Archive for December, 2012

Smartphone Security Checker

Saturday, December 29th, 2012

Max, is that you?

If you have a smartphone, it’s time you take your security more seriously. Use the FCC’s new tool.

Suzanne Choney sums it up nicely via NBC News

Among the steps you can take by using the checker:

  • Set PINs and passwords.
  • Download security apps to enable remote locating and data wiping.
  • Back up the data on your phone if it’s lost or stolen.
  • Wipe the data on your old phone before donating, reselling or recycling it.
  • Learn to safely use public Wi-Fi networks.
  • Find out what you need to do if your phone is stolen.

The FCC worked together with the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Trade Commission, CTIA wireless trade organization, National Cyber Security Alliance and mobile security companies Lookout, Sophos and others to develop the checklist.

WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits 12/28/2012

Saturday, December 29th, 2012

India plans to double on-orbit transponders by 2017 under five-year government investment program.
[Space News – 12/28/2012]

South Korea recovers what it believes to be debris from the North Korean rocket launched this month.
[Space Travel – 12/28/2012]

SpaceX’s 10 story Grasshopper rocket ascends to 40 meters and hovers in 3rd test flight.
[Space News – 12/28/2012]

Russia embarks on 2.1 trillion rubles (about $70 billion) 7-year state program for development of national space industry.
[Space Daily – 12/28/2012]

Iran Space Agency announces it will unveil new home-made satellite in February.
[Space News – 12/27/2012]

Orbcomm enters into a launch agreement with SpaceX to launch up to 18 Orbcomm second-generation commercial communications satellites.
[Satellite Today – 12/27/2012]

Chinese offers services on Beidou satellite navigations network to users in Asia-Pacific region, in competition with America’s Global Positioning System.
[Space News – 12/27/2012]

U.S. Air Force selects AGI and A.I. Solutions to support Pentagon Space Ops Center upgrade.
[Space News – 12/27/2012]

Angosat, the first satellite for the nation of Angola, is being built by a Russian consortium.
[Satellite Today – 12/26/2012]

NASA’s newest Landsat satellite arrives at Vandenberg AFB in preparation for January launch.
[Space News – 12/26/2012]

U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center releases request for proposal intended to move Space Fence program forward.
[Space Daily – 12/24/2012]

Maldives communications minister claims the country is potentially entitled to an orbital slot, and that two Chinese companies approached the country’s defence minister about launching a satellite during his recent visit to China.
[Minivan News – 12/23/2012]

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WBMSAT Satelite Industry News Bits 12/21/2012

Friday, December 21st, 2012

U.S. Navy to install Raytheon Company’s Navy Multiband Terminal on over 300 ships.
[Satellite Spotlight – 12/21/2012]

Telefonica will use Eutelsat’s high-performance KA-SAT to provide satellite Internet connectivity across Europe.
[msn money – 12/21/2012]

Globalstar’s common stock to be delisted by NASDAQ.
[Satellite Today – 12/20/2012]

British-made military satellite with ‘anti-jamming’ capability is orbited.
[Yahoo News UK & Ireland – 12/20/2012]

ViaSat receives $52 million contract from unnamed U.S. government agency to provide broadband services via satellite to government aircraft.
[North County Times – 12/20/2012]

China Mobile Satellite Communications Group and Thuraya Telecommunications announce successful launch of a new business focusing on mobile satellite phones. [People’s Daily Online – 12/20/2012]

UK-based GVF adds three authorized test entities in three major regions, doubling the size of the industry network of authorized test entities to provide type-approved equipment for the satellite industry.
[Broadcast Engineering – 12/20/2012]

Mexsat Bicentenario satellite sends first signals from space.
[Satellite Today – 12/20/2012]

Gilat will begin supplying satellite-based communications solutions for all Israeli governmental offices and defense organizations.
[Israel Defense – 12/20/2012]

Kratos gets $17.5 million U.S.A.F. contract for Command and Control System for current and future military communication satellites.
[Street Insider – 12/20/2012]

Export-Import Bank of Chine to provide Belarus with $280.8 million load for development of national communication and broadcasting satellite service.
[Belarusian Telegraph Agency – 12/20/2012]

Airtel and Comtech EF Data get award for Best Backhaul Solution for Africa at 5th annual AfricaCom Awards ceremony.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 12/20/2012]

Racking up over 100 million flight hours in more than 40 years, Honeywell Reaction Wheel Assemblies have never caused a satellite to fail or abort a mission. [Satellite Evolution Group – 12/20/2012]

Astronomers using Europe’s Herschel Space Observatory ask public for help in finding holes in the dust clouds throughout the galaxy using images from Herschel.
[SatNews – 12/20/2012]

GoGo, a leader in in-flight connectivity, signs major satellite capacity deal with SES. [Satellite Evolution Group – 12/20/2012]

Map of Earth at night published by NASA two weeks ago showed large number of lights in uninhabited areas of Western Australia that turned out to be lightning and wildfires.
[SatNews – 12/20/2012]

U.S. House and Senate agree on satellite export reform legislation.
[Space Policy Online – 12/19/2012]

Ariane 5 completes it’s 67th launch, the 7th and final of 2012, accurately delivering Skynet-5D and Mexsat Bicentenario into their respective orbits.
[European Space Agency – 12/19/2012]

Independent Oversight Board formed to investigate solar array deployment anomaly following launch of Intelsat 19 exonerates Sea Launch rocket in the incident.
[Satellite Today – 12/19/2012]

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two completes first test glide flight with rocket motor components installed and thermal protection applied to its leading edges.
[SatNews – 12/19/2012]

United Space Alliance closes its Washington lobbying operation.
[Space News – 12/19/2012]

SES announces that it is the first satellite operator to offer satellite broadband service with download speeds up to 20Mbit/s for consumers in France.
[SatNews – 12/19/2012]

NASA’s next-generation communications satellite, TDRS-K, arrives at Kennedy Space Center in preparation for January 29, 2013 launch.
[Bloomberg – 12/18/2012]

XTAR retools and reconfigures infrastructure to provide new potential for its X-band bandwidth, including Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (AISR).
[Satellite Today – 12/18/2012]

Eutelsat 21B fully enters commercial service at 21.5 degrees East.
[Satellite Today – 12/18/2012]

Member of European Space Agency officially approve cooperation between ESA and Roscosmos on European Mars exploration ExoMars, led by Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor.
[SatNews – 12/17/2012]

Thuraya Telecommunications combines with Japan’s SoftBank Mobile to provide Japanese business, enterprise, and consumer subscribers across Thuraya’s satellite network with mobile satellite communication services.
[Satellite Today – 12/17/2012]

NASA’s Commercial Drew Program selects Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser Space System Program to receive a Certification Products Contract, a first step to enabling International Space Station transportation services and provide government certification of its commercial crew orbital transportation system. [SatNews – 12/17/2012]

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WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits 12/14/2012

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Following highly successful GVF Ka Roundtable Assembly in London December 5th and 6th, the satellite industry calls for a further platform to facilitate extended industry and end-user dialogue about high capacity and high throughput satellites.
[SatNews – 12/14/2012]

Competition from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) presents challenges for Earth Observation (EO) satellite operators – new NSR report.
[SatNews – 12/14/2012]

New mobile app Arianespace HD allows users to follow Arianespace launch activities.
[SatNews – 12/14/2012]

ESA to inaugurate the third and last of its 35-meter-diameter deep-space tracking antennas in Argentina, matching those in Australia and Spain.
[Space News – 12/14/2012]

NASA’s Ebb and Flow twin moon observation spacecraft to crash into moon next week after successful 1-year mission.
[R&D MagazIne – 12/13/2012]

Without information from polar-orbiting satellites, NOAA forecasts of Hurricane Sandy’s track could have shown the storm remaining at sea according to new study by European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
[SatNews – 12/13/2012]

Raytheon to design small satellites for DARPA’s SeeMe program, to enhance warfighter situational awareness on the battlefield.
[Satellite Today – 12/13/2012]

MDA signs $100 million contract with Israel Aerospace Industries to supply communications payload solution for Amos-6 satellite.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 12/13/2012]

NSR report answers key questions concerning the satellite UltraHD market.
[SatNews – 12/13/2012]

TCS ranked 380 among 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 12/13/2012]

Astrotech Corporation wins contract for commercial payload processing services at Vandenberg Air Force Base from NASA.
[SatNews – 12/13/2012]

Hughes India contracts to connect 27,000 off-s8ite ATMs with secure broadband satellite network for India’s Ministry of Finance.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 12/13/2012]

Satcom Direct launches FlightDeck 360 mobile application enabling customers to view real-time flight data and use Internet connection before and during flight using an iPad.
[SatNews – 12/13/2012]

Intelsat donates satellite capacity to support broadcast of Hurricane Sandy relief concert.
[Satellite Evolution Group – 12/13/2012]

NASA Earth Observation satellite EO-1 photographs Russian volcano eruption.
[UPI – 12/13/2012]

SolarCity, solar energy company backed by SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk, issues IPO and shares jump 47%.
[USA Todayu – 12/13/2012]

Top-secret mini version of space shuttle launched on mystery mission.
[R&D Magazine – 12/12/2012]

U.S. wants new sanctions for North Korea after successful rocket launch.
[CNN – 12/12/2012]

DISH gets FCC approval to repurpose satellite spectrum for mobile use.
[Telegeography – 12/12/2012]

NewSat to install new iDirect Evolution universal satellite hub and upgrade to iDirect’s SatManage 5.2 network management software to expand service offerings and capitalize on upcoming launch of Jabiru-1 high throughput satellite (HTS).
[SatNews – 12/12/2012]

MapBox, a provider of open source solutions for designing and publishing maps via the cloud, selects DigitalGlobe as their commercial Earth imagery provider.
[SatNews – 12/12/2012]

XTAR gains significant segment of growing airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance market over past year under several contracts representing more than 100MHz of bandwidth and valued at more than $8 million.
[SatNews – 12/12/2012]

Gazprom’s Yamal-402 finally reaches correct orbit after course corrections forced by early shutoff of Breeze M engine.
[Satellite Today – 12/11/2012]

NASA suggests use of Velcro could help facilitate in-orbit repair of satellites.
[Nextgov – 12/10/2012]

Six Globalstar satellites scheduled for February 2013 launch are now at Baikonur Cosmodrome.
[SatNews – 12/10/2012]

Turkey announces December 19 launch date for its first National Earth Observation Satellite, Gokturk-2, from Chinese Jiuquan Base.
[Satellite Today – 12/10/2012]

Russian Yamal-402 satellite released early from Briz-M booster into wrong orbit.
[Space Travel – 12/09/2012]

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Big Bang Monday: Shot Through The Heart

Monday, December 10th, 2012

Just in time for the 12-12-12 Concert to benefit Sandy victims, Phil Plait’s piece in Slate suggests the Bon Jovi song…

Oh!
Shot through the heart
And you’re to blame
You give love a bad name
I play my part and you play your game
You give love a bad name (bad name)

Just watch the video from the Hubble folks…


WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits 12/07/2012

Friday, December 7th, 2012

Golden Spike Co., launched by team of former NASA executives, to sell trips to the moon for two for $1.5 billion.
[R&D Magazine – 12/07/2012]

Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security satellite system gets re-inserted  into the European Union’s multiannual financial framework, but faces a 35% cut to its seven-year budget.
[Space News – 12/07/2012]

Europe decides to offer Galileo’s Public Regulated Service signal to non-European allies that sign security agreements.
[Space News – 12/07/2012]

Thales Alenia Space Italy signs contract with Astrium GmbH of Germany to provide systems for Europe’s BepiColombo Mercury orbiter.
[Space News – 12/07/2012]

Infrared sensor manufacturer Sofradir to purchase infrared divisions of its two parent companies, Thales and Sagem.
[Space News – 12/07/2012]

ScanEx Research and Development Center signs distribution agreement with Astrium GEO Information Services for selling data from Pleiades-1B and TerraSAR-X satellites.
[SatNews – 12/07/2012]

Boeing orders batteries from Saft of Paris for first batch of Boeing 702SP all-electric satellites.
[Space News – 12/07/2012]

U.S. Pacific Command moves ships into place to monitor possible North Korean rocket launch, professed by the North Koreans to be a satellite launch, but viewed by U.S. as demonstrating capability to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles.
[SatNews – 12/06/2012]

Thales Alenia Space gets Russian Yamal 402 satellite ready for December 8 launch.
SatNews – 12/06/2012]

South Africa discussing design of new satellite to replace  Sumbandila, incorporating lessons learned from Sumbandia’s failure after two years due to severe radiation.
[SatNews – 12/06/2012]

Hong Kong based SpeedCast acquires Australian Satellite Communications.
[ARN – 12/06/2012]

Haivision gets International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2008 and ISO 13485:2003 certification for the management system governing the design, development, manufacturing, support, and lifecycle of its products
[SatNews – 12/06/2012]

ViaSat successfully implements Integrated Waveform Network Control Station for the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense, to effeicently mange its UHF SATCOM assets.
[SatNews – 12/06/2012]

As North American DTH growth stagnates, DirecTV focuses on Latin American while Dish Network looks to leverage its recent wireless spectrum acquisitions.
[SatNews – 12/06/2012]

NASA/NOAA satellite captures the night-lights across the USA. [SatNews – 12/06/2012]

The third Galileo satellite transmits its first test navigation signals back to Earth.
[Satellite Today – 12/05/2012]

U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awards SpaceX two Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle class missions.
[SatNews – 12/05/2012]

Globalstar satellite affected by momentum wheel failure in early 2011 is returned to service following software fix.
[Market Watch – 12/05/2012]

Xiplink signs reseller deal with Globecomm; initial deployment will provide optimized Internet access for crew welfare on maritime vessels.
[Satellite Today – 12/05/2012]

Eutelsat 70B successfully boosted into orbit by Sea Launch.
[betanews – 12/04/2012]

GPS receiver built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited successfully achieves a GPS position fix at 23,300 km altitude – the first position fix above the GPS constellation on a civilian satellite.
[SatNews – 12/03/2012]

Globecomm reaches milestone, providing connectivity services to 3,500 ships globally.
[SatNews – 12/03/2012]

Gulfsat Madagascar signs long-term capacity deal with O3b to deliver high-speed satellite broadband across Madagascar.
Financial Post – 12/03/2012]

KVH implements technical changes resulting in 60 percent increase in satellite capacity of its mini-VSAT network in Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa (EMEA).
[SatNews – 12/03/2012]

Full electric propulsion satellite target of SES and ESA partnership.
[Business Wire – 11/30/2012]

Virus hijacks data on newest Japanese rockets from Japan’s space agency.
[the New York Times – 11/30/2012]

Video – O3b nears launch, infrastructure built, customers coming.
[O3b video]

ISR conference next April to feature key military and industry speakers.
[SMI Online]

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