using default passwords or having open ports. [Computer World – 01/07/2014]

SES and EUTELSAT complete sale of Solaris Mobile to Echostar. [Market Watch – 01/07/2014]

Broadcom announces new Outdoor Unit (ODU) satellite chipset that enables wider range of services to more subscribers without additional dish installations. [Market Watch – 01/07/2014]

West African mining company uses satellite/cellular terminals to track mine vehicles where no other means of communications are available. [Directions Magazine – 01/07/2014]

ISRO completes successful GSLV D5 launch of GSAT 14 satellite. [Via Satellite – 01/06/2014]

Thales Alenia Space awarded Astrium contract for Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (ME). [Via Satellite – 01/06/2014]

France-UAE satellite deal shaky after U.S. spy tech discovered onboard. [RT – 01/06/2014]

Navman Wireless adds satellite communications option to its OnlineAVL2 fleet tracking platform.
[Construction Equipment Guide – 01/04/2014]

Inmarsat PLC completes acquisition of Globe Wireless.
[The Wall Street Journal – 01/03/2014]

European Space Agency says that by late 2015 it will reduce its annual space station operating costs by 30% compared with 2010.
[Space News – 01/03/2014]

Mexican Oil and Gas reform opens up satellite opportunity for Jaba satellite engineering.
[Via Satellite – 01/03/2014]

Liberty Media reaches for control of SiriusXM satellite radio.
[LA Times – 01/03/2014]

Bolivian state-owned telecommunications company Entel establishes contact with the country’s first communications satellite, Tupac Katari, orbited in December.
[Hispanically Speaking News – 01/03/2014]

Eutelsat closes transaction to acquire 100% of share capital of SATMEX.
[The Wall Street Journal – 01/02/2014]

SpaceX delays launch of Thaicom-6 by at least 3 days to allow launch team to resolve issue with Falcon-9 v1.1 rocket’s fairing.
[SatNews – 01/02/2014]

Spacecom’s Amos 4 satellite concludes testing, prepares to enter commercial service.
[Via Satellite – 01/02/2014]

New Soyuz 2.1v rocket completes first successful launch, carry8ing an AIST student built microsatellite and two SKRL 756 radar calibration spheres for the Russian Ministry of Defense into orbit.
[Via Satellite – 01/02/2014]

Airbus Defence and Space, formerly named Astrium, congratulates SpaceX for retaining focus on cost efficiency without veering off into fascinating but unnecessary engineering challenges.
[Space News – 01/02/2014]

Entropic Communications gets patent for “Method and Apparatus for Cross Polarization and Cross Satellite Interference Cancellation.”
[4-Traders – 01/02/2014]

U.S. Air Force targets 2016 for CHIRP follow-on.
[Space News – 01/02/2014]

Given the seriousness of the space debris problem, the Secure World Foundation discusses the need for space situation awareness among satellite operators.
[Via Satellite – 12/31/2013]

China puts into service its high-definition Earth observation satellite Gaofen 1.
[Via Satellite – 12/31/2013]

UAE announces plans to launch first domestically-built satellite in 2017.
[Via Satellite – 12/31/2013]

Joint mission with India considered as NASA looks for savings in Earth science missions.
[Space News – 12/31/2013]

Energia completes full cycle of ground tests on Earth Observation Satellite EgyptSat 2, to be launched in April 2014.
[Via Satellite – 12/31/2013]

UK to invest approximately $7.6 million in space weather forecasting system to protect technology from solar activity.
[Via Satellite – 12/30/2013]

China says it will have 30 satellites in its Beidou navigation system by 2020 to improve accuracy to within inches to better compete with the U.S. GPS.
[GPS Daily – 12/30/2013]

Gazprom Space Systems’ board of directors unanimously approves several long-term company goals for development until 2020. including continued construction and sustainment of fleet of Yamal satellites..
[Via Satellite – 12/30/2013]

Newsat gets Malaysian satellite regulator’s confirmation with respect to the use of the orbital slot 91.5 degrees East for the Jabiru-1 satellite.
[4-Traders – 12/30/2014]

New report published by Reportbuyer.com, “Global Fixed Satellite Service Market 2012 – 2016,” forecasts the market to grow at a CAGR of 5.44% over the period.
[Yahoo Finance – 12/30/2013]

Lockheed gets $116 million for AEHF launch support.
[Space News – 12/31/2013]

House Energy and Commerce Committee announces plans to use 2014 to begin process leading to an update of the Communications Act for the digital age.
[The Washington Times – 12/29/2013]

New law precludes Russian satellite monitor stations in U.S. unless Secretary of Defense and Director of National Intelligence certify they will not be used to spy.
[New york Times – 12/29/2013]

Euroconsult believes High Throughput Satellite (HTS) services are poised for record-breaking growth, with 33 HTS systems to be launched over the next three years (31 have been launched over past decade).
[Via Satellite – 12/27/2013]

Skybox Imaging releases first high resolution HD video images from SkySat 1.
[Via Satellite – 12/27/2013]

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Russian Proton-M rocket puts Russian government communications satellite Express-AM5 into orbit.
[Space Fellowship – 12/27/2013]

U.S. Air Force selects Raytheon’s high-bandwidth AEHF satellite terminal for secure, protected communications to aircrews during nuclear and non-nuclear missions.
[Yahoo Finance – 12/27/2013]

Global VSAT Forum (GVF) emphasizes importance of blanket licensing for countries to ensure the coexistence of satellite in the marketplace, and help developing countries attract foreign investment.
[Via Satellite – 12/26/203]

NASA’s 30-day Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD), with record-breaking data download and upload speeds, showed the system could operate as well as any NASA radio system.
[R&D Magazine – 12/26/2013]

Three Russian military satellites launched December 25 reach their target orbit.
[Space News – 12/26/2013]

Russia and Kazakhstan agree on three-year Baikonur roadmap.
[Space Daily – 12/26/2013]

ISRO targets January 5th launch window for GSAT 14 satellite.
[Via Satellite – 12/26/2013]

Set to launch in February, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite will gather data that can help with efforts to monitor the effects of global warming on precipitation.
[The Christian Science Monitor – 12/26/2013]

Azerbaijan’s first telecom satellite reaches $10 million in revenue for 2013, with more than 50% of payload sold.
[Via Satellite – 12/26/2013]

U.S. federal court grants in part and denies in part a motion by Boeing to dismiss counterclaims filed by Russian space giant Energia in Boeing’s lawsuit against the Russian company.
[Space News – 12/26/2013]

National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) purchases assets of the Satellite Communications Conference and Expo (SATCON) as well as Content and Communications World (CCW) from JD Events.
[SatNews – 12/26/2013]

NASA selects United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas 5 to launch planned 2016 Mars mission.
[Via Satellite – 12/24/2013]

Congress says Russia must use U.S. citizens to manage construction, operation, and maintenance of any satellite monitoring ground stations it builds in the U.S.
[NextGov – 12/23/2013]

Emerging data-coding technology could more than double bandwidth on satellite Internet connections, boosting service to developing countries, planes, and cruise ships and fixing jerky live video news feeds.
[MIT Technology Review – 12/23/2013]

Green satellite propulsion nears industry breakthrough with development of competitive propellant called Hydroxyl Ammonium Nitrate (HAN) fuel/oxidizer blend, or AF-M315E.
[Via Satellite – 12/23/2013]

U.S. Air Force considering whether Falcon 9 v1.1 maiden launch will count toward certification qualifying the company to launch national security assets.
[Space News – 12/23/2013]

Panasonic and China Telecom partner to offer in-flight internet.
[telecompaper – 12/23/2013]

Chinese rocket launches Bolivia’s first telecommunications satellite, with the president of Bolivia, who traveled to China for the launch, declaring it a success.
[7 News – 12/21/2013]

SpaceX had edge in competition to lease NASA pad in Florida because of its firm backlog.
[Space News – 12/20/2013]

Alcatel-Lucent to sell U.S. satellite unit LGS for $200 million.
[Bloomberg Business Week – 12/20/2013]

XTAR wins $5.6 million renewal of U.S. Army satellite telecom contract.
[Space News -12/20/2013]

Turksat and Eutelsat announce an agreement whereby Eutelsat will redeploy its EUTELSAT 33A satellite in May 2014 from 33 degrees East to 31 degrees East, where it will be operated by Turksat under its satellite network filings.
[SatNews – 12/20/2013]

Europe launches star-surveying satellite Gaia, in mission to map 1 billion stars.
[R&D Magazine – 12/19/2013]

ViaSat demonstrates full mesh MF-TDMA DAMA multi spot beam networking over the WGS satellite network for the U.S. Army.
[Via Satellite – 12/19/2013]

SSL celebrates 50th satellite built for Intelsat, and CEO discusses future satellite opportunities for the company.
[Via Satellite – 12/19/2013]

Inmarsat signs Astrium services as Global Xpress distributor.
[Space News – 12/19/2013]

Gilat to connect remote areas near the Amazon river in Peru to enable Internet and telephone services for 70 communities in the Loreto region.
[Via Satellite – 12/19/2013]

Aeromexico to install Gogo Vision on at least 75 aircraft.
[Via Satellite – 12/19/2013]

Top 10 quotes from January issue of Via Satellite, as the magazine celebrates the winners of the first edition of the Via SAtellite Excellence Awards.
[Via Satellite – 12/18/2013]

SES, SpeedCast and AsiaSat donate satellite capacity and ground infrastructure services to Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan.
[Wall Street Journal – 12/18/2013]

Surrey Satellite Technology to develop interplanetary communications system between Mars and Earth for Mars One.
[getSurrey – 12/18/2013]

Military communication improved as 6th Boeing-built Wideband Satellite enters service.
[Space Daily – 12/18/2013]

Geoforce GT1 satellite GPS tracker becomes world’s first to receive IECEx/ATEX Zone 0 certification, the highest satellite tracking device safety rating.
[Via Satellite – 12/18/2013]

Comtech EF Data demonstrates 10% roll off functionality for DM240XR video broadcast modulator.
[Via Satellite – 12/18/2013]

Brazil and China to launch new joint environmental monitoring satellite in 2014. [Phys.org – 12/17/2013]

Arianespace orders two Vega launchers for unidentified commercial customer for launches in 2017 and 2018.
[Space News – 12/17/2013]

45th Space Wing provided vast network of radar, telemetry, optical and communications instrumentation to support successful launch by Space X of the SES-8 satellite.
[Aurora Sentinel – 12/17/2013]

Inmarsat acquires U.S. maritime service provider Globe Wireless in bid to transform its 6,000 ship customer base into future Inmarsat Global Xpress broadband users.
[Space News – 12/17/2013]

New Zealand plans to enhance naval communications capabilities, procuring ground infrastructure to operate on the WGS satellite network.
[IHS Jane’s 360 – 12/17/2013]

ISS Astronauts undertake massive repair job that could stretch to Christmas day, with series of spacewalks.
[R&D Magazine – 102/17/2013]

Kymeta successfully tests flat panel Ka-band antenna on Anik F2 and moves toward product development.
[Via Satellite – 12/17/2013]

ViaSat Exede Evolution is first satellite internet plan to offer unlimited, full-speed access for web pages and email.
[Yahoo Finance – 12/17/2013]

Exelis to use ENVI software for Skybox imaging data analysis, supporting data analysis of images from SkySat 1, the first in a planned constellation of 24 satellites from Skybox Imaging.
[Via Satellite – 12/17/2013]

Astrium and GeoNorth sign multi-satellite receiving station agreement, working together to build the first multi-mission Direct Receiving Station (DRS).
[Via Satellite – 12/17/2013]

Astrium signs agreement to provide 18 additional Ariane 5 ECA launchers to Arianespace.
[Via Satellite – 12/16/2013]

SSL is selected to build new replacement satellite for AsiaSat, AsiaSat 9.
[Via Satellite – 12/16/2013]

U.S. Air Force awards Lockheed Martin more than $200 million in contract options to complete production of its fifth and sixth next-generation Global Positioning System satellites, known as GPS 3.
[Via Satellite – 12/16/2013]

Avanti Communications takes over ownership of the ARTEMIS satellite.
[IFA Magazine – 12/16/2013]

Arianespace to launch SGDC satellite for Brazil in 2016.
[Via Satellite – 12/06/2013]

GATR terminals among first high-bandwidth satellite communications terminals deployed in key areas of Phillipines after typhoon.
[SatNews – 12/16/2013]

Boats and aircraft passing through Andaman Sea region warned to watch out for falling parts of India’s GSLV-D5-II satellite launch vehicle.
[Asia One – 12/14/2013]

Research and Markets adds “Global Satellite Communication Market in the Oil and Gas Industry 2014 – 2018″ to their offering; number of UDW rigs expected to reach 220 – 230 units by 2018.
[Satellite Spotlight – 12/13/2013]

Sea Launch plans to focus on the heavy lift launch market, focusing on its strength to stay afloat as SpaceX enters its waters with a successful launch of SES-8.
[Via Satellite – 12/13/2013]

Lockheed Martin to re-enter the commercial satellite business, building and launching satellites.
[Via Satellite magazine January 2014]

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NASA negotiating pad lease with SpaceX after GAO rejects Blue Origin protest.
[Space News – 12/13/2013]

Brazil selects Thales to play a key role in its space development plans as it establishes SGDC Government Communications Satellite System.
[Defense World – 12/13/2013]

Arianespace and Visiona Tecnologia Espacial S.A. sign launch contract for the next Brazilian government satellite, the Geostationary Defense and Strategic Communications Satellite (SGDC).
[SatNews – 12/13/2013]

Mexican government to award licenses for two orbital slots in Ku- and extended C-band frequencies at two orbital positions it has long held.
[Space News – 12/13/2013]

The sixth WGS satellite, funded by Australia, enters service.
[Via Satellite – 12/13/2013]

China’s first lunar rover to land on moon December 14.
[Space Daily – 12/13/2013]

Comtech reports increased commercial orders and expects downward revenue spiral following loss of Army contract and U.S..budget freeze to end this year.
[Space News – 12/13/2013]

EchoStar Corp. and Vivendi end talks on a joint venture to develop a pay-television service in Brazil using EchoStar’s orbital slot at 45 degrees west longitude.
[Space News – 12/13/2013]

New, low-cost cubesat mission led by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory will demonstrate technology needed to measure the absolute imbalance in the Earth’s radiation budget for the first time.
[Space Daily – 12/13/2013]

Federal budget crunch leads U.S. Air Force to decommission an experimental missile warning sensor hosted aboard a commercial satellite after 27 months on orbit.
[Space News – 12/12/2013]

Russian official plays down concerns on the future of Proton launches from Baikonur, saying that during a recent meeting with Kazakhstan’s president “we came to a mutual understanding about resuming Proton launches from Baikonur.”
[Space Travel – 12/12/2013]

Northrup Grumman re-purposes satellite communications system normally used in space as high-functioning low cost system for aircraft in one year.
[msn money – 12/12/2013]

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (Melco) to build Japan’s GOSAT-2 environmental satellite.
[Space News – 12/12/2013]

Research and Markets announces addition of “2013 Report on the US Machine-to-Machine Communications Market – Includes Forecasts to 2018″ report to their offering.
[Satellite Spotlight – 12/12/2013]

Team of researchers, mainly Valencian, win contract with ESA to conduct research on use of new materials for reduction of the Multipactor effect in effort to improve space communications systems in ESA’s satellites.
[Product Design and Development – 12/12/2013]

British government deepens ties to China’s space sector with bilateral agreements on future joint projects and a fund to promote British industry’s search for a foothold in China.
[Space News – 12/12/2013]

Spacecom mulls over possible sale or merger.
[Globes – 12/12/2013]

Telespazio recently linked-up with Eutelsat to market broadband services using its Ka-Sat satellite and hopes satellite broadband can make a big impact in Italy, as well as other countries in Europe.
[Via Satellite – 12/12/2013]

ATK and Hughes successfully demonstrate LEO-based weather sensing technology to US Air Force.
[Via Satellite – 12/12/2013]

Avanti secures deal to connect libraries in South Africa.
[Via Satellite – 12/11/2013]

Contribution & Occasional Use TV Markets to Require over 700 Transponders and 1.4 Gbps of HTS Capacity by 2022.
{NSR – 12/11/2013]

NSR’s new report “Land Mobile and Handheld Satellite Markets” points out that traditional growth in this part of the satellite communications market accounted for 97% of global revenues in 2012; is expected to drop to 82% by 2022; growth in the consumer market is making significant impact.
[Via Satellite – 12/11/2013]

KVH is chosen by BW, a worldwide leader in maritime energy transportation, as the satellite communications solution for its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) fleet.
[Wall Street Journal – 12/11/20103]

NIGCOMSAT decries annual capital flight due to unchecked penchant of Nigerian organisations to purchase bandwidth from abroad.
[National Mirror – 12/11/2013]

Chinese-Brazilian satellite launched by China Monday failed to reach planned orbit and likely fell back to Earth.
[msn news – 12/10/2013]

Obama administration reviews Russian proposals for satellite monitoring stations on U.S. soil.
[Nextgov – 12/10/2013]

Lt. Gen Ellen Pawlikowski says USAF needs innovative approaches to procuring satellite capacity; tells interviewer “A different strategy would be for us to go out and leverage the bargain basement aspects of the (commercial) satcom business.”
[National Defense – 12/10/2013]

6-year-old donates life savings and starts on-line petition to save NASA.
[Nextgov – 12/10/2013]

Russian DTH provider Tricolor discusses satellite capacity demands.
[Via Satellite – 12/10/2013]

Private Mars One venture engages Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology to work on hardware concepts for robotic Mars mission.
[nbc news – 12/10/2013]

200,000 people apply to live on Mars.
[CNN – 12/10/2013]

SkyWave and Garmin solution enables integrated vehicle tracking, navigation, driver communication and dispatch capabilities regardless of cellular service availability.
[Satellite Spotlight – 12/10/2013]

Honeywell and Inmarsat advance global wireless in-flight connectivity program.
[Via Satellite – 12/10/2013]

Globecast, Measat and Mezzo partner to bring new HD channel to Asia-Pacific region.
[Via Satellite – 12/10/2013]

NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite arrives at Kennedy Space Center.
[Yahoo News – 12/09/2013]

SSL delivers ABS-2 satellite to launch base in Kourou.
[Yahoo Finance – 12/09/2013]

Spacecom has kept all five of its satellites working at close to full capacity from DTH operators, TV channels, and North American agencies, and ultimately hopes to use its brand of Amos satellites to become a global operator.
[Via Satellite – 12/10/2013]

Recent Gooch & Housego acquisition Constelex Technology Enablers announced its participation in new European Union R&D projects and European Space Agency (ESA) space photonics contracts.
[LaserFocusWorld – 12/09/2013]

First Global Xpress®Satellite Launch and 7th ILS Proton Launch of 2013, Inmarsat-5 goes into orbit.
[Hispanic Business – 12/08/2013]

[MarketResearchReports.biz announces addition of new report “Global Satellite Communication Market in the Oil and Gas Industry 204 – 2018” to its database.
[WatchList News – 12/08/2013]

December 2013 issue of the Satellite Executive Briefing Features: Europe Gets Universal Broadband Coverage by Elisabeth Tweedie DTH Services Boost the Asia-Pacific Market by Peter Galace The Importance of Latency in the Mobile Market by Virgil Labrador Enterprise-Class HTS Servicees by Martin Jarrold
[Satellite Markets & Research – December 2013]

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Today’s launch of SES-8 into GTO made many rocket scientists very happy. Obviously, those who’ve worked at SpaceX for years are ecstatic. The entire launch vehicle community is happy for their success, as are those living on Florida’s Space Coast, who are expecting economic growth again.

The engineers who work on commercial satcom missions are happy to be back at the The Cape for launches. Let’s face it: compared to Kazakhstan or French Guiana, Florida is a better place for launches.

From a business perspective, satcom operators now have more options when it comes to launch vehicles. And with the SpaceX manifest of 50 launches, it seems this “crazy space business” is about to start making money.

We wish SpaceX and their commercial customers continuous success!

Here’s the full launch video…

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

NBC Universal will broadcast the first Virgin Galactic flight live.

The Today show will be seen by millions and get incredible ratings. Hopefully, the first flight will be during sweeps.

For years, Internet by satellite was deemed “acceptable” by those who couldn’t get broadband by other means. Satellite operators have known for 20+ years that Ka-band was good for data, but nobody had the balls to really make a financial and operational commitment toward achieving commercial and/or technical success. Hughes, Starband, Wildblue and a host of 2nd and 3rd tier resellers tried to make a go of it, but nobody could get the cost of satellite bandwidth down to a workable level.

When satellite operators are getting 80% EBITDA margins from video distribution, why bother?

ViaSat set out to change perceptions by working the technology to make it work. They’re winning.

Mark Fidelman put together a solid piece in Forbes last week that should have been written 15 years ago — if big satcom walked the talk back then. He sat down with ViaSat CEO Dankberg and got into the details:

Most people would assume that the bandwidth issues will forever limit the size of the satellite communications market, but I’d hold off on that assumption. Dankberg explained that current satellite systems are manufactured by different vendors that build to the lowest common technical denominator. The three primary components, the satellite, the ground systems and the satellite communications service providers are all different vendors with different priorities. Which means that the entire communication system is not optimized. These systems are like a large truck with a lawn mower engine meant for a race car driver.

“So what we’ve done is developed all three of those areas. We build the ground system, we design the satellites and we operate them, so we know what we need,” Dankberg explained, “Since we are the architect of all three, we can completely integrate and optimize the system.”

Dankberg told me that ViaSat-1 used existing space components, and sub-systems, but that ViaSat-2 will have a better design and thus optimized architecture. He believes it will be twice as fast as ViaSat-1 which means it will provide even greater competition with high speed cable and DSL providers.

That means anyone anywhere could have their own high speed communications antenna. Essentially filling the gaps that current providers can’t fill due to regulatory or terrestrial issues. Yes satellite communication technology still operates on higher frequencies which don’t propagate walls very well. But Dankberg says in those situations antennas on cars, busses, trains, homes and commercial buildings will convert the signal to lower frequency Wi-Fi which is better able to penetrate the interiors of buildings.

Has anyone noticed that when you need higher bandwidth the most, it never seems to be available? I’m thinking about those situations where streaming video, uploading and downloading media are essential but are slow due to network congestion. Dankberg’s solution was to develop a type of artificial intelligence: “One of the things we did to make our network faster is develop software to figure out what you are doing, and deliver it faster that you otherwise would get -because we can anticipate what you’re going to do,” Dankberg said.

Satellite’s gotten such a bad rap that Exede partner Dish Network barely mentions the word on its website. And not at all in TV spots…

Mark Dankberg and his team are real innovators and us rocket scientists are glad to see this part of his business meet real success.

We’ve been fans of DLR’s Heavens Above site for years, a site that predicts when orbiting spacecraft are expected to be seen from Earth. Iridium flares are especially fun to predict to impress your friends.

Now we have s spacecraft prediction app of a more topical “spying” nature: SpyMeSat, a $2 app that predicts flyovers by observation satellites. Via SlashGear…

SpyMeSat was created by Orbit Logic, Inc., which specializes in supplying software to the aerospace and intelligence communities. The app, which was released last week, gets its data from organizations like NORAD, but it doesn’t use any classified information. In other words, any terrorists or human rights abusers looking to hide from satellites already can access the info through other data sources. The app’s chief purpose is to gather all that data into one cheap app.

“We were careful to only include satellites that are unclassified and whose orbits are published by NORAD,” Orbit Logic president Alex Herz said. “Even the sensor data — resolution, etc. — was taken only from the websites published by the satellite operators. So everything SpyMeSat is using is open and public.”

The app is accurate to 16 meters. You can set SpyMeSat to give you alerts for any location, track satellites even when they’re not overhead, call up resolution specs for each model, and learn about their various on-board sensors. Satellite models in the database are owned and operated by either public or private bodies, including the GeoEye, France’s SPOT-5, India’s CartoSat-2A, DigitalGlobe WorldView, and RADARSAT-2 of Canada.

It may save you some embarrassment.