Really Rocket Science

NASA awards $3 million contract to Space System/Loral to begin process of hosting a space laser communications relay demonstration terminal payload aboard a commercial satellite.
[SatNews – 04/20/2012]

ISRO plans to launch its biggest spacecraft ever, the 5,000-kg GSAT-11, by 2014.
[The Hindu Businessline – 04/20/2012]

New nanosat designed by European Satellite Agency promises new opportunities to test ground-breaking satellite software on an actual mission in space.
[Product Design & Development – 04/20/2012]

Upon receipt of an overdue payment of $56.25 million from LightSquared, Inmarsat agrees to suspend further payments until 2014, giving LightSquared some breathing room.
[Reuters – 04/20/2012]

Next-generation DVB-S2 satellite service offered out of Perth, Australia by SpeedCast in partnership with SatComms Australia, finds its first major customer in Saxon Energy Services.
[SatNews – 04/20/2012]

SES-4, launched on February 15th, the 50th and largest satellite in the fleet, is now fully operational and ready for service at orbital location of 338 degrees East.
[SatNews – 04/19/2012]

Second Advanced Extremely High Frequency communication satellite ready for launch May 3, poised to give war fighters a 10 fold increase in capacity after years of delay in the program and a glitch that almost scuttled the first AEHF satellite.
[National Defense Magazine – 04/19/2012]

Europe’s latest second-generation meteorological spacecraft, MSG-3, arrives in French Guiana to be readied for June 19 dual-payload launch on Ariane 5.
[SatNews – 04/19/2012]

The second satellite of the United Arab Emirates’ space communications program, Y1B, is ready to be launched on a Proton launcher from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on April 23.
[Defense Professionals – 04/19/2012]
Satellite Today Webcast April 23

Space Systems/Loral completes construction of Intelsat 19 ahead of schedule, and the satellite is now at the Sea Launch home port in Long Beach.
[Market Watch – 04/19/2012]

Asia Broadcast Satellite seeks $215 million loan from Export-Import Bank of the U.S. for construction of new satellites.
[Bloomberg – 04/19/2012]

Honeywell agrees to work with satellite communications company Inmarsat on providing in-flight internet connection for airline passengers.
[CBS News – 04/19/2012]

SES and Encompass Media sign capacity deal making NASA TV channels available to satellite TV providers and cable outlets throughout the U.S.
[SatNews – 04/19/2012]

Report from U.S. State and Defense Departments states that China is stealing U.S. military and civilian space technology in effort to disrupt U.S. access to intelligence, navigation and communication satellites.
[Business Week – 04/18/2012]

U.S. Defense and State Departments jointly recommend that Congress ease export controls on satellites that have become less militarily sensitive to allow American companies to better compete in the world market.
[NextGov – 04/18/2012]

FCC sets deadlines for comments on plan for flexible use of 2 GHz satellite band, moving closer to proposal that could allow Dish to launch its LTE network.
[Wireless Week – 04/18/2012]

Telesat’s Nimiq 6 satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral, arrives at Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, where it will be launched on a Proton Breeze M vehicle.
[Market Watch – 04/18/2012]

Australia’s NBN process of moving ahead with satellite construction and launch plans ahead of actual approval of the satellite slots meets with ITU requirements since the application for the slots is underway.
[PC Advisor – 04/18/2012]

Communications on four Eutelsat satellites will be used to cover the French Presidential elections.
[Market Watch – 04/18/2012]

Raytheon successfully downloads and delivers Defense Weather Satellite data via Antarctica with 50% reduction in latency.
[Market Watch – 04/18/2012]

Hughes announces the addition of Ka-band mobile satellite equipment and other communications products to its GSA schedule 70 contract.
[Market Watch – 04/18/2012]

RRSAT and THAICOM extend contract for global distribution of Vietnam Television.
[Market Watch – 04/18/2012]

Unfurlable mesh antenna reflectors aboard DoD’s recently launched MUOS satellite are successfully tested in space.
[Market Watch – 04/17/2012]

University of Navarre’s doctorate thesis describes satellite antenna array designed as a cone such that “radiation is uniformly incident on all parts of the Earth, thus avoiding some zones receiving more energy than others”.
[Basque Research – 04/17/2012]

ITT Exelis, Britain’s BAE Systems and L-3 Communications Holdings have created a joint venture to bid for a huge contract to manage and maintain the U.S. Air Force’s satellite launch and test ranges.
[Reuters – 04/17/2012]

Kratos Integral Systems International selected by Boeing to provide turnkey ground segment solution to support entire constellation of Boeing 702 and Orbital STAR2 satellites for MEXSAT.
[Market Watch – 04/17/2012]

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions subsidiary RT Logic releases CyberC4(TM), a family of cyber security products designed specifically for the satellite industry.
[Market Watch – 04/17/2012]

Military takes control of fourth WGS satellite following completion of on-orbit tests by Boeing.
[UPI – 04/16/2012]

European Space Agency struggles to restore contact with its massive 10 year old satellite Envisat, after it lost touch with Earth.
[Space – 04/16/2012]

Intelsat and PCCW Global of Hong Kong agree to interconnect their MPLS networks to expand the IntelsatONE terrestrial network.
[Market Watch – 04/16/2012]

Undisputed evidence showing ICO waived its claim for breach of a satellite contract by Boeing leads to three-judge appellate court’s reversal of a 2008 jury award to ICO against Boeing for over $600 million.
[Gulf News – 04/15/2012]

Sailors who have grown up used to instant access to friends and family by broadband and the Internet are finding themselves and their families stressed out when they go to sea and have these lines of communications restricted or severed.
[Navy Times – 04/15/2012]

Some scientists believe that a solar storm on April 5, 2010, observed by NASA satellites TWINS and IBIX, was responsible for the loss of control of Galaxy 15, which drifted out of control for almost a year before operators regained control and returned it to its assigned orbit.
[NASA – article]

WBMSAT satellite communications consulting services

Companies such as Hughes and Spacenet probably don’t have to worry about, as their future in transaction processing with VSAT technology isn’t going away. It may not be growing much, but the business is there.

Until an alternative process for secure transactions comes around. Well, here comes Verizon Private IP Wireless LTE.

A report in Computerworld puts it into the proper perspective for the satcom set:

With the new service, customers with LTE smartphones and tablets and LTE modems for their laptops can access the nearest cell tower and will then be routed to an enterprise gateway in one of many Verizon switching centers, Konings said. Data routed to and through the enterprise gateway is encoded, but not encrypted, and kept totally separate from the public Internet. Encryption of the data can be added, if desired.

At a Verizon switching center, the data then also joins Verizon’s global MPLS network, Konings said.

Verizon demonstrated ATM cash machines that are connected to its LTE network at CES in January, but the company didn’t describe its Private IP connection, which can be used to keep transactions secure and will allow a bank to move an ATM more easily to a new location.

LTE speeds, generally described by Verizon as 10 times faster than EV-DO, will also be useful for quickly activating remote digital signs and can even be used for transmitting video wirelessly, he said.

A news report with video can be transmitted over the Private IP LTE network instead of a more expensive satellite connection, he said. Also, wireless over LTE could be used as a backup network or for routing data to storage.

“With faster speeds, companies can provide many more apps [wirelessly] than before,” he said. Verizon describes its LTE speeds for consumers as averaging 10 Mbps on downlinks, with up to 2 Mbps on uplinks.

In addition to wireless data costs, the only cost to a business for Private IP over LTE is a $500 one-time charge to create a mobile private network, which can serve up to 1,000 sites, Konings said.

SNG? 1,000 data site? That’s satcom territory! This will be interesting to watch — especially when you add the satellite bandwidth used for video contribution feeds. Big business (read: satellite operators) ought to take notice.

Nice promotion by Smithsonian’s NASM: Spot the Shuttle.

Of course, there’s the official photo & video gallery.

And here’s the landing…

Lockheed Martin delivers 100th and 101st commercial geostationary communications satellites, JCSAT-13 and VINASAT-2, to French Guiana for upcoming dual launch.
[Space Ref – 04/13/2012]

Multispectral Scanner on Landsat 5 which was turned off in late 1990′s is turned on by United States Geological Service to determine the state of the sensor, and downlinked data for several successful passes.
[SatNews – 04/13/2012]

Inmarsat’s second generation Inmarsat-2 F4 satellite switched off just days short of its 20th birthday.
[SatNews – 04/13/2012]

After 10 years of service, Envisat stops sending data to Earth.
[SatNews – 04/12/2012]

North Korea rocket breaks up 90 seconds after launch.
[MSNBC – 04/12/2012]

NOAA retires GOES-7 after 25 years as weather and communications satellite.
[Environmental Protection – 04/12/2012]

Space Systems/Loral to partner with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to host laser communications relay demonstration on a commercial satellite to be launched in 2016. [Photonics – 04/12/2012]

Azerbaijan delays launch of its first national Azerspace satellite to 2013 to accommodate expanded ground system.
[Satellite Today – 04/12/2012]

Senators ask Federal Communications Commission to find alternative spectrum for LightSquared since its recent ruling effectively killed LightSquared’s plans for a national broadband network using frequencies that interfered with GPS.
[VB/Mobile – 04/11/2012]

Satellite industry predictions vary for post-budget cut in the military market.
[Via Satellite – 04/11/2012]

Surrey Satellite seeks ancillary payloads for its upcoming OTB mission in Q1 2015, offering government and commercial organizations a low-risk, cost effective opportunity for flight and operation of payloads in low Earth orbit.
[SatNews – 04/11/2012]

Boeing successfully parachute drop tests space capsule that may eventually carry passengers to International Space Station.
[Design News – 04/11/2012]

Fregat M upper stage for Starsem’s Soyuz launch of the MetOp-B weather satellite, capable of 20 restarts in flight, undergoes checkout in preparation for May 23 launch from Kazakhstan.
[SatNews – 04/11/2012]

Afghanistan seeks partner for satellite launch.
[Rapid TV News – 04/11/2012]

U.K. Government to grant nearly 7 million pounds to co-fund major new British research to develop commercial products and services using space technology and data from space-based systems.
[SatNews – 04/11/2012]

Gilat delivers satellite-based connectivity during Russian national presidential elections.
[Market Watch – 04/11/2012]

FRANSAT, SAMSUNG, and NEOTION unveil satellite receiver and DTT module that facilitate satellite reception of free Digital Terrestrial Television channels in France.
[SatNews – 04/11/2012]

RigNet deploys universal satellite hub for offshore use in Doha, Qatar, to enhance VST services for Middle East oil & gas sectors.
[Marine Link – 04/11/2012]

C-Com gets $1 million iNetVu order from un-named customer in Russia.
[Satellite Today – 04/11/2012]

Clear Channel Satellite’s XtremeSat Media receiver allows independent syndicators maintaining their own satellite links to seamslessly transition from SCPC to MCPC as their network expands.
[SatNews – 04/11/2012]

Dead Russian military satellite falls into Pacific Ocean after circling Earth for 15 years.
[Live Science – 04/10/2012]

Cobham renews bid to acquire Thrane & Thrane after purchasing 25% of the company from investors.
[Reuters – 04/10/2012]

Newtec and Yahsat demonstrate 310 Mbps transport over a 36 Mhz transponder on Yahsat’s Y1A satellite.
[SatNews – 04/10/2012]

AeroMechanical Services signs contract with unnamed Canadian charter airline to provide AFIRS system using  Iridium satellite system.
[Satellite Today – 04/10/2012]

SES announces SUPER RTL HD joins the HD+ platform in Germany as of May 1.
[SatNews – 04/10/2012]

SES negotiates with Ethiopian Ministry of Information and Communication Technology to provide satellite services to back-up the infrastructure of Ethiopia’s telecommunications provider, Ethio Telecom.
[Satellite Today – 04/10/2012]

Cisco introduces IP multiplexing technology for its Mobile Ready Net package that aims to dramatically improve the number of IP-based voice calls on a satellite link.
[Satellite Today – 04/10/2012]

Exede Newsgathering from ViaSat revolutionizes the way news is delivered and the way journalists work in the field, using high-capacity Ka-band service offering ample bandwidth for live HD video uplinks plus 2-way broadband work flow. [SatNews – 04/09/2012]

SpaceX plans to build private launch facility in Texas.
[Satellite Today – 04/09/2012]

Skyline Communications to showcase at NAB release 7 of its DataMiner multi-vendor network management platform guaranteed to interface with any product from any vendor.
[SatNews – 04/09/2012]

WBMSAT satellite communications consulting services

Arthur C. Clarke Foundation Confers Honors for Lifetime Achievement, Innovation, and Imagination to Vint Cerf, Pradman Kaul and Sir Ken Robinson.

The Arthur C. Clarke Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes “an individual, a group or an entity that exemplifies the values and accomplishments of Sir Arthur’s life. The award honors substantial and enduring contributions that relate the sciences and arts in meeting the challenges of contemporary life and the needs of tomorrow.”

The 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award winner is Vinton G. Cerf, widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet.” Cerf is the co-inventor of the architecture and the basic protocols of the Internet.

This year’s Innovator Award honoree is Pradman Kaul, President of Hughes Network Systems, LLC. Kaul is being recognized for his sustained leadership in advancing satellite communications.
Since heading up the engineering team in a Maryland garage start-up that invented satellite networking using VSATs (very small aperture terminals) in the mid-1980s, and then growing it as chief executive of Hughes Network Systems into a billion dollar company, Pradman Kaul has been a leading force in the worldwide satellite industry. He has spearheaded the development of satellite networks for commercial applications globally, and is widely recognized for contributions in both business and technology spheres

Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, was selected by the Foundation as its first-ever Imagination honoree. An internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation, Sir Ken works with governments in Europe, Asia, and the United States, with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations.

In 1998, he led a national commission on creativity, education and the economy for the UK Government. All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education (The Robinson Report) was published to wide acclaim in 1999. He was the central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, working with the ministers for training, education enterprise and culture. The resulting blueprint for change, Unlocking Creativity, was adopted by politicians of all parties and by business, education and cultural leaders across the Province.

Live webcast of the Awards presentation at 18:00 EDT on Thursday, 12 April 2012. Or watch it right here:

Remarkable and fantastic predictions from Sir Arthur C. Clarke, via the BBC programme “Horizon” from 1964.

Part 1

Part 2

Satellite TV Providers industry is in the midst of a revolution as HD TV vastly improved quality of shows and attracted subscribers, with annualized revenue growth in 5 years through 2012 expected to be 5.6%, to $41.4 billion.
[Times Union – 04/06/2012]

Ukrainian Zenit rocket for Sea Launch’s next commercial launch arrives at its California base for final assembly.
[Spaceflight Now – 04/06/2012]

John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. seeks control of Sirius XM Radio Inc.’s satellite radio assets.
[Denver Business Journal – 04/06/2012]

Nigeria to launch pico satellite for scientific research.
[All Africa – 04/06/2012]

Group of many of world’s largest commercial satellite fleet operators writes Indian government protesting new tax that would slap 10% royalty fee on foreign satellite communications services and make the fee retroactive to cover the past 36 years.
[Space News – 04/05/2012]

NASA selects United Launch Services to launch the GOES-R and GOES-S spacecraft in October 2015 and February 2017.
[SatNews – 04/05/2012]

Falcone says bankruptcy is an option for LightSquared.
[Bloomberg – 04/05/2012]

Officials from Air Force, SES, Orbital Sciences, and SAIC to participate April 11 in moderated webcast panel discussion of the CHIRP hosted payload on the SES-2 satellite, and its challenges, lessons, and lingering questions.,
[SatNews – 04/05/2012]  [Webcast registration link]

Mexico’s largest commercial television broadcaster Grupo Televisa selects Gilat Satellite Networks’ Sky Edge II VSAT network for its private communication network across Mexico.
[SatNews – 04/05/2012]

Unnamed client servicing the African region on Spacecom’s Amos-5 signs multi-year extension after only two months of service.
[Satellite Today – 04/05/2012]

Harris receives $12.4 million in orders from a Latin American nation for integrated wireless digital voice and data network supporting critical communication coordination between federal officials and armed forces.
[SatNews – 04/05/2012]

Thales completes Tampa Microwave acquisition.
[Satellite Today – 04/05/2012]

Xplornet agrees with Shaw Communications to bundle WiMAX with Shaw’s pay-TV, and acquires YourLink spectrum.
[TeleGeography – 04/05/2012]

Statistics show that near-misses between International Space Station and space debris are on the rise.
[Spaceflight Now – 04/05/2012]

Recent string of deals in Asia underscores trend of “coopertition” in the satellite industry predicted by NSR.
{SatNews – 04/05/2012]

Recent survey by Utilities Telecom Council and iDirect show that satellite communications offer utilities a variety of options for managing their service area securely, cost-effectively, and reliably.
[Fierce Smart Grid – 04/05/2012]

Astrium contracts Indian Space Research Organization to launch Spot 6 satellite.
[Satellite Today – 04/04/2012]

KVH opens new facility next to its Middletown, R.I. headquarters with custom-made motion simulator and a clear view of critical satellites, to test its maritime satellite products.
[Mass High Tech – 04/04/2012]

Middle Eastern Internet service provider SkyGate signs 5-year deal with SES to distribute SES Broadband satellite service in the Middle East. [SatNews – 04/04/2012]

Aterne and STI Telecom successfully deliver and install HD-SAT turnkey satellite distribution platform for Brazilian broadcaster TV Record in Sao Paulo.
[Satellite Today – 04/04/2012]

Brazil will launch a satellite for military purposes.
[Two Circles – 04/04/2012]

BSkyB will launch 48 new channels for the London Olympics, 40 of them on SES’ ASTRA satellite network.
[SatNews – 04/04/2012]

LightSquared “renegotiating” contract for use of Inmarsat’s L-band spectrum as it works to cut costs in face of government opposition to its LTE network.
[Wireless Week – 04/04/2012]

“Space garbage hitting and disabling a military satellite may be seen as an attack, which could provoke retaliation with all of the ensuing consequences.”
{SatNews – 04/04/2012]

MicroThrust ionic motor to be employed on CleanSpace One, a satellite designed to clean up space debris, and OLFAR, a swarm of Dutch nanosatellites that will record weak RF signals on far side of Moon, a destination that will be reached with just drops of fuel.
[R&D Magazine – 04/03/2012]

Despite increasing requirements, Oil & Gas SATCOM market continues to be lucrative according to new NSR report.
[SatNews – 04/03/2012]

Spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office is launched on ULA Delta IV rocket from Vandenberg AFB.
[SatNews – 04/03/2012]

New “Maritime Telecom Solutions by Satellite” report from Euroconsult concludes that KVH is now the maritime VSAT market share leader with its mini-VSAT product.
[Market Watch – 04/03/2012]

Temasys Vidyo Cloud and Emerging Markets Communications HD Connect combine to offer low cost “pay as you go” enterprise satellite HD video service anywhere, anytime.
[chron – 04/03/2012]

Alaska Airlines will test satellite system in Seattle in June that could end circling above the airport, allowing planes to make direct gently sloping landing approaches and take off and land closer together.
[NY Times – 04/03/2012]

Global Telesat experiences significant increase in sales of mobile satellite solutions since launch of its e-commerce MSS website, www.gtc-usa.com.
[Market Watch – 04/03/2012]

DirecTV files FCC complaint against Tribune, accusing it of reneging on deal to keep its television stations on the satellite service.
[Kansas City Star – 04/03/2012]

Eutelsat demonstrates its Ka-band satellite broadband solutions in the Macedonian city of Ohrid to regional meeting of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development.
[Biz Journals – 04/02/2012]

Astrium completes in-orbit delivery of SSOT satellite system to the Chilean Air Force.
[Satellite Today – 04/02/2012]

Comtech is awarded undefinitized $80.7 million contract to support Blue Force Tracking Program.
[Market Watch – 04/02/2012]

Orbital Sciences celebrates 30th anniversary and 1,007 rockets and space systems, including 810 launch vehicles, target and sounding rockets, satellites, and other space systems.
[Reuters – 04/02/2012]

Astrium is awarded two contracts from the Russian Satellite Communications Company for the delivery of two telecommunication satellites, Express AM4R and Express AM7.
[SatNews – 04/02/2012]

Bangladesh to launch first satellite by 2015.
[Rapid TV News – 04/01/2012]

Chinese Long March 3B rockets lifts French-built communications payload into orbit for broadcast of television signals, Internet access, and network data solutions across the Asia-Pacific and Middle East for Hong Kong-based satellite operator. [Spaceflight Now – 03/31/2012]

WBMSAT satellite communications consulting services

Intelsat 22, successfully launched on a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 24, carries hosted payloads that will serve Australian and U.S. Forces in the Mideast.
[Space.com – 03/30/2012]

Telesat closes $2.5 billion debt refinancing agreement.
[Satellite Today – 03/30/2012]

LightSquared makes FCC filing claiming that a proposed ruling by the FCC staff that would effectively revoke LightSquared’s license to operate its network is entirely unsupported by the law, science, and FCC policy and precedent.
[VirtualPressOffice – 03/30/2012]

NASA starts new phase in effort to modernize the terrestrial segment of a decades-old space communications network.
[Information Week – 03/30/2012]

Russia selects Astrium to build two communications satellites, Express AM4R, and Express AM7.
[Space Daily – 03/30/2012]

Government of Bangladesh awards three-year, $10 million contract to U.S. consultancy Space Partnership International of Bethesda, MD, to manage its acquisition of a telecom satellite.
[Space News – 03/30/2012]

Russia launches missile detection satellite from Kazakhstan steppe on the last flight of a version of the Proton rocket that is to be retired after 45 years of service.
[Space Flight Now – 03/30/2012]

Defense Department has long-standing problem synchronizing development of terminals and ground control stations to satellite launch dates, resulting in satellites that are operating under capacity.
[National Defense Magazine – 03/30/2012]

Nigerian purchase Earth imagery resources from British observation satellites after finding images from its own recently launched satellite were irrelevant.
[Satellite Today – 03/29/2012]

KVH opens new mobile satellite antenna testing facility employing one-of-a-kind motion simulator and rigorous testing procedures.
[Market Watch – 03/29/2012]

Panasonic will ramp up satellite network coverage for its broadband connectivity service, striking new agreements with Intelsat and Australian Satellite Communications for additional capacity.
[Electronics Weekly Magazine – 03/29/2012]

Industry panel member advocates “Telehouse” in Africa to interconnect all cable and satellite operators so intra-Africa traffic can be switched and peered within the African continent, as part of a solution to barriers to cross-border communications between land-locked countries in Africa.
[SatNews – 03/29/2012]

Russia begins testing the use of nuclear fuel in space rocket boosters.
{SatNews – 03/29/2012]

International Space Station crew takes shelter in escape pods in case debris from satellite collision three years ago, detected as approaching by radar, should impact the Space Station.
[Strategy Page – 03/29/2012]

Increasing bandwidth requirements of Oil & Gas satcom market, coupled with increasing requirements of emerging Oil & Gas markets, keep the market lucrative.
[Market Watch – 03/29/2012]

Zeonbud of the Ukraine will launch its national DVB-T2 broadcast network using Harris Corporation’s Selenio media convergence platform.
[SatNews – 03/29/2012]

SpaceX announces the formation of a team of outside experts to help it create the world’s safest human spaceflight system.
[SatNews – 03/29/2012]

Telecoms Sans Frontieres provides Sat Phone connections and logistical support to facilitate repatriation of wounded Syrian civilians and supply of medicines to Syria’s besieged towns.
[SatNews – 03/28/2012]

Russian spacecraft controllers intentionally plunge Express-AM4 communications satellite that failed to reach orbit into the ocean, prompting a company interested in salvaging the satellite to call it “needless destruction.”
[MSNBC – 03/28/2012]

Orbital Sciences congratulates NASA on successful launch of five sounding rockets in less than seven minutes for the Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment.
[SatNews – 03/28/2012]

TeleComnmunication Systems to host SwiftLink User Forum April 10-12 in Tampa, FL, bringing together thought leaders to share knowledge and best practices related to highly secure managed satellite and deployable communication initiatives.
[Market Watch – 03/28/2012]

Thai Airways will implement WiFi on their Airbus fleet.
[SatNews – 03/28/2012]

Thrane & Thrane’s AVIATOR 200 SwiftBroadband solution receives Supplemental Type Certificate for installation with in-flight Wi-Fi aboard Pilatus PC-12/45, PC-12/47, and PC-12/47E aircraft.
[SatNews – 03/28/2012]

Researchers create pictures showing how solar storms compress the Earth’s magnetic field; findings could help improve communications satellite design.
[CNET – 03/28/2012]

With Hughes Europe expanding availability of satellite broadband solutions through network of service provider partnerships, Hanover-based ABmann Technology GmbH takes advantage of this tailored approach.
[Channel EMEA – 03/28/2012]

Arab Spring has another consequence, as satellite jamming becomes serious enough to threaten the satellite operators’ business, typifying an increasing problem in the Middle East and North Africa.
[ars technica – 03/28/2012]

Communications via the ESA’s Artemis communications satellite helps ensure safe arrival of Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle at the International Space Station with vital supplies.
[SatNews – 03/27/2012]

Next-generation DOD space systems alone will not satisfy projected bandwidth needs – commercial satcom remains vital to military.
[Defense Systems – 03/27/2012]

SES and satellite continue growth path in Europe, with satellite becoming the leading TV infrastructure, and ASTRA serving 142 million TV homes.
[Web Wire – 03/27/2012]

Africell brings Thuraya satellite services to Sierra Leone.
[Awareness Times – 03/27/2012]

Taiwan’s Department of Industrial Technology kicks off “2012 Prototyping Topic of Galileo Pro” competition, focusing on development of satellite & vehicle-carried IT and Communications.
[Market Watch – 03/26/2012]

United Launch Alliance to launch classified satellite from Vandenberg AFB for NRO.
[Satellite Today – 03/26/2012]

International Security Expert argues that U.S. pursuit of a unilateral space policy instead of internationally co-operating is dangerous, and that there is a need for international rules.
[Huffington Post – 03/26/2012]

SES enters collaborative agreement with Samsung to make available TV-free satellite television sets in the sub-Saharan Africa region.
[Satellite Today – 03/26/2012]

Avanti Communications signs with Onyx Group Limited to provide Business Internet Continuity services within the U.K from its HYLAS 1 satellite.
[SatNews – 03/26/2012]

Skyband of Saudi Arabia expands with Hughes HX broadband satellite technology.
[Market Watch – 03/26/2012]

iDirect Government Technologies introduces airborne Evolution rack-mount router.
[Market Watch – 03/26/2012]

U.S. Navy’s recently launched MUOS satellite successfully reaches its orbital position. [Spaceflight Now – 03/26/2012]

Obama warns North Korea on its planned satellite launch.
[Sydney Morning Herald – 03/25/2012]

WBMSAT satellite communications consulting services

Fabulous explanation as to why we have black dots across many of our space images from the 1970s — by Emily Lakdawalla of The Planetary Society.

Some folks have carefully removed these dots (or other registration marks), one by one.