Really Rocket Science - Satellites

WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits for 06/25/2010

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:11:17 -0700

Courtesy of Bill McDonald...

Arianespace postpones launch of ArabSat-5A and the follow-on Coms satellite as an anomaly occurs in the Ariane 5's launcher subsystem during final countdown.
[Satellite today - 06/28/2010]

U.S. Air Force announces that U.S. Strategic Command has operationally accepted command and control of its third Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, WGS-3.
[SatNews - 06/25/2010]

Satellite firm Intellectual Ventures, having bought many patents of satellite technology from Motorola and Teledesic, sells some to Thales Alenia Space on the heels of the Thales deal with Iridium to build the next generation of its satellites.
[Wall Street Journal - 06/25/2010]

Harris wins five year $140m contract to redesign satellite ground system for NASA.
[Zacks - 06/25/2010]

Thales Alenia wins contract to build W6A satellite for Eutelsat.
[marisys - 06/25/2010]

NASA has selected Orbital Sciences to launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission in February 2013 aboard a Taurus XL 3110 rocket from Vandenberg’s U.S. Air Force Base, California.
[Satellite Today - 06/24/2010]

Boaters can now watch the the 2010 FIFA World Cup soccer games in 3D while on the water, thanks to the TracVision(r) HD7 from KVH.
[SatNews - 06/24/2010]

Anticipation of the peak of the solar 11 year cycle coming in 2013 sparks predictions of serious consequences to electronics and communications systems, including satellite communications.
[msnbc - 06/24/2010]

CapRock Communications signs three-year contract with BW to deploy its SeaAccess service onboard its fleet of approximately 100 vessels that include Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas Carriers (LPGCs).
[SatNews - 06/24/2010]

Astrium is awarded a contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop key technologies for new re-ignitable upper stages for new launchers.
[SatNews - 06/24/2010]

FCC takes steps to free spectrum from within S band currently available only for mobile satellite companies to build mobile applications to complement their satellite services, so it can be used by mobile broadband companies.
[BroadbandBreakfast - 06/24/2010]

Vietnam Telecom International picks Gilat's Skyedge II for broadband satellite network.
[Sat PR News - 06/24.2010]

CASBAA concludes 10th annual forum in Singapore, as attendees attest to a vibrant Asian satellite industry.
[Market Watch - 06/24/2010]

First attempt to launch South Korea's first weather satellite is delayed as pressure problems develop in the launch vehicle.
[Korea Times - 06/24/2010]

June 19, During the International Economical Forum in St. Petersburg, Roscosmos and Arianespace signed a contract which cover 10 additional missions of Russian Soyuz-ST rocket from Guiana Space Center (CSG).
[SatNews - 06/23/2010]

Spacenet introduces new emergency communications service by satellite with pay as you use service options.
[Market Watch - 06/23/2010]

OmniAccess S.L., a leading communications provider to super- and mega-yacht owners, has completed the launch of its Balearic Teleport and successfully upgraded its maritime broadband satellite network to iDirect’s Evolution platform.
[SatNews - 06/23/2010]

Israel launches spy satellite Ofek 9.
[Al Jazeera - 06/23/2010]

CapRock Government Solutions announces the award of four multimillion dollar contracts to provide managed network services and more than 400MHz of commercial satellite capacity to four separate U.S. Government agencies.
[SatNews - 06/23/2010]

Annual Ham Field Day on weekend of June 26-27 gives public chance to meet and talk with ham radio enthusiasts showing off the newest digital and satellite capabilities and voice communications, as well as historic Morse code.
[The Press News - 06/23/2010]

GlobeCast Australia has announces that GlobeCam — a specialist provider of live, miniature camera technology in the world today — has conducted successful trials of 3D coverage for V8 Supercars Television.
[Satnews - 06/23/2010]

Telecommunications experts from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) are establishing emergency communications centers equipped with satellite-based phone, internet and radio lines along borders of Kyrgyzstan.
[UN Dispatch - 06/23/2010]

New iPhone application developed by Skobbler, teaming up with Apple and OpenStreetMap, will ensure that satellite navigation will become cost effective and easily used by most iPhone users.
[SatNews - 06/22/2010]

Integral Systems Europe (ISE) has been awarded a satellite ground station contract from British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) for Harlequin 1, Sky's state-of-the-art broadcast facility.
[Satellite Today - 06/22/2010]

Iridium expands reach with South African license.
[Market Watch - 06/22/2010]

EchoStar launches DishHD, a premier satellite pay-TV service, in Taiwan.
[Satellite Today - 06/22/2010]

Polaris Wireless and Globecomm Systems partnership will allow U.S. wireless operators to quickly, easily and cost-effectively meet Federal Communications Commission E911 Phase II requirements.
[TMCnet - 06/22/2010]

SES WORLD SKIES announces its SES-1 satellite has entered commercial service at the orbital location of 101 degrees West.
[SatNews - 06/21/2010]

WBMSAT PS satellite communications systems services

WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits for 06/18/2010

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 07:58:42 -0700

Courtesy of Bill McDonald...

TSF deploys emergency telecoms team to Kyrgyzstan to provide emergency communications services to humanitarian community in support of relief operations.
[SatNews - 06/18/2010]

FCC announces it will focus on using satellite services to spread mobile wireless access to more Americans.
[Washington Post - 06/18/2010]

BSkyB announces that Sky Sports News will be removed from free to view service FreeView to become a pay TV only channel.
[TechWatch - 06/18/2010]

SatCom Global launches Horizon, incorporating state of the are compression technology and designed to optimize voice and data management, dramatically cutting cost of satellite communications for users in maritime, oil and gas, construction, government, emergency, and first responder markets.
[SatNews - 06/18/2010]

BT and RRsat enter 5 year strategic network alliance to combine RRsat's content management and global distribution services over satellite, fiber, and IP with BT's global media network.
[Satellite Today - 06/18/2010]

Wavestream introduces rugged, outdoor 600W C-band solid state amplifier 757C-o for broadcast satellite communications systems.
[SatNews - 06/18/2010]

Following successful debut flight of Falcon 9 launcher, SpaceX wins hotly contested contract to put next-generation Iridium communications satellites into orbit.
[Aviation Week - 06/17/2010]

Sky Sports gets rights for Euro 2010.
[TechWatch - 06/17/2010]

SES ASTRA satellite Astra B, launched May 21, is now operational.
[TechWatch - 06/17/2010]

Satworx, a provider of satellite phone communications, offers a new lightweight IsatPhone Pro at a reduced price.
[TMCnet Satellite Spotlight - 06/17/2010]

NASA chooses General Dynamics C4 Systems to upgrade TDRSS satellite communications ground system and network.
[Military Aerospace - 06/17/2010]

SkyWave, a global provider of M2M satellite solutions for trucking, rail, and maritime markets,
introduces jamming detection and other new security features including detection of antenna cut.
[Wireless Developer Network - 06/17/2010]

New KVH TracVision HD7 employed by boaters to receive DirecTV HD signals for 2010 boating season.
[MarketWatch - 06/17/2010]

Arabsat announces that launch of 5A by Arianespace will take place on June 23, Arabsat's second launch this month.
[SatNews - 06/16/2010]

Integral Systems subsidiary SAT Corporation receives contract to upgrade CHINA SATCOM's satellite signal monitoring and interference detection system.
[Market Watch - 06/16/2010]

Murdoch's News Corp makes move on UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
[Tech Watch - 06/16/2010]

BBC World signs deal with intelsat renewing satellite and teleport services throughout Asia and the Americas.
[TechWatch - 06/16/2010]

iDirect launches ReadyCONNECT, a portable emergency response satellite communications system developed by global satellite equipment leader Cobham Satcom and partner Australian Satellite Communications.
[SatNews - 06/16/2010]

Space Data's test of high altitude balloons with radio communications for border patrol, more cost-effective than satellite technology, receives rave reviews but then - no contract to show for it.
[Fox News - 06/16/2020]

iDirect Government Technologies releases new line of software packages for its SatManage network management system.
[SatNews - 06/16/2010]

Battle lines being drawn between Virgin Media and BSKYB over 3D TV.
[TechWatch - 06/15/2010]

DirecTV teams with NCC Media, the ad-sales company owned by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications, to bring the satellite operator to the spot-advertising market and provide ability to expand an ad's coverage in 25 select markets.
[Multichannel News - 06/15/2010]

Microsoft working on 3D technology using special lens on TV screen that would not require users to wear glasses.
[TechWatch - 06/15/2010]

Hughes Network Systems receives contract from state of Oregon to provide broadband satellite internet services to state agencies, local governments, and school districts.
[Business Week - 06/14/2020]

U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin complete testing of first satellite for next generation of tactical
communications, under the Mobile User Objective System program.
[UPI - 06/15/2010]

Arianespace announces agreement with Lockheed Martin to launch VINASAT-2 satellite for Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group in 2012.
[SatNews - 06/15/2010]

SpeedCast signs multi-year agreement for capacity on North and Central American beams of Telesat's Telstar 11N satellite.
[SatNews - 06/14/2010]

Swedish Space Corporation indicates that the Swedish Prisma satellites have been successfully launched aboard a Dnepr launcher from Yasny,Russia.
[SatNews - 06/15/2010]

Aerojet announces an agreement with NEC corporation to jointly supply HAYABUSA-derived ion propulsion systems for the U.S. and Japanese aerospace markets.
[SatNews - 06-15-2010]

SpaceX to launch Taiwanese earth observation satellite in 2013.
[Satellite Today]

C-Com Satellite Systems receives $1M worth of new orders for its iNetVu mobile antenna systems from China.
[SatNews - 06/15/2010]

Space Systems/Loral contracts to build DirecTV 14.
[Satellite Today - 06/14/2010]

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. announces orders received aggregating $12 million, including Ka-band amplifiers for satellite broadband services, DTH services and strategic airborne communications.
[Market Watch - 06/14/2020]

Thaicom Pcl shares jump after Thailand's government announces plans to buy Temasek Holdings Pte's stake in the satellite monopoly for national security reasons following anti-government protests.
[Business Week - 06/14/2010]

Microspace introduces Velocity Microburst, allowing Velocity satellite data users to acquire occasional "bursts" of additional bandwidth for short term needs.
[PRWeb - 06/14/2010]

ATCi designs and delivers low-cost complete Fly Away Broadcast System designed for broadcasting sporting events to smaller communities in Latin America and Africa.
[SatNews - 06/14/2010]

Vizada is selected by ARINC to help fulfill Department of Defense contract for international broadband services.
[SatNews - 06/14/2010]

PolarSat completes VSATPlus3 network testing for Chinese gas market.
[Satellite Today - 06/14/2010]

Orbit Technologies receives additional orders from large satellite communications companies in Brazil for its OrSat satellite communications systems to be installed on offshore Oil and Gas platforms.
[SatNews - 06/14/2010]

GlobeCast Australia wins major delivery deal with Event Cinemas that offers 3D HD coverage of more than a dozen sporting events over the next month, in a first for Australian cinema audiences.
[SatNews - 06/14/2010]

Ottawa may lift telecom restrictions relating to foreign ownership of companies in the Canadian telecom industry, including satellite communications companies.
[Montreal Gazette - 06/12/2010]

California teenager rescued from crippled sailboat by French fishing vessel describes her three days adrift after the mast was broken during a storm, knocking out her satellite communications.
[Fox News - 06/12/2010]

WBMSAT PS satellite communications systems services

Technorati Tags: satcom+news satnews satellite+today satellite+week wbmsat satcom

WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits for 06/11/2010

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 07:12:46 -0700

Courtesy of Bill McDonald...

Korean navy recovers what is believed to be debris from the Korea Space Launch Vehicle 1 that exploded shortly after liftoff Thursday, the country's second major space setback in less than a year.
[Korea Times - 06/11/2010]

Thales Alenia Space gets contract from Eutelsat for satellite with forty Ku-band transponders to be launched during third quarter of 2012.
[Tech Watch - 06/11/2010]

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) ships Dish Network’s EchoStar 15 communications satellite to the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan where it will be launched by International Launch Services.
[Satellite Today - 06/10/2010]

NASA has selected Orbital Sciences to launch the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft in December 2012 aboard a Pegasus XL rocket from Vandenberg U.S. Air Force Base.
[Satellite Today - 06/10/2010]

As sun emerges from one of its quietest periods ever during its 11 year cycle, it may spell trouble for a world increasingly reliant upon communications satellites and power grids.
[Houston Chronicle - 06/10/2010]

German satellite service provider Atrexx launches trio of C-band services for the Africa and Middle East markets.
[Satellite today - 06/10/2010]

Two PRISMA satellites to be launched next week feature Thales Alenia Space's technology that determines the two satellites' relative positions to within 1 centimeter, and relative attitudes to within 1 degree.
[SatNews - 06/10/2010]

Hughes Network Systems unveils broadband Internet satellite services for government and enterprise emergency networking solution.
[Satellite Today - 06/10/2010]

BBC World News signs renewal and expansion contract for satellite and teleport services with Intelsat S.A. to distribute programming to Asia-Pacific and Americas audiences.
[SatNews - 06/10/2010]

Azerbaijan government has contracted with Orbital Sciences to build the country's first satellite, but questions are being asked about the country's ability to pay, as unnamed source states that the finance ministry is delaying funding of the project.
[Eurasianet - 06/10/2010]

Telespazio's orders for Orbit Technologies Ltd.'s high performance stabilized marine satellite communications systems to be installed on oil and gas industry platforms worldwide reach $1.1M.
[SatNews - 06/10/2010]

ND SatCom receives Global Telecoms Business Innovation Award 2010 in the Business Service Innovation category for its XWARP(r) solution, which provides IP applications / Cloud Computing over satellite.
[SatNews - 06/10/2010]

BSkyB gains $460.3M settlement in its lawsuit with system integrator Electronic Data Systems, a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard.
[Satellite Today - 06/10/2010]

Globecast is selected to deliver four major Latin American channels to cable headends throughout the United States via the AMC-1 satellite.
[SatNews - 06/10/2010]

Avanti signs long-term Hylas 1 capacity contract with unnamed triple-play consumer telecom service in the U.K. and Ireland.
[Satellite Today - 06/10/2010]

Barrett Xplore Inc. of Canada will lease Loral Space & Communications Inc. owned payload which will be hosted on the Viasat 1 broadband satellite that Loral is building for Viasat.
[TMCnet - 06/09/2010]

Iridium introduces new features for its Next generation of satellites, making laptop connections easier and providing extended SMS messaging for the Iridium 9555 satellite phones.
[Market Watch - 06/09/2010]

Orbit Alchut Technologies Ltd. and Telespazio SpA to supply satellite communications systems for marine oil and gas platforms using C-band capacity and 4m antennas to provide high reliability even during stormy weather.
[Globes Online - 06/09/2010]

Satellite Industry Association (SIA) releases 2010 State of the Satellite Industry Report, showing 11% growth from 2008 to 2009 in overall world satellite industry revenues.
[SatNews - 06/08/2010]

Andreas Georghiou, CEO of Spacenet, accepts a Circle of Excellence award from Washington SmartCEO in recognition of the company's product innovation.
[SatNews - 06/08/2010]

Eutelsat makes four satellites available for broadcasts from South Africa of the World Cup football tournament.
[Tech Watch - 06/08/2010]

Integral Systems gets contract from a leading satellite service provider integrating an additional geostationary satellite into their existing Epoch Integrated Product Suite satellite management system.
[Market Watch - 06/08/2010]

German ship manager Phoenix Reederei reports drop in monthly satellite expenses of more than EURO1,000 since installing Iridium OpenPort satellite terminals on five of its vessels.
[Market Watch - 06/08/2010]

Inmarsat wins 41st annual royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award, Britain's biggest prize for engineering innovation.
[PR Newswire - 06/08/2010]

European Space Agency reports successful completion of thermal-vacuum checks in India on the HYLAS 1 advanced broadband satellite being constructed for Avanti.
[Top 10 - 06/08/2010]

Industry experts advise relief agencies and governments to learn from the Haiti experience, where earthquake damage would have made emergency response nearly impossible without satellite communications.
[PR Newswire - 06/08/2010]

Skycasters submits proposal to the USDA RUS Broadband Initiatives Program in Washington, D.C. requesting a $5.1M grant to improve public safety and prompt economic recovery for 37M Americans.
[SatNews - 06/08/2010]

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden professes increased confidence that a resupply vehicle will be available after the Space Shuttle fleet is retired, on the heels of the successful launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 on June 4.
[Satellite Today - 06/08/2010]

Satcom Direct adds graphical weather to its existing FlightDeck Freedom satellite service for aircraft.
[SatNews - 06/08/2010]

NASA successfully completes comprehensive pre-shipment review of the Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, of FASTSAT, a microsatellite class spacecraft that will carry 6 experiment payloads to low-Earth orbit.
[SatNews - 06/08/2010]

German Earth observation satellite TanDEM-X, part of project to "map the Earth in 3D" is readied for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
[SatNews - 06/08/2010]

Australian Satellite Communications (ASC) and Cobham announce launch of ReadyCONNECT, a portable, quick-deploy emergency response satellite communications solution.
[SatNews - 06/08/2010]

Arqiva provides Sky with 36MHz of W7 satellite capacity for duratioin of football World Cup in South Africa.
[SatNews - 06/08/2010]

NOORSAT selected by Al Jazeera network to provide satellite capacity to backup the FIFA world Cup 2010 coverage, including the use of the NOORSAT Bahrain teleport as an alternative transmission facility.
[SatNews - 06/08/2010]

SES ASTRA enters into distribution agreement with Polish data network operator NASK to offer its satellite-based broadband service to business customer in the Polish market.
[SatNews - 06/07/2010]

BSkyB pays Virgin Media £160m for its TV channels in deal where Virgin Media gets to offer its subscribers the premium BSkyB HD channels.
[Tech Watch - 06/07/2010]

WBMSAT PS satellite communications systems services

Technorati Tags: talk+satellite satcom satellite+week satellite+today satnews satcom satellite+news

Dancing With The Satellites

Tue, 25 May 2010 08:02:22 -0700

Typically well-done rendering by AGI of how SES and Intelsat plan to mitigate interference between Galaxy-15 and AMC-11.

Technorati Tags: amc-11 galaxy-15 ses-1 zombiesat ses intelsat

WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits for 05/21/2010

Mon, 24 May 2010 06:42:10 -0700

Courtesy of Bill McDonald...

Bryan McGuirk, senior vice president of media services at SES World Skies, will be leaving the company at the end of May to form a new venture in the media and entertainment sector.
[Satellite Today - 05/21/2010]

Arianespace’s delayed opening launch of 2010, with the Astra 3B and COMSATBw 2 satellites, has launched from the European Spaceport in French Guiana via the Ariane 5 ECA.
[NASASpaceFlight - 05/21/2010]

Harris agrees to acquire satellite-communications provider CapRock for about $525M in move to expand international presence and customer base.
[Wall Street Journal - 05/21/2010]

FCC frees up 25 megahertz of spectrum in the Wireless Communications Services band by allowing satellite radio operators to use digital repeaters.
[RCR Wireless - 05/21/2010]

Ohio cable company executive echoes concern of many that rogue satellite Galaxy 15 may cause interference to AMC-11 "Despite these best efforts" of SES WorldSkies and Intelsat.
[Columbus Dispatch - 05/21/2010]

DBSD North America, a telecommunications satellite operator owned by ICO Global Communications, asks judge to preserve its bankruptcy restructuring plan pending approval by the FCC.
[Business Week - 05/21/2010]

At the SES World Skies' site you can view an amazing CGI rendering created by AGI that reveals the AMC-11 orbital maneuvers to hopefully avoid having their cable broadcasts interrupted by Intelsat’s Galaxy 15, aka Zombie satellite.
[SatNews - 05/20/2010]

Intelsat relocates IS-709 for World Cup Broadcasting.
[Satellite Today - 05/20/2010]

International Datacasting receives series of new orders for its 3D Live solution, prompted by the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.
[SatNews - 05/20/2010]

Israel's Yes satellite TV provider launches video-on-demand and broadband services by satellite.
[Satellite Today - 05/20/2010]

MEASAT Satellite Systems signs agreement with GlobeCast Asia to provide transponder capacity for the FIFA World Cup 2010.
[SatNews - 05/20/2010]

Google and DISH Network L.L.C. launched Google TV, an open platform that seamlessly integrates multichannel television with rich web media content.

Indian Navy will receive naval communication and surveillance satellite by year-end.
[SatNews - 05/20/2010]

Boeing completes on-orbit handover of DirecTV 12 satellite to DirecTV.
[Satellite Today - 05/20/2010]

Global MilSatCom 2010, a gathering of satellite communication professionals, will be held at the Millennium Conference Centre, London, United Kingdom this November 8-10.
[SatNews - 05/20/2010]

MTN reports a positive reception in international cruise industry, with seven cruise lines already signed up for the at-sea telecasts.
[SatNews - 05/20/2010]

Iridium's OpenPort terminal provides reliable, high-quality voice and data links throughout voyage of sailboat Ocean Watch on its Around the Americas expedition.
[SatNews - 05/20/2010]

Rapideye confirms partnership of several years with S2Bvisio in development and distribution of expert agricultural services based on RapidEye imagery.
[SatNews - 05/20/2010]

Cambridge Conltans achieve breakthrough in collaboration with Iridium Communications to develop new transceiver 70% smaller than previous model.
[SatNews - 05/20/2010]

Glowlink has releases GEO4, the manufacturer’s next-generation Model 8000 interference detection solution.
[Satellite Today - 05/20/2010]

World's largest airship, as long as a 23-floor skyscraper is tall, is intended to serve as a stratospheric satellite, or "stratellite," according to its developers.
[Space.com - 05/20/2010]

Lockheed Martin realigns structure of commercial space systems division.
[PR Newswire - 05/20/2010]

New commercial space rocket Falcon 9 to make first test launch as early as May 28.
[Space.com - 05/20/2010]

Iridium Communications enters Russian market.
[Benzinga - 05/20/2010]

Globalstar receives regulatory approval for mobile satellite service in Korea.
Market Watch - 05/20/2010]

Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute develop new nanotechnology-based “microlens” using gold, which could lead to a new generation of ultra-powerful satellite cameras.
[R&D Magazine - 05/19/2010]

Arianspace announces signing of contract with Astrium to launch Skynet 5D satellite in first half of 2013.
[SatNews - 05/19/2010]

LiveTV and Iridium Communications Inc. enter into agreement to develop aviation antenna based on the Iridium OpenPort(r) high-speed communications service.
[SatNews - 05/19/2010]

Schlumberger launches SeaConnect(tm) VSAT service, providing high-performance VSAT services using an innovative portable marine 60-cm C-band antenna and related technologies, for the offshore industry.
[SatNews - 05/19/2010]

Marlink announces an extension to its VSAT Ku-band service which will now cover sea routes around Australia for the first time.
[SatNews - 05/19/2010]

Iridium Communications Inc. receives orders for more than 100 Iridium OpenPort broadband satellite terminals for installation on Spanish commercial fishing vessels.
[SatNews - 05/19/2010]

MTN Satellite Communications and its Spanish joint-venture partner, ERZIA, are selected to provide VSAT products and services for Empressa Naviera Elcano.
[SatNews - 05/19/2010]

FCC taps satellite communications company ICO executive to manage review of proposed joint venture between cable companies Comcast and
NBC Universal.
[Reuters - 05/19/2010]

Caprock wins $50m GSA 70 contract to provide complete solution of technical design, field services, and program support to FBI for emergency restoration communications network.
[Satellite Today - 05/19/2010]

Experiments conducted by Sandia National Laboratories at the International Space Station preliminarily indicate that orbiting more complex computer chips to pre-reduce large data streams could facilitate transfer of greater amounts of information from space.
[R&D Magazine - 05/19/2010]

French Polynesian Office of Post and Telecommunications (OPT) has launched a high-speed satellite broadband network based on iDirect’s Evolution platform.
[Satellite Today - 05/19/2010]

SES WORLD SKIES signs an agreement with Astrium for the procurement of a new satellite to be named SES-6.
[SatNews - 05/18/2010]

Intelsat selects Arianespace to launch Intelsat 17 satellite at end of 2010.
[Satellite Today - 05/18/2010]

Hughes Network Systems forms Hughes Network Systems Australia Pty. Ltd. to serve the Ka-band satellite technology and services market in Australia.
[Satellite Today - 05/18/2010]

Globalstar receives regulatory approval for new mobile satellite service in Korea.
[MarketWatch - 05/18/2010]

SES World Skies plans to maneuver AMC-11 to match the eastward drift of zombie satellite Galaxy to avoid interference, bringing in AMC-1 on opposite side of orbital "box."
[Space.com - 05/17/2010]

Russian Satellite Communications Company reports it is no longer possible to maintain the orbital incline of the Express-AM1 satellite.
[SatNews - 05/17/2010]

WBMSAT PS services

Technorati Tags: satellite+news via+satellite satellite+today satcom satnews satellite+week

Satcom Through-put Breakthrough

Thu, 13 May 2010 06:24:12 -0700

Satnews is reporting EMC Satcom was able to fit an STM-1 circuit into a 72-MHz transponder. That's just awesome...

EMC Satcom Technologies GmbH established a new landmark in satellite link optimization by achieving a symmetrical 155/155Mbps circuit inside a single transponder and, in tur, liberating a full 72MHz transponder. The existing STM-1 in Asia-Pacific was using a 72MHz transponder of the outbound carrier 155Mbps and another 72MHz for the inbound carrier 155Mbps. By placing EMC Satcom’s NRS Bandwidth Booster at each end of the link, a full 72MHz has been cancelled, allowing the existing symmetrical 155/155Mbps STM-1 to operate within one transponder only.

That's right, it's patented, too (United States Patent 7,522,877). The abstract...

The reduction of echo noise in satellite communications includes receiving an aggregate signal from multiple remote stations, where the aggregate signal includes a transmit signal, whose bandwidth is in the range of 0.1 MHz to 66 MHz, is previously sent from a hub to the multiple receiving stations, computing a scaled, delayed and distorted replica of the transmit signal and using the replica to compensate for satellite transponder nonlinearities and reduce echo noise interference from a received aggregate signal received by the hub from the multiple remote stations.

And Claim 1...

A method for reducing echo noise in satellite communications in which a hub communicates with multiple remote stations via a satellite having a nonlinear satellite transponder, the method comprising the steps of: transmitting a transmit signal from the hub to the multiple remote stations, where the transmit signal contains at least one carrier; providing, at the hub, a replica of the transmit signal to a buffer that provides an integer sample delay; distorting, at the hub, the replica of the transmit signal according to nonlinearities of the satellite transponder to provide a distorted replica of the transmit signal; determining, at the hub, a scaled, fractional-sample time-delayed, frequency-shifted, and attenuated version of the distorted replica of the transmit signal to provide a compensated distorted replica of the transmit signal; and using, at the hub, the compensated distorted replica to represent the nonlinearities of the satellite transponder and reduce echo noise from a received aggregate signal received by the hub from the multiple remote stations via the satellite transponder; wherein the distorting step further comprises applying a block conversion to the transmit signal to form the distorted replica occupying a predetermined frequency range and the determining step further comprises tracking the integer sample closest to a weight vector centroid of an adaptive filter to provide fractional-sample delay of the distorted replica.

Not something the satellite operators are excited about, as it uses less bandwidth. Further compression is not something they look forward to, hence the interest in 3DTV (and HDTV before that). In this case, the "less bandwidth, more through-put" benefit is for the customer.

The customer is always right.

Technorati Tags: stm-1 sonet 155-mbps 72mhz transponder emc nrs noise+reduction emc+satcom

Tweets From Space

Tue, 11 May 2010 06:24:23 -0700

The University of Tokyo's Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory (Nakasuka) built and launched a cubesat, 4-in/10-cm square, in 2005. The low-earth orbit spacecraft is now sending out updates via Twitter, all by itself.

The tweets, in Japanese, even feature little twitpics and have assembled over 2,600 followers. Some detail, via Asiajin:

Nakasuga Lab., the University of Tokyo, introduced a bot account tweeting the real-time state of a satellite which is located in the earth low orbit. The tweet(@XI-V) keeps us update with parameters like the satellite’s surface temperature, battery voltage and where it is located over of the planet and also shows us still images shooting the planet from the satellite in the space.

As we've blogged before, real-time tweets from space has had human intervention. This is automatic, and that's kinda cool. This information is more than the poor boys at Intelsat have regarding the Galaxy-15 spacecraft. They get no telemetry data at all, but they do have some ranging info and ephemeris data.

As for CubeSat XI-V, a job well done by the rocket scientists at Nakasuka!

Technorati Tags: nakasuka cubesat+xi-v tokyo issl cubesat+tweets twitter low+earth+orbit

Satcom Crisis: Fair and Balanced

Tue, 04 May 2010 14:41:06 -0700

We knew this was trouble. Now, Peter de Selding and Fox News report a crisis in the making...

Galaxy 15 stopped responding to ground controllers on April 5. The satellite's manufacturer, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia, has said an intense solar storm in early April may be to blame.

An adrift Intelsat satellite that stopped communicating with its ground controllers last month remains out of control and has begun moving eastward along the geostationary arc, raising the threat of interference with other satellites in its path, Intelsat and other industry officials said.

In what industry officials called an unprecedented event, Intelsat's Galaxy 15 communications satellite has remained fully "on," with its C-band telecommunications payload still functioning even as it has left its assigned orbital slot of 133 degrees west longitude 36,000 kilometers over the equator.

Galaxy 15 stopped responding to ground controllers on April 5. The satellite's manufacturer, Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia, has said an intense solar storm in early April may be to blame. It was launched into space in 2005.

The first satellite likely to face signal interference problems from the adrift Galaxy 15 is the AMC-11 C-band satellite owned by SES of Luxembourg and stationed at 131 degrees west, just two degrees away from Galaxy 15's starting position.

Rob Bednarek, chief executive of the SES World Skies division, which operates AMC-11, said Intelsat and SES have been meeting since April 5 to coordinate how to minimize the Galaxy 15 impact on AMC-11's media customers. [Spot satellites from Earth.]

Adrift in space

In an interview Friday, Bednarek said that while it remains unclear whether SES World Skies will be able to avoid a signal interference problem as Galaxy 15 enters the AMC-11 orbital territory, the company has benefited from full disclosure on the part of Intelsat, SES's biggest competitor.

"The cooperation with them really has been very good," Bednarek said. "We all realize that we could be in the same position tomorrow. We are neighbors in space."

Alan Young, chief technology officer at SES World Skies, said the company's best estimate is that Galaxy 15 will enter AMC-11's neighborhood — meaning one-half of one degree distant — May 23. It will continue traveling at its own pace through the AMC-11 slot, exiting on the east around June 7.

Young said the period of May 31 to June 1 is going to be the riskiest time for AMC-11 customers as SES World Skies seeks to maneuver AMC-11 to the maximum extent possible out of the Galaxy 15 track while at the same time maintaining links with the company's AMC-11 customers.

Tobias Nassif, Intelsat's vice president for satellite operations and engineering, said Friday that the company, in concert with Galaxy 15 manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., has sent between 150,000 and 200,000 commands to the satellite in the nearly four weeks since the satellite stopped sending or responding to commands.

These communication attempts, the equivalent of mild wake-up calls to return Galaxy 15 to service, have had no effect. As it moved all Galaxy 15 customers onto Galaxy 12, which was pulled into service from another orbital location, Intelsat at first focused on recovering Galaxy 15 to regular service.

Zombie satellites in space

On May 3, Intelsat will play what as of Friday appeared to be its last card by blasting Galaxy 15 with a more powerful signal intended not to salvage the satellite, but to force it into a complete shutdown.

That attempt will last about 30 minutes. It will not be repeated, both because a second attempt is viewed as unnecessary — the treatment works or it does not — and because sending out powerful radio frequency signals carries the risk of interfering with other satellites in the area.

Even if the May 3 action succeeds, Galaxy 15 will remain a problem as it continues to wander the geostationary arc. But it is a problem that satellite operators know how to deal with. Industry experts say there are several dozen spacecraft, sometimes called "zombiesats," that for various reasons were not removed from the geostationary highway before failing completely.

Depending on their position at the time of failure, these satellites tend to migrate toward one of two libration points, at 105 degrees west and 75 degrees east. Figures compiled by XL Insurance of New York, an underwriter of space risks, say that more than 160 satellites are gathered at these two points, which Bednarek described as the orbital equivalent of valleys.

"Unfortunately for us, we were downhill from Galaxy 15 as it rolls toward" the 105 degrees west libration point, Bednarek said.

Satellite signal stealer

Satellites like Galaxy 15 and AMC-11 are so-called "bent-pipe" designs that receive signals from the ground, amplify them on board and redistribute them to customers' ground antennas. Emptied of its customers — except one, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which uses an L-band payload on Galaxy 15 to guide aircraft landings — Galaxy 15 is no longer broadcasting. But its electronics payload is ready to capture and rebroadcast signals it receives that are intended for other spacecraft.

Young said that both SES and Intelsat are fortunate in this case because their two satellites' customers are mainly media companies using fairly large antennas to communicate with the satellites. During the period of maximum danger for AMC-11, SES expects to be able to reroute customer signals to SES-operated teleports with still-larger antennas to maintain communications links.

Nassif said Intelsat and Orbital Sciences have solicited outside opinions from other satellite manufacturers on possible maneuvers that might return Galaxy 15 to control or force it to shut down.

"The fact is that this is the first major anomaly on an Orbital-built satellite," Nassif said. "Other manufacturers have been through problems and might have something to suggest to us."

Because nothing like this has happened before, Intelsat remains uncertain as to when Galaxy 15, as its Earth sensor realizes it is no longer in the desired position, might lose its Earth-pointing capability. That would lead to its solar arrays losing their lock on the sun. Within hours, the satellite's batteries would discharge and the spacecraft would shut down on its own.

While cautioning that the company is revising its most-likely-scenario thinking almost on a daily basis as it gets input from Orbital Sciences and others, Nassif said the current estimate is that Galaxy 15 will lose Earth pointing by late July or early August.

As luck would have it, that timetable would mean the only other satellites in Galaxy 15's C-band frequency that face interference issues are owned by Intelsat.

After it leaves the vicinity of AMC-11, Galaxy 15 is expected to approach Intelsat's Galaxy 13 satellite, at 127 degrees west, around July 13. On July 30, it will enter into the Galaxy 14 satellite's orbital territory at 125 degrees west before heading toward Galaxy 18 at 123 degrees in mid-August.

"We are in regular contact with all our customers of these satellites to keep them apprised of the situation," Nassif said.

Technorati Tags: galaxy-15 ses-1 cable+tv amc-4 amc-2 a2100 a2100+solar+arrays galaxy-12 ses intelsat orbital+sciences star-2+bus

Wireless Broadband: Sirius Interference

Mon, 03 May 2010 09:39:53 -0700

Out on the open interstate, you seldom have trouble receiving satellite radio from Sirius XM. As these roads pass through crowded urban, where your line-of-site with an orbiting spacecraft may impede reception, the company relies on repeaters, usually mounted alongside cell towers, to complete the reception. 18 million or so satellite radio customers are happy when this happens.

Today, the Wall Street Journal reports on a potential crisis for satellite radio:

A Federal Communications Commission plan to expand wireless Internet access is raising the ire of Sirius XM Radio Inc. and its fans, who are concerned the effort to end a 13-year fight may interfere with satellite-radio programming.

The FCC is proposing to make it easier for the winners of a 1997 airwaves auction to use those airwaves for mobile wireless Internet and phone use. Until now, a dispute about power levels and potential interference has meant the companies were limited in how they could use the airwaves they own.

The FCC is scheduled to vote on the proposal in May as part of a broader effort to devote more airwaves for wireless Internet services. A FCC spokeswoman declined to comment on the specifics of the proposal.

Sirius XM lawyers are fighting the plan, arguing in an April 23 filing that allowing wireless providers to use those airwaves for wireless broadband will "fail to protect satellite radio's nearly 19 million subscribers and 35 million listeners from harmful interference."

Here's an excerpt from a Supplement Comments filing (WT Docket No. 07-293; IB Docket No. 95-91; GEN Docket No. 90-357; RM No. 8610):

Sirius XM has commissioned Dr. Theodore S. Rappaport, P.E., of the Telisite Corporation, who is the William and Bettye Nowlin Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and the founding director of the Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) at the University’s Austin campus, to assess the probabilities of interference to satellite radio service caused by WCS devices operating under the proposed rules that are contained in the Staff Public Notice. This analysis is contained in the attached report entitled “Technical Analysis of the Impact of Adjacent Service Interference to the Sirius XM Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services (SDARS)” and provides some of the clearest evidence yet that the staff’s proposed Part 27 rules would result in crippling interference to satellite radio operations in an unacceptable number of cases. Although retained by Sirius XM to conduct this study, Dr. Rappaport has undertaken this project under the express written conditions that the opinions provided in this study are his own.

We're all for more wireless broadband service, but not at the expense of the quality of satellite radio. The FCC, in its wisdom, will likely favor existing licensees and make sure they're protected.

Let's see if the topic comes up in tomorrow's earnings call.

Technorati Tags: att comcast wireless+broadband satellite+radio interference sirius+xm fcc sprint nextel

WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits 04/30/2010

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:48:19 -0700

Thales Alenia Space delivers man-like robot on mobile platform to European Space Agency following successful testing and qualification.
[SatNews - 04/30/2010]

Russia launches Soyuz-U space rocket carrying Progress M-05M space freighter on supply mission to International Space Station.
[brahmand.com- 04/30/2010]

Tauri Group study finds commercial launch prices have dropped 34% since 1999.
[Satellite Today - 04/30/2010]

XTAR's Vice President of Government Services Bill Schmidt passes away April 28 following heart attack.
[Satellite Today - 04/30/2010]

Hall-Of-Fame astronaut Story Musgrave says U.S. Space Program is now hampered by Administration's fear to act; opposite attitude of 60's when space program drove most technologically innovative decade in history.
[SatNews - 04/29/2010]

RADARSAT images spread of oil spill in Gulf of Mexico cause by oil rig explosion.
[SatNews - 04/29/2010]

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam hosts joint XXXVIII session of Board and meeting of Operations Committee of Intersputnik; host H.E. Mr. Le Nam Thang is elected Chairman of Board and of the joint session.
[SatNews - 04/29/2010]

Integral Systems announces seven year extended interference detection and geolocation maintenance contract with Sky Perfect JSAT.
[MarketWatch - 04/29/2010]

Orbital Sciences gets contract from U.S. Naval Research Laboratory for spacecraft and airborne system support services worth around $95m over 5 years.
[SatNews - 04/29/2010]

Iridium establishes a Government Advisory Board comprised of former senior U.S. government officials and business leaders to provide counsel to the company as it continues to enhance suite of products and services for government agencies.
[SatNews - 04/29/2010]

Lockheed Martin delivers cutting-edge communications system module for second satellite in U.S. Navy's Mobile user Objective System (MUOS) program.
[PR Newswire - 04/29/2010]

International Space University and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics join in strategic partnership to further educational opportunities internationally and enhance health of future aerospace workforce.
[SatNews - 04/29/2010]

Norwegian satellite AIS Sat-1 to be launched from India on May 9 will be used by maritime authorities as additional means of ensuring safety at sea in the High North.
[SatNews - 04/29/2010]

Global Gateway Media & Communications broadcasts Ex-Mayor of NY Ed Koch's speech in Los Angeles through Speedia Media's satellite broadcast network in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Central America.
[MarketWatch - 04/29/2010]

NASA delays launch of one of its three remaining space shuttle launches until November to allow upgrade of magnet in Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer program.
[SatNews - 04/29/2010]

Vizada Networks introduces redeveloped Global Field Support Program, created in close co-operation with Global VSAT Forum to improve quality of customer support through training.
[SatNews - 04/29/2010]

Air Force X-37 Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2, launched from Vandenberg April 22, achieves controlled flight at more than Mach 20 at assumed elevation of 36,000 feet, but disappears 9 minutes after launch.
[R&D Magazine - 04/28/2010]

Newtec’s FlexACM® DVB-S2 Elevation IP modems will support the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) in climate research, as well as increase bandwidth for communication.
[SatNews - 04/28/2010]

Integral Systems acquires Sophia Wireless, getting industry-leading technology in high-power, high-frequency Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) and Block Upconverters (BUCs) for satellite and radar communications.
[MarketWatch - 04/28/2010]

Swedish Microwave debuts new X-Band products, including professional PLL LNB's.
[SatNews - 04/28/2010]

Australia's hosted payload on Intelsat IS-22 satellite is a full UHV payload that will also benefit the USA.
[Defense Industry Daily - 04/28/2010]

SES ASTRA and Samsung join forces to promote 3DTV.
[SatNews - 04/28/2010]

Gilat will Provide SkyEdge II broadband satellite communications network to Kazakhstan based telecommunication operator.
[TMCnet - 04/28/2010]

Thrane & Thrane rebrands AeroSB products as AVIATOR, intending new brand to become synonymous with power of Inmarsat SwiftBroadband and at leading edge of that terminal technology.
[SatNews - 04/28/2010]

DirecTV is first provider to offer national distribution in High Definition (HD) of Spanish-language channels Univision and TeleFutura.
[MarketWatch - 04/28/2010]

Hughes and Avanti expand partnership in Europe as Hughes maneuvers to better compete with ViaSat, planning 48 gateway Earth stations for Hylas 1 satellite.
[Space News - 04/28/2010]

Russia Space Forces launches military communications satellite from Plesetsk Cosmodrome aboard Kosmos 2463 light booster.
[Aviation Week - 04/28/2010]

Sky Vision Global Networks launches new local hub in Nairobi, Kenya, to support company's satellite based virtual private network solution.
[SatNews - 04/28/2010]

Ericsson equips Indian DTH operator Tata Sky with head-end upgrade enabling it to launch HD channels and increase SD offerings.
[SatNews - 04/28/2010]

Brightpoint announces global supply chain solutions agreement with Inmarsat; will provide fully integrated solution for fulfillment and distribution of IsatPhone Pro.
[MarketWatch - 04/27/2010]

A third launch contract has been awarded to United Launch Alliance to loft an advanced military targeting and communications satellite for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.
[Florida Today - 04/27/2010]

Orbital Sciences successfully launches first Minotaur IV rocket in support of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 program.
[SatNews - 04/27/2010]

Global Gateway expands into radio with its agreement with All Patriots Media Network, broadcasting Los Angeles programs from four stations around U.S.
[MarketWatch - 04/27/2010]

Caprock Government Solutions announces expansion of satellite and terrestrial infrastructure to include bandwidth-on-demand to more than 35 major Department of Defense locations, and direct connections at 24 critical Defense Information Systems Network access points.
[SatNews - 04/27/2010]

GE Satellite is selected by NASA to provide Ku-band satellite connectivity for its ground breaking science mission to study atmospheric and environmental conditions across the Pacific via Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.
[SatNews - 04/27/2010]

World Teleport Association announces results of elections for Board of Directors for fiscal year beginning April 1 2010.
[SatNews - 04/27/2010]

In-flight acceptance of Helios IIB satellite is completed by Astrium on behalf of the French Defence Procurement Agency under delegation from French space agency.
[SatNews - 04/27/2010]

Thuraya further develops growth in key vertical markets across Saudi Arabia with Al Farhan partnership.
[SatNews - 04/27/2010]

Blue Sky Network's GPS-base aviation tracking devices to be used by Peruvian Air Force for search and rescue operations.
[SatNews - 04/27/2010]

Images from European Space Agency's Planck space observatory give astronomers way to understand complex physics shaping dust and gas in our Galaxy.
[SatNews - 04/27/2010]

GOES-15, final spacecraft in latest series of NOAA geostationary satellites, takes its first infrared photo of Earth.
[SatNews - 04/27/2010]

Japan to launch "space yacht" Ikaros, to be propelled by solar particles.
[SatNews - 04/27/2010]

International Launch Services places SES-1 satellite into orbit aboard Proton-M rocket deployed from Baikonur Spaceport in Kazakhstan.
[UPI - 04/26/2010]

Gilat to provide SkyEdge communications network to Kazakhstan customer ASTEL.
[MarketWatch - 04/26/2010]

Comtech Telecommunications receives $1.2m order for AN/TRC-170 modem upgrade kits and extended warranty coverage from major contractor under U.S. Army Commoon Hardware Software-3 contract.
[MarketWatch - 04/26/2010]

World Communications Center signs blanket P.O. agreement with NASA for satellite communications equipment and services that connect via the Inmarsat and Iridium networks.
[Business Wire - 04/26/2010]

United Launch Alliance gets contract modification to perform launch services for the Advance Extremely High Frequency-3 satellite aboard expendable Atlas 5.
[SatNews - 04/26/2010]

ProTECTS Alliance gains momentum in efforts to drive two-way satellite tracking and messaging technologies.
[SatNews - 04/26/2010]

Intellian Technologies completes characterization of Eutelsat on its 60cm maritime satellite VSAT system.
[SatNews - 04/26/2010]

European Union Satellite Centre signs multiyear enterprise license agreement with ESRI Espana, giving agency greater access to latest geographic information system technology, training, and consulting services.
[SatNews - 04/26/2010]

European Spacer Agency gets funding for Alphasat from EU's Risk-sharing Finance Facility.
[SatNews - 04/26/2010]

SES experiences first quarter revenue drop due to ASTRA 3B delays and AMC-16 anomaly.
[Satellite Today - 04/26/2010]

Satellite radio provide Sirius XM to release free application for Motorola Android, and Google Nexus One smartphones.
[Satellite Today - 04/26/2010]

Monopoly is not a bad word for digital Signage in Central and Eastern Europe.
[NSR Briefing - April 2010]

Galaxy 15 failure casts doubt on hosted payload model; recent and impending satellite failures signal need to provide creative mechanism for managing risks.
[NSR Briefing - April 2010]

WBMSAT PS services]

Technorati Tags: satellite+news via+satellite satellite+today satcom satnews satellite+week

Bubbling Crude

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:00:59 -0700

MODIS, MERIS, ASAR, GOES: these orbiting spacecraft and instruments are focused on helping the NOAA figure this mess out. The mess is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 50 miles offshore, estimated to be spitting out crude oil at a rate of 5,000 barrels per day.

A BP PLC executive told NBC’s "Today" show on Apr. 29 that the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico could be five times larger than earlier believed. His comment came the day after a controlled burn on part of the oil spill and a third leak was found.

Doug Suttles, chief operating officer of BP Exploration & Production Inc., confirmed what US Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry first said at a hastily called news conference in a Louisiana command center late Apr. 28 in which she announced a third leak.

Landry estimated 5,000 b/d rather than the 1,000 b/d could be spilling into the gulf. For days, officials have estimated 1,000 b/d was leaking from the Macondo well Transocean Ltd.’s Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible drilled on Mississippi Canyon Block 252 in 4,992 ft of water near Rigel gas field. Deepwater Horizon was working for BP.

An Apr. 20 explosion and fire rocked the semi, leaving 11 crew members missing and presumed dead and injuring 17. A total of 115 people evacuated the rig. On Apr. 22, the semi sank. Cause of the accident remains under investigation.

On Apr. 29, Suttles said the leak could be as high as the USCG's latest estimate. Previously, he had told reporters that it’s difficult and imprecise to measure spilled oil.

Call in the robots! But it won't be quick. Responders are still figuring out new ways to use Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) to try to trigger the blowout preventer (BOP), a series of valves that sits at the well head.

What NOAA is doing, as of 28 April 2010...

Current NOAA efforts are focused on: gathering more information about the spill, planning for open water and shoreline remediation, and readying for environmental assessment and response. Natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) activities are now underway.

Winds are forecast to become strong (20+ kts) and blow from the southeast starting tomorrow and continuing through the weekend, which will continue to push surface oil towards shore

NOAA oil-spill trajectory analyses indicate that oil continues to move towards shore.

100,000’ of oil-containment booms (or floating barriers) have been deployed as a precaution to protect sensitive areas in the Louisiana area.

The effects of oil on sensitive habitats and shorelines in four states (LA, MS, AL, and FL) are being evaluated should oil from the incident make landfall in appreciable quantities

NOAA’s Assessment and Restoration Division is evaluating concerns about potential injuries of oil and dispersants to fishes, human use of fisheries, marine mammals, turtles, and sensitive resources

Baseline aerial surveys to assess marine life were conducted today with personnel from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), these will continue as needed

NOAA Roles: NOAA is a vital part of the massive response effort on the Deepwater Horizon incident. Many personnel are on scene and many more are engaged remotely, as follows:

Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R)

Scientific support to the U.S. Coast Guard and Unified Command

Emergency Response Division (ERD)

Predict where the oil is going and its effects

Overflight observations and mapping

Identify resources at risk

Predict fate (chemical changes) of oil

Recommend appropriate clean-up methods

Manage data and information

Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD)

Plan for assessment of injuries to natural resources

Coordinate with state and federal trustees

Implement sampling plans

National Weather Service

Incident weather forecasts including marine and aviation

National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)

Experimental imagery for spill trajectory forecasts

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)

Issues related to marine mammals, sea turtles, and fishery resources

National Ocean Service

Public Affairs support to Joint Information Center

Here's your smokin' video, courtest of the USCG...

Technorati Tags: bp deepwater+horizon oil+platform transocean oil+rig bop rov goes modis meris asar noaa nws

FAA NextGen: Now Landing in Philly

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:40:39 -0700

Yes, Philadelphia. The hometown of W.C. Fields, who was alleged to have said "Philadelphia, wonderful town, spent a week there one night," is one of four cities to have the FAA's NextGen system installed. The others are Houston, Louisville and Juneau. The system does it all: navigation, surveillance, and communication.

Of course, they use satellite technology. The Philadelphia Inquirer did a nice piece on it yesterday:

"Philadelphia is a pioneer site," said Federal Aviation Administration vice president Victoria Cox, announcing that Philadelphia controllers now have the capability to track planes equipped with the technology, known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, or ADS-B.

It's part of a nationwide aviation overhaul - called Next Generation, or NextGen - that the FAA hopes will be largely operational by 2018.

By 2020, all aircraft flying in U.S. airspace must have the ADS-B devices in their cockpits.

Philadelphia is a demonstration site because United Parcel Service is here and has equipped 100 aircraft with satellite-technology. US Airways Group Inc. is in the process of equipping some of its planes, the FAA said.

Philadelphia controllers also use a computer system, called STARS, that takes information, including the ADS-B signals, and translates it to the screens controllers look at.

In addition, Philadelphia was selected to get some of the first satellite-surveillance radios because of its location in congested East Coast air space. The other test sites are Louisville, Ky., where UPS is based; Houston; and Juneau, Alaska.

Seven ground radios - each about the size of two refrigerators - have been installed around Philadelphia, including two on airport property. They will be part of a network of 813 radios by 2013, the FAA said.

Once airplanes get specialized GPS devices in cockpits, pilots will transmit via satellite to ground radios, which will bounce information to control towers. Controllers, in turn, will transmit to the radios, which will broadcast up to the cockpit.

The new technology will allow pilots, for the first time, to see what controllers see: other aircraft in the sky around them, bad weather and terrain, and information such as temporary flight restrictions.

Need more detail? Check out the FAA's NextGen Implementation Plan (84-page PDF). There are basically five elements to this system:

Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B). ADS-B will use the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite signals to provide air traffic controllers and pilots with much more accurate information that will help to keep aircraft safely separated in the sky and on runways. Aircraft transponders receive GPS signals and use them to determine the aircraft's precise position in the sky. This and other data is then broadcast to other aircraft and air traffic control. Once fully established, both pilots and air traffic controllers will, for the first time, see the same real-time display of air traffic, substantially improving safety. The FAA will mandate the avionics necessary for implementing ADS-B.
System Wide Information Management (SWIM). SWIM will provide a single infrastructure and information management system to deliver high quality, timely data to many users and applications. By reducing the number and types of interfaces and systems, SWIM will reduce data redundancy and better facilitate multi-user information sharing. SWIM will also enable new modes of decision making as information is more easily accessed.
Next Generation Data Communications. Current communications between aircrew and air traffic control, and between air traffic controllers, are largely realised through voice communications. Initially, the introduction of data communications will provide an additional means of two-way communication for air traffic control clearances, instructions, advisories, flight crew requests and reports. With the majority of aircraft data link equipped, the exchange of routine controller-pilot messages and clearances via data link will enable controllers to handle more traffic. This will improve air traffic controller productivity, enhancing capacity and safety.
Next Generation Network Enabled Weather (NNEW). Seventy percent of NAS delays are attributed to weather every year. The goal of NNEW is to cut weather-related delays at least in half. Tens of thousands of global weather observations and sensor reports from ground-, airborne- and space-based sources will fuse into a single national weather information system, updated in real time. NNEW will provide a common weather picture across the national airspace system, and enable better air transportation decision making.
NAS Voice Switch (NVS). There are currently seventeen different voice switching systems in the NAS, some in use for more than twenty years. NVS will replace these systems with a single air/ground and ground/ground voice communications system.

Yeah, there's a video...

Technorati Tags: faa nextgen faa+nextgen nnew nvs swim ads-b

WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits 04/23/2010

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:21:22 -0700

Boeing-built U.S. Air Force "miniature space shuttle" X-37B is succesfully launched amid a cloud of secrecy about its mission.
[Seattle Post Intelligencer - 04/23/2010]

CenturyTel (CenturyLink after merging with Embarq in 2009), the country's fifth-largest local phone company, to buy Qwest, the third largest, in stock swap worth $10.6 billion.
[FierceTelecom - 04/23/2010]

BT announces the completion of its first satellite terminal in Antarctica, at one of the world’s coldest, driest, and windiest locations.
[SatNews - 04/23/2010]

Iridium extends relationship with KDDI of Japan, making it an authorized service provider of Iridium's OpenPort High-bandwidth maritime satellite communication service.
[SatNews - 04/23/2010]

MTN Satellite Communications, in partnership with ERZIA Technologies, opens new European satellite teleport in Santander, Spain.
[SatNews - 04/23/2010]

Stratos Global is providing world-renowned adventurer Ray Zhab's "Running Tunisia" expedition with Inmarsat BGANmobile broadband satellite service.
[SatNews - 04/23/2010]

Two Cobham businesses honored in 2010 Queen's Awards for Enterprise in the categories of Internatikon Trade and Innovation.
[SatNews - 04/23/2010]

Satelllite Today to bring live webcast of the SES-1 launch Saturday, April 24.
[Satellite Today - 04/23/2010]

Harris Corporation is providing NEXIO AMP advance media platform to German national public television broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen to support HD migration and centralization of ZDF's playout center in Mainz.
[SatNews - 04/23/2010]

SES ASTRA will launch 3D demo channel on ASTRA May 4.
[SatNews - 04/23/2010]

European Commission announces financing of Alphasat telecommunications satellite to be launched in 2012, a joint effort of the European Space Agency and Inmarsat to extend high-speed voice and data to remote European areas, Africa, and the Middle East.
[UPI - 04/22/2010]

U.S. Army modifications to VSAT terminals to increase security of battlefield communications will include a change from hardware key exchanges to software key exchanges.
[Defense Systems - 04/22/2010]

First images of the sun returned by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Satellite please research scientists.
[IndyPosted - 04/22/2010]

Schlumberger looks for buyer for its satellite unit GCS, provider of satellite antennas and specialised communications for oil rigs, tankers, and other hard-to-reach sites.
[Reuters - 04/21/2010]

Expand Networks' advanced WAN optimization technology supports satellite communications services for Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California.
[SatNews - 04/21/2010]

Gateway Communications increases presence in West Africa with signature of two deals in Guinea.
[TMCnet - 04/21/2010]

Global Satellite Engineering has partnership with Ocens data services, with Ocens using GSE's SatCollect software to reduce in-bound call expenditures.
[SatNews -04/21/2010]

Flexible commercial satellite services acquisition joint effort of GSA and DISA holds great promise, according to director of satellite communications, teleport, and services at DISA.
[Defense Systems - 04/21/2010]

Caprock launches latest value-added service offering, Crew Infotainment, reaching remote employhees across energy, maritime, and government services industries.
[SatNews - 04/21/2010]

KVH doubles their mini-VSAT Broadband network's bandwidth in the North Pacific Ocean Region.
[SatNews - 04/21/2010]

ARINC Incorporated announces that three major Asia Pacific carriers have selected the company’s GLOBALinkSM data link services for airline communications and flight operations.
[SatNews - 04/21/2010]

Barcelona Moon Team, a multidisciplinary joint venture in Spain, announces entry into Google Lunar X Prize competition challenging engineers across the globe to build and launch to the moon a privately funded spacecraft capable of exploration.
[SatNews - 04/21/2010]

Lockheed Martin gets $10 million task award to provide satellite and tactical communications for U.S. Marine Corps.
[CBS News - 04/20/2010]

Chinese villages in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu stricken by the 7.1 magnitude quake all have contact to the outside world restored, with fixed-line and mobile service being restored, and some 234 satellite phones serving the regioin.
[China Daily - 04/19/2010]

Iridium and Quake Global partner to enhance new generation of intelligent industrial satellite transceivers.
[Market Watch - 04/19/2010]

SES ASTRA signs capacity agreement with South African pay-TV operator On Digital Media for three transponders on ASTRA-4A.
[SatNews - 04/19/2010]

ViaSat wins $6.6 million MIDS-LVT add-on order to its $21.5 million Multifunctional Information Distribution System - Low Volume Terminals.
[Satellite Today - 04/20/2010]

U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command selects Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp for next generation ocean altimetry satellite GFO-2.
[SatNews - 04/19/2010]

Vizada unveils its mobile satellite communications offering for Asia-Pacific military customers at the Defense Services Asia trade show.
[SatNews - 04/19/2010]

Satellite operators Artel, Caprock, and Globecomm file complaints with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and called for a congressional and regulatory inquiry over alleged unfair business practices.
[Satellite Today - 04/19/2010]

Raytheon wins DigitalGlobe contract to provide enhance constellation-collection management system.
[Satellite Today - 04/19/2010]

SeaMobile Europe wins connectivity services contract for AG2R Transat maritime race
[Satellite Today - 04/19/2010]

Heard On The Grapevine - Galaxy 15 update - Last week it was reported that Galaxy 15 was drifting with the payload on with no control over the satellite because of failed command receivers. Information obtained this week reveals that it was the Upllink/Downlink Unit that failed June 9 due to Solar flare activity, causing an inability to process uplinked commands. Different failure mode, same result, with adjacent satellites at risk of massive interference if approached by Galaxy 15.

Samsung puts 3D TV health warning on its Australian web site, Worries include epileptic seizure or stroke, convulsions, involuntary movement, motion sickness, nausea, lightheadedness, dizziness, disorientation, and altered vision.
[samsung.com 3D TV warning]

NSR to host free webinar "SATELlite-Based Earth Observation (EO): Ready for Phase 4 of Growth?"
[NSR Webinar Registration]

NSR Industry Briefing - Growing the Government and Military COTM Market - Easier Said Than Done.
{NSR Industry Briefing]

WBMSAT PS services

Technorati Tags: satellite+news via+satellite satellite+today satcom satnews satellite+week

WBMSAT Satellite Industry News Bits 04/02/2010

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 21:37:16 -0700

Gilat is engaged to deliver its SkyEdge II-based satelli8te network technology to support a border security program of an undisclosed Latin American country.
[UPI - 04/02/2010]

European Space Policy Institute to release fourth volume in series of publications evaluating how to achieve sustainable use of space by means of respecting fairness and responsibility.
[SatNews - 04/02/2010]

Fourth annual Military Satellites Summit April 27 - 28 in Tysons Corner, VA, is announced by the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement.
[dBusinessNews - 04/02/2010]

Ocean Systems Engineering will provide a wide variety of services and support relating to satellite communications to the Marine Corps under $13.1 million order.
[Washington Technology - 04/02/2010]

ARINC becomes Distribution Partner for SwiftBroadband service from Inmarsat.
[SatNews - 04/01/2010].

Gantry for Russian Soyuz rocket at Arianespace facility in French Guiana takes shape.
[SatNews - 04/01/2010]

Bolivia signs contract with China for a $300 million communications satellite.
[Reuters - 04/01/2010]

Integral Systems gets support services contract in Asia for $3+ million.
[SatNews - 04/01/2010]

DirecTV to have four 3D channels beginning in June - ESPN, N3D, a 3D pay-per-view channel, and one on-demand 3D channel.
[SatNews - 04/01/2010]

China Satellite Communications profit jumps 26.9% in 2009.
[TMCnet - 04/01/2010]

Harris comes to 2010 NAB as market leader in Mobile TV, with more than 40 sales of ATSC Mobile DTV systems confirmed to date.
[SatNews - 04/01/2010]

Sencore to introduce its first DVB-S2 modulator.
[SatNews - 04/01/2010]

Scientists funded by Astrium unveil 30 Kg nanosatellite engineered to clear more than 5,000 tons of debris in low-Earth orbit.
[Satellite Today - 04/01/2010]

Frost & Sullivan report finds inadequate satellite bandwidth impacts world VSAT market by increasing service revenues, while causing a dip in sales of equipment or hardware.
[PR Newswire - 04/01/2010]

SpaceX activates International Space Station (ISS) communications system for the Dragon spacecraft, which is to begin ISS resupply missions starting in 2011.
[Space Travel - 03/31/2010]

Shaw Direct contracts with Telesat to acquire capacity on a new satellite to be available in late 2012.
[CNN Money - 03/31/2010]

Comtech Systems gets $34.5 million contract for telecommunications transmission equipment from a North African government.
[CNN Money - 03/31/2010]

Boeing explores collaboration with Indian Space Research Organization in area of communications satellites.
[Space Daily - 03/31/2010]

Astrium is commissioned by European Space Agency to build Sentinel-2B optical satellite.
[SatNews - 03/31/2010]

DigitalGlobe announces its content library contains more than one billion square kilometers of earth imagery, 33% of which is less than one year old.
[SatNews - 03/31/2010]

India's GSLV rocket, powered by home-made cryogenic engine for the first time, is slated to launch the GSAT-4 experimental satellite April 15th.
[Space Travel - 03/31/2010]

Russia increases security for train rollout of Soyuz rocket for launch to the International Space Station, in aftermath of suicide bomb attacks.
[Space Daily - 03/31/2010]

Documents filed by FCC indicate that Harbinger Capital Partners intends to use its recent acquisition of satellite communications company Skyterra to build out a 4G network, competing withy cellular carriers.
[Business Week - 03/30/2010]

India is developing winged reusable rocket for launching objects into space.
[Space Travel - 03/30/2010]

Singapore to have first locally-built satellite in space by middle of this year - a 120 kg micro-satellite called the X-Sat
[Space Daily - 03/30/2010]

Avanti wins government contract extension in Northern Ireland.
[Satellite Today - 03/30/2010]

CryoSat-2 satellite to be launched April 8 in program led by UK to monitor changes in ice cover at the poles.
[Phys-Org - 03/30/2010]

NASA awards contracts to eight aerospace firms for Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition III spacecraft and related services.
[SatNews - 03/30/2010]

Norsat wins network service contract worth $1.7 million from military group based in Europe.
[SatNews - 03/30/2010]

Teal Group Corp. revises upward its Worldwide Mission Model of future space payloads, indicating there are 2,229 space payloads proposed for launch to Earth or Lunar orbits, or deep space trajectories, from 2010 - 2029.
SatNews - 03/30/2010]

SES WORLD SKIES hosts Defense Information Systems Network connection point at Manassas VA media port, enhancing U.S. government access to WORLD SKIES bandwidth and global connectivity.
[SatNews - 03/30/2010]

SatMAX, a leading provider of non-line of sight satellite communications equipment signs letter of intent to grant exclusive domestic marketing rights to AvStar Aviation Group.
[CNN Money - 03/29/2010]

U.S. Air Force could transfer some Atlas and Delta rocket missions from Florida to California and assign U.S. military payloads to specific boosters closer to launch in effort in improve efficiencies in launch manifests.
[Space Flight Now - 03/29/2010]

Northrup Grumman stops some work on next generation of U.S. weather satellites as officials decide how to proceed under Obama administration's decision to terminate and divide program among three government agencies.
[Spaceflight Now - 03/29/2010]

Russia Eyes bigger slice of international space market, planning to build a new space center.
[Space Daily - 03/29/2010]

AT&T and Verizon Wireless criticize FCC decision to require SkyTerra to seek FCC approval before leasing capacity to the two largest wireless providers.
[Business Week - 03/29/2010]

Globe Wireless enters agreement to supply and install two FleetBroadband satellite terminals per ship aboard approximately 350 Anlo Eastern Ship Management vessels.
[SatNews - 03/29/2010]

KVH Industries TracPhone and miniVSAT broadband systems to be installed on vessels of DSD Shipping of Norway.
[SatNews - 03/29/2010]

Arianespace Ariane 5 launch postponed several days to allow replacement of part in a launcher subsystem that caused an anomaly.
[SatNews - 03/28/2010]

Cape Canaveral new $500 million rocket launch tower unused, with Ares 1 rocket and entire Constellation program cancelled by the Obama administration.
[Space Travel - 03/28/2010]

Space shuttle Discovery to launch April 5 for 13 day mission in fourth-to-last shuttle launch.
[Discover Magazine - 03/28/2010]

U.S., Air Force responds to Iridium's call to put hosted payloads, experiments, and sensors on the company's next-generation satellites.
[Space Flight Now - 03/27/2010]

Air Force flight tests validate two-and-a-half year effort , successfully accessing the high-capacity Ka-band portion of the new WGS satellites from airborne 707 test bed.
[U.S. Air Force web site - 03/26/2010]

WBMSAT PS - Satellite Communications Consulting Services

Technorati Tags: satnews satcom satellite+today via+satellite satellite+news satellite+week

50 Years of Tracking Weather From Space

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:01:50 -0700

Nice piece in today's Star-Ledger, marking the 50th anniversary of the TIROS spacecraft, designed and built by RCA Astro-Electronics in East Windsor, NJ:

WALL -- It didn’t get the respect of Sputnik or a hit song like Telstar, but 50 years ago today TIROS redefined the space race.

For the 78 days it functioned, this engineering marvel proved America could not only put a satellite into outer space but — in a giant leap beyond the Soviet satellites — take pictures once it got there.

"It was huge. Massive. It not only did radically change the study of meteorology, but it gave us the upper hand in the Cold War by showing the Russians we could spy on them from outer space," said historian Fred Carl. "How cool is that?"

Way cool. And impossible without New Jersey’s contribution, which may be why the state appears to be the only place celebrating TIROS’s big anniversary, according to NASA officials.
TIROS-satellite2.jpgPhoto by Carolyn Russo/NASMIn 1960, TIROS I became the world's first successful imaging weather satellite. Nine more TIROS series spacecraft followed, and they revolutionized weather monitoring and prediction. This prototype of TIROS I and II was used for ground testing.
Granted, the festivities are not exactly on par with Columbus Day.

In Princeton, the party will start Saturday with a program featuring some of the scientists who worked at RCA Astro-Electronics in East Windsor, the birthplace of TIROS. In Wall Township, home of the giant dish that received the first images sent back from TIROS, local officials will gather April 11 to sign an application to put the site on the National Historic Register.

In coming weeks there will be scholarly discussions about the future of space exploration and a dinner dance.

Primarily, however, the TIROS anniversary is an opportunity for aging scientists and engineers to reflect back on when they were there for the dawn of space travel.

"It was a time of national need and TIROS is about how one group of people responded to that need," said George Martch, 73, a retired RCA engineer who is organizing the Princeton celebration. "It’s hard now, when satellite photos are everywhere, to imagine what it was like back then before the technology existed.

"We were making it up as we went along."

Only 40 years earlier, meteorologists were still sending up kites to get weather readings, a practice that routinely caused electrocution. But World War II brought huge technological advances. By the 1950s, the basics were there.

Cameras had already gone briefly into space, attached on the backs of ballistic missiles. The military had put test satellites into brief orbit and NASA, the civilian space agency, was in place, although in its infancy.

The problem was putting it all together.

"What we had was mostly experimental. We had to adapt cameras and find a way to store images, since they could only be sent back under certain conditions," said Martch, adding they also developed a power source, antennas and a way to stabilize the orbit. "You have to remember, there really was no aerospace before this."

It was a time of flux, as systems, structural and electrical engineers, scientists, physicists, and experts in thermal dynamics and propulsion were switched back and forth, depending on the progress of each component, RCA retirees recalled.

There was drama along the way. They learned electronics will fry when subjected to the wrong pressure in a vacuum chamber. There were heated theoretical battles and even romance among two RCA scientists who later married.

The result looked like a giant hatbox and weighed less than a defensive lineman. It was aluminum and stainless steel and covered with 9,200 solar cells.

Launched April 1, 1960, out of Cape Canerval Florida, it stayed in orbit by spinning like a top, traveled 18,000 mph and could circle the earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of about 450 miles.

It was formally known as the Television Infra-Red Observation Satellite and shot 22,962 photographs before a fatal power failure ended its mission.

TIROS was the first satellite to publicly take photos of the earth, although there was a secret project launched by the U.S. military a year earlier. However, only TIROS could send photos back to Earth in real time.

The "Eye in the Sky," as TIROS was also called, needed a way to phone home, and that is where Camp Evans in Monmouth County came in.

The former property of telegraph pioneer Marconi had been absorbed by RCA. It was later sold to the military and the Signal Corps built a radar laboratory there during World War II, said Carl, a former science teacher who is leading a campaign to preserve the site.

A giant receiver that was assembled at Camp Evans, where it still exists. Minutes after TIROS sent back its first picture, it was on a jet to Washington and hand-delivered to President Eisenhower. He sent copies to the Russians and the Chinese as a "gesture of goodwill," noting TIROS busily was taking photos of both countries.

Kicking a little Communist butt at the height of the Cold War was only a side benefit of TIROS. Its real accomplishment came nine days into orbit, when it sent back a photograph of a curious cloud formation with a hole in the middle.

Planes were dispatched to the photo location, in one of the "silent spots" in the South Atlantic where it was formerly impossible to take weather readings. The "hole" was a nascent tropical storm.

Hurricane tracking was born.

"Solar cells, tape recorders, transistor tubes, phone cameras. They all are directly related to TIROS," said Carl. "But with storm tracking, TIROS is responsible for saving millions of lives, yet few people have ever heard of it. Don’t you think it’s time that changed?

The back-up can be found at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The tracking antenna on Marconi Road in Wall, N.J.? Still working...

Our friends at NOAA are marking the anniversary as well...

Fifty years ago today, the world’s first weather satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and opened a new and exciting dimension in weather forecasting. Top leaders from NOAA and NASA hailed the milestone as an example of their agencies’ strong partnership and commitment to flying the best satellites today and beyond.

The first image from the satellite, known as TIROS-1 (Television Infrared Observation Satellite), was a fuzzy picture of thick bands and clusters of clouds over the United States. An image captured a few days later revealed a typhoon about a 1,000 miles east of Australia. TIROS-1, a polar-orbiting satellite, weighed 270 pounds and carried two cameras and two video recorders. Though the satellite only lasted 78 days, its impact is still visible today.

“This satellite forever changed weather forecasting,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Since TIROS-1, meteorologists have far greater information about severe weather and can issue more accurate forecasts and warnings that save lives and protect property.”

"TIROS-1 started the satellite observations and interagency collaborations that produced vast improvements in weather forecasts," said NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr. "It also laid the foundation for our current global view of Earth that underlies all of climate research and the field of Earth system science."

Throughout the 1960s, each TIROS spacecraft carried increasingly advanced instruments and technology. By 1965, meteorologists combined 450 TIROS images into the first global view of the world’s weather.

Technorati Tags: tiros rca rca+astro east+windsor hurricane+tracking nasa noaa nws weather+satellite