Really Rocket Science

Sirius FM-5 satellite arrives at Baikonur Cosmodrome on May 26th for testing and integration in preparation for 5th Proton launch of 2009.
[Satnews – 05/29/2009]

Avanti Communications Group selected as member of North Sea Freight and Intelligent Transport Solutions consortium to deploy satellite communications services for safety and security for shipping in North Sea region.
[Satnews – 05/29/2009]

Harris wins $736m 10 year contract to provide satellite ground segment for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s geostationary operational environmental satellite.
[Orlando Business Journal – 05/28/2009]

SES Astra joint venture with Abu Dhabi’s Yahsat, Yahlive, to launch first satellite and offer DTH satellite television in fourth quarter 2009.
[Reuters – 05/28/2009]

Starling Advanced Communications to introduce StarRail, a broadband solution for trains including an aerodynamically designed satellite antenna, at a trade show next month.
[TMCnet – 05/28/2009]

Thaicom subsidiary IPStar partners with Comtech EF Data to provide integrated satellite backhaul solutions for mobile and WiMax networks.
[Satellite Today – 05/28/2009]

Manned Lunar landing considered by Chinese scientists, in 2025-2030 time frame.
[Satnews – 05/28/2009]

MEASAT signs an agreement to provide MBNS of ASTRO ALL ASIA NETWORKS with 6 Ku-band transponders on MEASAT 3 for 15 years.
[Satnews – 05/28/2009]

Microsoft and BskyB to announce partnership to integrate functionality of XBox 360 gaming system and BskyB’s satellite TV service.
[Satellite Today – 05/28/2009]

Spacenet and Orbital Enterprises deploy the Connexstar satellite communications services to support enterprise networks for Star Race Cars.
[Satellite Today – 05/28/2009]

RapidEye reports it has collected more than 69 million square kilometers of at least 80% cloud-free images during its first 100 days.
[Satellite Today – 05/28/2009]

Uganda becomes first country in Comesa regional bloc of Africa to launch a satellite communications system, to promote trade and commerce at reduced costs.
[Daily Monitor – 05/27/2009]

SkyTerra excercises option to move SkyTerra 2 satellite launch from Sea Launch to ILS, to be launched in late 2010.
[Satellite Today – 05/27/2009]

ESA’s gravity mission GOCE proves that the sophisticated electric propulsion system is able to keep the satellite completely free of drag as it moves through the outer reaches of Earth’s atmosphere.
[Satnews – 05/27/2009]

Soyuz TMA-15 launched from Baikonur May 27 with more visitors for the International Space Station.
[Satnews – 05/27/2009]

SES Astra signs agreement with Eurosat and the Country Land and Business Association to extend the reach of its Astra2Connect service in the U.K.
[Satellite Today – 05/27/209]

Japanese company NTT Electronics selects Newtec to be its DVB-S2 partner for development of its new integrated receiver decoder, the HVD6100.
[Satellite Today – 05/27/2009]

Canby Telcom of Oregon will switch from SES Americom’s IP-Prime to Echostar
Satellite Services for HD IPTV.
[CED Magazine – 05/27/2009]

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. subsidiary Mabuhay Satellite Corp. withdraws its offer to buy $27.5m worth of ProtoStar preferred shares.
[Satellite Today – 05/27/2009]

European Space Agency awards Avanti €250k grant to design super-fast satellite broadband system called Hercules, to deliver between 2Mb and 50Mb broadband access to 2.5 million UK rural households currently without broadband.
[Tech Watch – 05/26/2009]

1,000 airplanes flying U.S. domestic routes expected to have Wi-Fi service by the
end of 2009; the airlines may move toward providing in-flight entertainment over the
Wi-Fi links.
[New York Times – 05/26/2009]

ViaSat receives certification from National Security Agency for ruggedized AN?PSC-14(C) Broadband Global Area Network integrated manpack terminal.
[Satnews – 05/26/2009]

Thailand’s Information and Communications Technology Ministry discusses with National Telecommunications Commission the possible liberalization of Thailand’s satellite market, given the approaching end of life for Thaicom 1 and 2 satellites.
[Bangkok Post – 05/26/2009]

Russia makes plans to detach and fly away its parts of the International Space Station when the time comes to de-orbit the rest of the ISS, likely around 2020.
[Satnews – 05/26/2009]

Shelby County Tennessee enhances interoperable contingency communications for emergency operations, deploying SkyTerra push-to-talk satellite services.
[BusinessWire – 05/26/2009]

Builder of Russia’s Soyuz rockets finishes the first rockets due to be launched from South America pad in cooperation with the European Space Agency.
[Satnews – 05/26/2009]

Earth Space Agency launches a neutral space marketplace to assist civilian space companies to trade parts, services, and patents required for building space ships, satellites, and space probes.
[Satnews – 05/26/2009]

California residents file class action lawsuit against Hughesnet, alleging the company advertised connectivity speeds between 1 and 3 Mbps, while delivering much slower speeds.
[Satellite Today – 05/26/2009]

South Africa’s SumbandilaSat to be launched as secondary payload on Russian Soyuz in August, because primary payload Russian Meteor M weather satellite will not be ready until then.
[Satnews – 05/25/2009]

Arianespace launches Russian governmental satellite on Soyuz rocket.
[Satellite Today – 05/25/2009]

WBMSAT PS – Satellite Communications Consulting Services

Play it again, Romain. Our favorite satcom CEO, Romain Bausch of SES, is making the rounds this month (click for webcast). Talking to bankers and analysts about his company’s strong financial performance currently and beyond.  He’s just trying to move the stock price. Yeah, good luck with that The Really Rocket Science Stock Index seems to be doing OK.

Now I doubt this is sufficient cause for civil unrest in the streets of Luxembourg.  But it is enough for Peter de Selding of Space News to call them on it:

Satellite fleet operator SES is rethinking its strategy with respect to its biggest rival, Intelsat, in light of Intelsat’s recently demonstrated ability to maintain a global presence despite its huge debt load and its owners’ ultimate goal of cashing out of the business, SES officials said May 19.

In presentations to investors in London, SES officials reiterated their view that, over time, SES’s stable investor base and moderate debt load will enable it to outlast Intelsat in regions that, while profitable, would exhaust Intelsat’s capital expenditure limits.

In these cases, they said, SES will be ready to use its financial strength to establish satellite beachheads in markets currently dominated by Intelsat.

SES Chief Executive Romain Bausch went so far as to say the eventual disposition of Intelsat assets as its current private-equity owners seek an exit will be more important than the current global economic crisis in shaping the commercial satellite telecommunications landscape in the coming years.

"It is not the crisis that will determine what will go on in our industry in terms of concentration," Bausch said of a possible reshuffling of satellites assets worldwide.

"The main driver of concentration in our industry will [be] the need of the current owners of the large satellite operators. To be very clear: Intelsat is today capital constrained because of its LBOs [leveraged buyouts, which loaded the company with debt]. There is only one objective of the current owners of Intelsat: to prepare a profitable exit from that business. They are private-equity funds and their mission is not to remain shareholders of a satellite operator for 10 years.

"So there might be consolidation in our sector because of the shareholders of one of the two large satellite operators — namely Intelsat — having to exit. This is much more important for the discussion about landscape and concentration than the current crisis."

Notwithstanding this strategic assessment, Bausch said Luxembourg-based SES is rethinking its short-term assumptions following a couple of deals Intelsat put together. Intelsat’s New Dawn satellite, being built with South African partners, will require little capital outlay by Intelsat. The IS-22 satellite to be deployed over the Indian Ocean, meanwhile, is being financed largely by the Australian Defence Force in exchange for a UHF-band payload that Australian forces will use for mobile communications.

Bausch said that in 2008, SES compiled an internal assessment forecasting that its in-orbit capacity would grow by 4 percent annually. The same forecast concluded that Eutelsat of Paris would increase its in-orbit transponder capacity by 2.5-3 percent annually, while Intelsat would reduce its in-orbit fleet by some 2.5 percent a year.

SES now concludes that with the "very creative financing" Intelsat has demonstrated, "they may not go for such an important decrease in the capacity they will offer. So we will probably have to revisit our model and to be less aggressive regarding Intelsat shrinking its satellite capacity. But still, they will not increase capacity."

SES is in the middle of a substantial fleet-expansion program that will add more than 20 percent to its current in-orbit transponder capacity in the coming years from satellites already under construction.

Robert Bednarek, president of SES Americom New Skies, one of two SES divisions — SES Astra is the other — that divide up the world from a satellite-market perspective, said SES is "not sure we can discern a strategy [at Intelsat] yet. It obviously relates to the long-term plans of the current private-equity holders."

Bednarek said Intelsat is likely to conclude more deals similar to New Dawn, where a money-making satellite nearing retirement is replaced through a partnership that permits Intelsat to avoid digging deeply into its own pockets.

New Dawn and IS-22, Bednarek said, are "essentially someone else financing a replacement. … I would expect that process — an our-slots-your-money approach of financing either replacement satellites or fresh satellites — to continue. We certainly haven’t anticipated them disappearing from the market, by any stretch."

BC Partners Holdings Ltd., Intelsat’s lead investor, has said it is willing to stick with the investment over the long term. Intelsat Chief Executive David McGlade in recent months has said the company’s owners have been willing to permit selected investments in growth opportunities despite Intelsat’s large debt.

SES and Intelsat of Bermuda and Washington are by far the world’s largest commercial satellite fleet operators, with market shares in 2008 of 25.1 percent and 24.7 percent, respectively, according to SES estimates.

SES assumes that the global market for Ku-band satellite capacity will grow by 4.5 percent per year between now and 2016, while the C-band market will grow by 2.4 percent annually.

Trashing your competitor is not going to win you business. Good service and reasonable pricing will.

Orbit Technology Group announces order worth more than $4m from the French Navy for Ku-band and C-band marine satellite communication systems.
[SatNews – 05/22/2009]

Comtech EF Data introduces point-to-multipoint modem, CDM-740, for satellite IP delivery using integrated DVB-S/S2 receiver and turbo product-coding SCPC modulator.
[Satellite Today – 05/22/2009]

Air Force rebuts General Accounting Office report critical of its management of the GPS program, saying it has plenty of ways to keep up the navigation system.
[Wireless Week – 05/22/2009]

NASA’s return to the moon to get support from two satellites, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, to be launched together June 17 by an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral.
[SatNews – 05/21/2009]

Boeing files accusations against NASA of ‘inexplicably" altering evaluation process between the company and its competitor Lockheed Martin in the battle for a $1.1 billion contract for up to four GOES-R weather satellites.
[Satellite Today – 05/21/2009]

Swedish Space  receives all necessary approvals from U.S. government for acquisition of U.S.-based Universal Space Network, a leader in satellite telemetry, tracking, and control services.
[SatNews – 05/21/2009]

Seven astronauts expected to return to Earth Friday May 22 after successful 11-day mission to upgrade Hubble telescope.
[SatNews – 05/21/2009]
Hubble considered better than new after the mission; never to be seen by humans again – a robotic spacecraft is to steer it back towards the atmosphere and a "watery grave" after 2020.
[SatNews – 05/19/2009]

Iridium launches third annual "test your satellite phone" week, encouraging emergency workers and first responders to ensure their satellite phone works, to be prepared in case of a disaster.
[PR Newswire – 05/21/2009]

Congressional investigators conclude that poor planning and unproven technologies on key Pentagon space programs led to cost overruns, delays, and possible gaps in military satellite programs.
[AP hosted by Google – 05/21/2009]

RRsat expands access of its content management and global distribution services to Africa via Telstar 11N.
[PR Newswire – 05/21/2009]

Finally – NASA’s PharmaSat nanosatellite and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s TacSat-3 satellite successfully launched from Wallops Island.
[SatNews – 05/20/2009]

NASA’s largest ever parachute, 2,000 pounds and 150 feet in diameter, will allow recovery of the first stage rocket motor of the Ares 1, of the Constellation Program.
[R&D Magazine – 05/20/2009]

Inmarsat selects Arianspace to launch new Alphasat-1-XL satellite using new European platform, Alphabus, and weighing more than six tons, in 2012.
[SatNews – 05/20/2009]

ISS Reshetnev wins contract to build Russian Express satellites.
[Satellite Today – 05/20/2009]

DirectTV continues to top customer satisfaction poll among cable and satellite TV operators, as Comcast has greatest improvement, Cox improves, and Dish Network falls.
[AP hosted by Google – 05/20/2009]

Gateway Communications, the leading provider of African telecommunications services, announces AfricaConnect for South African retail community, following successful implementation in banking, mining, logisitcs, and other sectors.
[TMC news – 05/20/2009]

Eutelsat W2A satellite C and Ku-band go live, transferring service from W1 satellite and immediately initiating service for newly won contracts.
[PR Newswire – 05/19/2009]

Russian Proton-M rocket launches U.S. company ProtoStar’s ProtoStar-2 telecommunications satellite.
[mosnews.com – 05/19/2009]

TerreStar and Space Systems Loral announce arrival of TerreStar-1 in Kourou, French Guiana, teeing up for June 24 launch on Ariane 5.
[Wireless Week – 05/19/2009]

ICO Global Communications files legal challenges against European Commision over exclusive licenses inssued to Inmarsat and Solaris Mobile for S-band MSS services in Europe.
[Satellite Today – 05/18/2009]

Avail Media and TVN merge, with investment from the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, offering a possible answer to the absence of IP Prime, which SES Americom has announced it is closing down.
[Fierce IPTV – 05/18/2009]

Airlines race to install Wi-Fi – but how do you squeeze yourself and your laptop into a comfortable work position?
[The New York Times – 05/18/2009]

ATSB re-schedules launch of its remote sensing satellite, RazakSat, for mid-July.
[Satellite Today – 05/18/2009]

Congressmen introduce bill to name "incitive" satelllite broadcasters who broadcast "incitive stations" as terrorists
[Satellite Today – 05/18/2009]

Brazil and the U.S. working to arrest people in Brazil illegally using U.S. Navy FLTSATCOM communications satellites for communications throughout Brazil.
[strategypage.com – 05/17/2009]

NSR report – using stimulus funds to level the playing field, not tilt it – while less than 1% of stimulus package is directed towards broadband initiatives, much attention has been garnered, and present thinking seems to follow a competitive approach that would favor a single technology winner, which would be counterproductive.
[NSR Broadband Satellite Services report – May 2009]

WBMSAT PS – Satellite Communications Consulting Services

 We all depend on the Sun for life. Whether we know it or not, those of us who watch TV depend on communications satellites for efficient distribution. Broadcast television networks, cable TV, and, of course, direct broadcast satellite — they all depend on satcom systems to get their programming to us, 24x7x365.

Now, more than ever, people are personally dependent on GPS satellites to find their way. Hosted a party over the weekend, and it was the first time nobody asked for direction. "We got GPS," was the response.

Us rocket scientists — and various "sat nuts" who follow these activities — have know the Earth’s magnetic fields are greatly affected by the Sun’s activities, such as sunspots.

The European Space Agency published a report measuring such extreme solar events last week:

“With these detailed observations, we’ll be able to plug in data and better estimate what happens to the inner magnetosphere and near-Earth space during such explosions on the Sun”, said Iannis Dandouras, lead author of the results published recently, and Principal Investigator of the Cluster Ion Spectrometer.

“Looking at such a large-scale physical phenomena with a single satellite is akin to predicting the impact of a tsunami with a single buoy,” added Matt Taylor, ESA’s Project Scientist for Cluster and Double Star. “With Cluster and Double Star we have monitored both sides of Earth simultaneously, and obtained valuable in-situ data.”

Get deeper here. And be sure to check out the animations and images.

Satcom news summary for last week, courtesy of Bill McDonald:

Communications and Power Industries (CPI) wins three-year contract to supply high power, solid-state amplifiers to SWE-DISH, a DataPath company, for its Suitcase and CommuniCase product lines.
[SatNews – 05/01/2009]

Space Shuttle Atlantis to make final visit to Hubble telescope – launch to take place May 11.
[SatNews – 05/01/2009]

Eutelsat to launch Tooway broadband satellite service to UK residents in rural areas, initially with speeds of up to 2Mb, but by 2010 this will rise to 10Mb.
[Top 10 Broadband – 04/30/2009]

Soyuz to join Ariane 5 as launch vehicles lifting off from French Guiana, as Arianespace continues construction of the launch pad and support facilities.
[SatNews – 04/30/2009]

Zefiro 9A rocket motor, to be third stage of Europe’s new small launch vehicle, tested at Salto di Quirra Interforce test range in Sardinia, Italy.
[SatNews – 04/30/2009]

WildBlue Communications seeks a share of the U.S. government’s $7.2 billion broadband stimulus package to develop a new satellite-based platform that can deliver downstream speeds in excess of 18 Mbps to rural areas in need of a high-speed boost.
[Cable Digital News – 04/30/2009]

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates gets two nice wins – a $4m contract to provide an advanced technology solution to EADS Astrium, and a multi-million dollar contract from DigitalGlobe to provide a ground station solution for WorldView-1 and WorldView-2 satellites.
[SatNews – 04/30/2009]

Japanese government task force suggests introducing an early warning satellite that can detect missile launches as part of nations first basic plan on development and use of space.
[SatNews – 04/30/2009]

Iran states that the country’s first domestically-made telecommunications satellite, Omid, launched in February, has successfully concluded its mission and re-entered earth’s atmosphere.
[SatNews – 04/30/2009]

CPI will upgrade Army’s Warfighter Information Network-Tactical military satellite electronics to add Ka band satellite capability under $3m contract with DataPath.
[Military & Aerospace Electronics – 04/29/2009]

NASA prepares to launch nanosatellite known as PharmaSat to perform experiments to help scientists better understand how effectively drugs work in space.
[R&D – 04/29/2009]

Pentagon may reach goal of doing collision analysis on 800 maneuverable satellites before October, considers possibility of tracking 500 more satellites which cannot be maneuvered.
[SatNews – 04/29/2009]

Ducommun Incorporated announces that their Miltec subsidiary has delivered flight-ready nanosatellites to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, completing first U.S. Army satellite development plan since 1960.
[SatNews – 04/29/2009]

Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee holds hearing to examine the challenges faced by civil and commercial space users as the number of satellites and the amount of space debris orbiting Earth continues to grow.
[SpaceRef.com – 04/28/2009]

International Space University students suggest ways to prevent space collisions in  results of 2007 study released at "Space for a Safe and Secure World" symposium.
[SatNews – 04/28/2009]

Hughes wins arbitration against Sea Launch; Sea Launch ordered to pay $52m in dispute over whether Hughes had legal right to cancel Sea Launch contract.
[Satellite Today – 04/28/2009]

German teleport and satellite service provider CEDTel GmbH acquires ND SatCom Managed Services Division.
[SatNews – 04/28/2009]

The Australian Defence Force will spend $167 million for a special payload on the Intelsat 22 satellite to be launched in 2012, to boost its tactical communications for military serving in Afghanistan and nearby theatres in the Indian Ocean.
[The Australian – 04/28/2009]

Boeing wins contract to build satellite for Intelsat, to be launched in 2012, which will serve Australian military.
[The Detroit News – 04/28/2009]

Excelerate Technology wins contracts to provide satellite systems to enhance police communications capabilities in UK.
[Public Technology – 04/28/2009]

Nigeria National Assembly pledges to assist NIGCOMSAT to secure funding for NigComSat 2 & 3.
[Daily Trust – 04/28/2009]

Harbinger Capital Partners founder Philip Falcone presses ahead with multibillion-dollar plans to build international satellite-cellphone business.
[Wall Street Journal – 04/27/2009]

TerreStar satellite to be launched in June to be largest commercial satellite yet, with 60ft mesh antenna, to enable cell-like satellite phones; SkyTerra plans two even larger satellites next year.
[Seattle Times – 04/26/2009]

NSR Report – high throughput Ka-band spotbeam satellites pushing open satellite market door – full long-term potential to change market recognized by few.
[NSR report – April 2009]

WBMSAT PS – Satellite Communications Consulting Services

Americom Government Services (AGS) has been chirping about its "hosted payload" for a while now. It’s scheduled to launch in 2010, and the contract is worth about US$65, which isn’t chump change. What I think made the deal happen is the relationship between SAIC and the AGS CEO, who worked at SAIC for ten years.

Some may argue that AGS has an excellent relationship with the U.S. Government, especially with the Army and NASA. Others counter with Intelsat’s ability to lease more space segment. Why? Because they’ve got the inventory. You can’t sell what you don’t have. Can you make more of it? Yes, you can.

Today’s news from Australia about a US$165 (A$231) deal for a "piggyback payload" for the Australian Defence Force on a future Intelsat spacecraft launching in 2012 ought to spark a ton of chatter:

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) will spend more than $200 million to boost the global communications capabilities of its ships, aircraft and troops.

In a deal worth $231.64 million, the ADF has agreed to purchase the specialised UHF (ultra high frequency) communications package on a Intelsat satellite, which is set for launch in 2012.

The satellite will provide Australian ships, aircraft and troops with an advanced global communications capability.

Intelsat chief executive David McGlade said the contract represented a milestone in the development of hosted payloads that support long-term government needs.

"As this ADF program demonstrates, every commercial satellite going into orbit creates opportunities for governments to deploy mission-critical capabilities, with significant cost benefits and quicker time to in-orbit operations," he said.

The ADF has a growing reliance on satellite communications to run operations in theatres such as Afghanistan, and the UHF band is used widely by the military because of its adaptability to small, mobile terminals used by ground, sea and air forces.

Intelsat vice-president for hosted payload programs Don Brown said the deal would provided the ADF with a cost-effective, near-term solution for reliable UHF tactical communications.

Of course, the WSJ had a "heads up" on this deal, especially with regard to market impact:

The agreement is an important element of Intelsat’s bid to expand its share of the fastest growing part of the commercial satellite industry: supplying bandwidth to the Pentagon, other federal agencies and foreign governmental entities. The arrangement also could set a precedent for how the U.S. military will acquire commercial satellite capacity in the future, particularly with increased deployment of U.S. and foreign troops in Afghanistan.

As the operator of the world’s largest commercial satellite fleet, Bermuda-based Intelsat already has a robust government business. But instead of continuing to provide services to such users on a short-term, spot basis as has been the traditional pattern, the arrangement announced Monday establishes an important new benchmark. It dedicates part of a big satellite that is still under construction for use by the Australian Defence Force for 15 years.

The company said the satellite, another portion of which it hopes to lease in the same way, is expected to be launched in 2012. The majority of the satellite’s capacity, however, will be marketed to corporate customers under the usual terms.

"This is strategically important to us," Intelsat Chief Executive Dave McGlade said in an interview, noting that revenue at Intelsat General Corp., the company’s governmental-services unit, rose 23% in the last quarter. Mr. McGlade and his managers have worked hard in recent years to improve relations with government customers internationally, and to offer new ways to help meet the Pentagon’s communications requirements. He said Intelsat officials also have broached the idea of supplying imagery "and other types of sensors" to the U.S. military by using commercial platforms.

Wow, Intelsat General’s revenues are up 23% last quarter. Is AGS doing this well? I don’t think so; nothing found in the SES earnings highlights.

Another brilliant brand from ASTRA: YahLive, a joint venture with Yahsat:

SES ASTRA has entered into a partnership with the Arab satellite operator Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) to create a new company operating under the YahLive brand that will offer Direct-to-Home (DTH) television capacity and services to more than two dozen countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South West Asia, a large region mainly including the Gulf states and the Maghreb.  

YahLive will offer DTH satellite services to free-to-air and pay-TV broadcasters in this region. It will own and commercialise 23 BSS-transponders on the Yahsat 1A spacecraft to be positioned at the 52.5 degrees East orbital position and operating in the Ku-band frequency. The satellite, procured from a consortium of EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, is currently under construction and is scheduled to be launched by the fourth quarter of 2010.

Yahsat is a private joint stock company based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and owned by Mubadala, the investment arm of the government of Abu Dhabi.

Read that press release as if it were a hip-hop rap, yah.

But since this is a "partnership," you’ve got to compromise. Mubadala gets its way. I suppose pissing off Eutelsat is worth it.

The week’s news, courtesy of Bill McDonald…

Fox Pan American Sports to launch Spanish-language HD channel on Intelsat network.
[SatNews – 04/17/2009]

ASTRA signs reseller agreement with Towercom of the Czech Republic and Slovakia for its ASTRA2Connect broadband service.
[SatNews – 04/17/2009]

ATCi digital broadcast system combining MPEG4 and DVB-S2 designed for local channel and/or DMA extension enables cable operators to offer HD channels to all of their extended DMAs at great cost savings.
[SatNews – 04/17/2009]

Inmarsat completes acquisition of Stratos Global Corporation.
[SatNews – 04/16/2009]

Boeing ships IndoStarII/ProtoStar II satellite to Baiknour Cosmodrome for preparation for launch in May.
[SatNews – 04/16/2009]

Lockheed Martin is awarded multi-million dollar contract by SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation of Japan to build JCSAT-13, to be launched in 2013.
[PR Newswire – 04/16/2009]

Eutelsat moves Kabelkiosk digital cable platform to Eurobird 9A satellite.
[Satellite Today – 04/16/2009]

SpaceX tapped by Argentina’s National Commission on Space Activity for two launches aboard the Falcon 9 medium-to-heavy lift vehicle.
[SatNews – 04/16/2009]

Iridium announces certification of EMA Group’s BlueTraker Long-Range Identification and Tracking ship terminal to provide identification and tracking services over the Iridium satellite network.
[PR Newswire – 04/16/2009]

Sea Launch initiates countdown to launch of Telespazio’s SICRAL 1B satellite on April 20.
[SatNews – 04/16/2009]

WTA’s Members Forum on March 23 brought together executives of satellite carriers and teleport companies to discuss conflicts and suggest resolutions to prevent damage to the complex, profitable relationship between them – white paper to be published by WTA in second quarter.
[SatNews – 04/16/2009]

RaySat Broadcasting Corporation contracts with Intelsat to enable delivery of AT&T CruiseCast mobile TV service for family vehicles.
[Digital Facility – 04/15/2009]

SatLink acquires SES Astra 4A capacity to launch African DTH platform.
[Satellite Today – 04/15/2009]

TCS receives U.S. Army contract worth $14.9m to provide transportable ground terminals.
[Satellite Today – 04/15/2009]

Intelsat named Operator of the Year at 2009 SatCom Africa conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.
[SatNews – 04/15/2009]

Comtech EF Data wins $2.1m order for satellite communications equipment to upgrade existing battlefield systems to operate on Wideband Global Satcom system.
[SatNews – 04/15/2009]

The Internet Innovation Alliance, and the MSS & ATC Coalition of satellite companies, submit recommendations on how to best provide broadband to un-served and under-served areas in U.S. in hopes of earning broadband stimulus funding.
[Washington Business Journal – 04/15/2009]

China launches navigational satellite COMPASS, second in a series of as many as 30, to provide Chinese global positioning services.
[SatNews – 04/15/2009]

Canadian provider Juch-Tech signs contract with Viasat to expand VSAT services to Africa.
[Satellite Today – 04/14/2009]

China Satellite Communications Corp. is merged into China’s Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. as planned by the State Council, or Cabinet, of China.
[SatNews – 04/14/2009]

Second advanced EHF military communications satellite built by Lockheed Martin successfully completes environmental testing.
[PR Newswire – 04/14/2009]

Swe-Dish receives FCC license to operate its Drive-Away CCT120 on U.S. satellites.
[Satellite Today – 04/14/2009]

New Dawn Satellite Company, joint venture between Intelsat and South African investor group, awards launch contract for New Dawn satellite to Arianespace.
[SatNews – 04/14/2009]

Crawford Satellite Services enters Asian broadcast market, delivering All Sports Network, a live sports channel, in HD to Asian audiences.
[Satellite Today – 04/14/2009]

New U.S. rules allow U.S. companies to establish fiber-optic and satellite links to Cuba, and provide services directly to Cuban citizens.
[The Miami Herald – 04/13/2009]

PG&E considers beaming megawatts of solar power from space to earth; asks state regulators for permission to sign contract with stealth startup Solaren Corp. of Southern California.
[Wall Street Journal Business – 04/13/2009]

TerraStar and SkyTerra to launch three of largest commercial satellites in history this summer to support sat-link phones that will not be much larger than traditional mobile phones.  Complete with 3G radios, they will offer integrated cell-phone/satellite-phone operation.
[fastcompany.com – 04/13/2009]

Vandals cut AT&T fiber, leaving thousands in Silicon Valley and throughout San Francisco Bay area without phone, internet, or wireless service for more than 12  hours, again raising question – how secure is U.S. communications network?
[cnet news – 04/13/2009]

Iranian Mullahs’ satellite program discussed in interview of Dr. Sepehr B. Ariannia of the Marze Por Gohar Iranian nationalist political party by Front Page Magazine.
[FrontPageMagazine.com – 04/13/2009]

Harris wins $150m contract to deliver satellite multiband radios to the U.S. Army.
[Satellite Today – 04/13/2009]

Galaxy Broadband Communications selects Encore’s BANDIT&trade line of industrially hardened routers for their satellite networks, systems, and solutions in Canada, to provide Galaxy customers end-to-end VPNs across both satellite and terrestrial networks.
[TMCnet – 04/13/2009]

NSR Report details current capacity issues facing Sub-Saharan Africa; while shortages have faced region in past two years, relocating capacity, and newly planned satellites threaten oversupply in the coming years.
[NSR report – Global Assessment of Satellite Demand – April 2009]

NSR Tele-Briefing April 29 to discuss recurring theme of the satellite industry’s relative strength during global economic downturn, offering its insights into the industry and whether the industry should be optimistic, and where a more realistic take may be warranted.
[NSR Tele-Briefing scheduled for 04/29/2009]

The week’s news round-up, courtesy of Bill McDonald:

China announces it will replace Nigerian satellite that failed after 1 year of operation free of charge; all three communications satellites it has sold to Nigeria, Venezuela, and Pakistan have military capabilities which are of concern to the U.S.
[UPI – 04/09/2009]

FCC announces it has begun developing a national broadband plan to ensure that every U.S. citizen has access to broadband services.
[TMCnet – 04/09/2009]

European Space Ageny’s spaceborne X-ray observatory, XMM-Newton, carries out exclusive observation of galaxy Messier 82 for the ‘100 Hours of Astronomy" cornerstone project for the international Year of Astronomy 2009.
[SatNews – 04/09/2009]

GE Asset Intelligence and ORBCOMM subsidiary Stellar Satellite Communications enter into several agreements for ORBCOMM to be sole provider of telematics and M2M data communications on all subscriber communications, whether satellites, cellular, or dual mode.
[SatNews – 04/09/2009]

ND SatCom wins frame contract from African VSAT service provider Q-Kon for SkyWAN VSAT units.
[Satellite Today – 04/09/2009]

Eutelsat to launch French Digital Terrestrial Television platform with majority cof channels on Eutelsat’s Atlantic Bird 3 satellite.
[Satellite Today – 04/09/2009]

Thales Alenia space plant and employees in L’Aquila, Italy, affected by earthquake.
[SatNews – 04/08/2009]

The second Ariane 5 launch of 2009, to carry Herschel and Planck into orbit, now set for May 6.
[SatNews – 04/08/2009]

Among defense budget cuts recommended by Robert Gates is termination of the Air Force’s TSAT (Transformational Satellite) program.
[Satellite Today – 04/08/2009]

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates to be sole supplier of direct downlink solutions for RapidEye’s international ground station customers.
[SatNews – 04/08/2009]

Satellite image shows North Korean rocket launch – while scientists in South Korea and the U.S. said the launch had vailed, North Korean state media insisted it had successfully placed a communications satellite into orbit.
[The Lede -NY Times blog – 04/08/2009]

Air Forces second Wideband Global Satellite Communications WGS-2 satellite successfully launched into orbit  from Cape Canaveral April 3.
[Schriever AFB News – 04/07/2009]

ILS launches W2A satellite for Eutelsat aboard Proton Breeze-M rocket.
[Satellite Today – 04/07/2009]

iDirect Series 15000 Universal Satellite Hub to be used by CET Teleport GmbH of Germany to launch a pan-African DVB-S2/ACM satellite network using newly available Ku-band capacity on Telstar’s T11N satellite.
[SatNews – 04/07/2009]

U.S. Army orders additional Comms-on-the-move MobiLink systems from DataPath to support operations in Iraq.
[PR Newswire – 04/07/2009]

Thuraya launches mobile satellite services in Korea.
[Satellite Today – 04/07/2009]

Comtech EF Data receives $2.2m order from mobile operator in South America for equipment to expand cellular backhaul network.
[SatNews – 04/07/2009]

Students at San Jose State build an "answering machine in space," a cubesat communications satellite called "ReadySat Go" about the size of a small Kleenex box which will record messages sent to it in space which can be later sent back to Earth in another location.
[Fox News – 04/07/2009]

C2C, an independent Dutch telecom provider to European markets, uplinks to Telstar 11N satellite.
[Satellite today – 04/07/2009]

Satlynx purchases "significant volume" of capacity on Arabsat-5A satellite for coverage of entire African and Middle Eastern regions.
[Satellite Today – 04/07/2009]

Sea Launch plans launch of Italian satellite for Italy’s armed forces and NATO on April 19 from equatorial Pacific.
[Seattle PI – 04/06/2009]

Satellite-cellular mobile platform based on Infineon’s software-defined-radio (SDR) to be used in next-generation integrated satellite-terrestrial communications networks by SkyTerra and TerreStar.
[RF Globalnet – 04/06/2009]

Squire Tech Solutions introduces 300 Power Communications Trailer, a self contained site power, lighting, tower, and communications mobile infrastructure including auto-acquire VSAT, for the emergency response community.
[GlobeNewswire – 04/06/2009]

Stratos to feature media deployment of BGAN (broadband Global Area Network) service at NAB.  The Inmarsat service uses portable, lightweight terminals to provide simultaneous video, high speed data, and voice anywhere in the world, and is ideally suited to disaster recovery situations.
[PRNewswire – 04/06/2009]

Broadband Satellite Services grew solidly in 2008 following strong 2007, yet world economic conditions concern most players.  Market expected to escape unscathed if economic recover begins in 2009 or early 2010.
[NSR Report – April 2009]

WBMSAT PS – Satellite Communications Consulting Services

The CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, Marion Blakey, asked for ITAR reform:

Satellite export control rules are hampering U.S. national security and economic interests, and must be updated to protect the U.S. space industrial base, AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said Thursday in written testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Subcommittee.
 
“Without meaningful steps to modernize the U.S. export control system and enhance space trade among our allies, the United States faces a real and daunting possibility of losing our leadership in space and ability to compete in the global space industry,” Blakey said.
 
U.S. market share for commercial satellites dropped from 73 percent to 27 percent after legislation passed in 1998 to control commercial satellites as military items.  The Center for Strategic and International Studies reports that the United States is the only country that requires stringent and time-consuming reviews and approval processes for exports of commercial communications satellites and related components.
 
AIA recommends that the government undertake a review of all space technologies to determine which ones should be controlled as commercial or military items. The review should be coupled with legislation that allows the administration flexibility to differentiate between sensitive commercial satellite technologies and truly commercial components.

 Get the full testimony here (PDF). And good luck with the RealPlayer Webcast of the hearing.

Space Politics is calling it "Sherman’s March:"

So what kind of reform does Rep. Sherman have in mind? In the near term, it appears he is looking for relatively modest changes. “A lot will depend on the hearings and what solutions come up,” he said. “Solutions that have big problems will move more slowly than solutions that are no-brainers.” An example of a “no-brainer”, he said is getting the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) within the State Department to more rapidly process export license applications, something he said DDTC has already started to do after prodding by himself and others in Congress.

Sherman said that the incidents in the 1990s that triggered the inclusion of satellite technology on the US Munitions List—the transfer of US satellite technology to China after failures of Chinese rockets carrying those satellites—created “an anger [that] was mal-channeled” into the current state of affairs. “I won’t say it’s been ineffective, but it certainly was a crude response.”

His comments, though, indicate a fixation on China, and the availability of low-cost Chinese launches, as a driving interest in ITAR reform that may be misplaced. For example, one solution he suggested for the current ITAR situation was not to necessarily remove satellite technologies from the Munitions List or otherwise reform how their exports are regulated, but to instead subsidize the US launch industry so that they could be cost-competitive with the Chinese. The low cost of Chinese launches “begs the question of how much does China subsidize its rocket program and why aren’t we subsidizing ours to the same level,” he said. “We should be focused on keeping the rocket jobs, the rocket technology, plus the satellite jobs and the satellite technology, here in the United States.”

Of course, such an approach might cost the US billions of dollars a year (on top of what the Defense Department is paying to United Launch Alliance for the EELV) and is no guarantee that it would attract additional commercial customers or simply encourage other countries to further subsidize their own vehicles to compete. (And, ironically, a cheaper alternative is just down the 405 freeway from Sherman’s home district: SpaceX is promising commercial Falcon 9 launches that would certainly be competitive with, or even cheaper than, Chinese vehicles, without massive federal subsidies.)

It truly is about time satcom’s inclusion in ITAR be reviewed, revisited and all that.