4 March 2007
Satcoms
AAE Systems Awarded Disaster
Response Vehicular Communications System Contract
Air Greenland Deploys Blue Sky Network Equipment to
Monitor and Communicate With Aircraft Fleet
CapRock Provides Communications for Otto Candies'
Gulf of Mexico Fleet
Com Dev To Begin Work
On Globalstar-2 Constellation
Iridium
Satellite to Open New Ground Station in Norway
RRSat Selects Scopus Platforms for Video Over IP
Projects
SES Americom Retires Satcom C-4
After 14 Years of Service
Broadcast
SES Transmits Information Service From European
Union
Sirius Satellite Radio Guarantees
Radios
Earth
Observation
Agreement Between ESA and the European Maritime
Safety Agency Signed Today
Navigation
GIOVE-A Navigation Signal Available to
Users
Military
Space
Advantech Satellite Networks Provides DVB-RCS System
to NATO C3 Agency
Science
Cosmic Vision 2015-2025: Ready to
Launch
Astronomy
L-3 Communications Integrated Systems Awarded US$ 26
M Contract to Support NASA's Airborne Observatory
South Pole Telescope Achieves First
Light
Sun
STEREO Panorama Previews
Improved Solar Storm Tracking
Solar System
The Planetary Adventure Continues - Mars Express And
Venus Express Operations Extended
Moon
LCROSS Mission Supports NASA's Lunar Precursor
Robotic Program
Mercury
Astrium to Build Mercury Probe -
BepiColombo
ESA Gives Go-Ahead To Build
BepiColombo
Earth
ESA Contribution to International Polar Year
2007-2008
Mars
Rosetta Swingby Update
Rosetta Successfully Swings-By Mars - Next Target:
Earth
Rosetta Comet-Chaser Takes Close Look
At Planet Mars
Beautiful New Images From
Rosetta's Approach to Mars: OSIRIS Update
Stunning View of Rosetta Skimming Past Mars
Sensor Being Developed to Check for Life on
Mars
SpaceDev's Starsys Division Awarded
US$ 1.4M Contract for NASA Mars Science Explorer
Mission
Jupiter
NASA Spacecraft Gets Boost From Jupiter For Pluto
Encounter
Rosetta Teams Up With New
Horizons
Comets
Unique Observations of Comet McNaught Reveal
Sprinkling Nucleus
Manned
Space
Hail Damage Forces Shuttle Atlantis Off Launch
Pad
International Space Station Status
Report: SS07-11
NASA Announces Undersea
Mission To Include First Flight Surgeon
NASA's Orion Launch Abort
System
Technology
Clyde Space to Supply SOHLA-2 Electrical Power
System, Solar Arrays and Battery
Launch Services
Arianespace to Launch Spaceway 3
Hughes Signs Contract With Arianespace to Launch
Spaceway 3
Official Opening Of Soyuz Launch
Base Construction Site In French Guiana
Launches
IGS Radar-2, IGS Optical-3 Verification
Launch
Schedule
Business
Arris Evaluating Competing Offer for Tandberg
Television from Ericsson
SkyPort Signs
Letter of Intent to Purchase RAMTelecom, a Major Canadian Teleport
Firm
Products and
Services
AAE Systems Announces New Product Release
STMicroelectronics Announces Dual DVB-S2 Demodulator
to Enable Cost-Effective HDTV Watch-and-Record DVR Satellite Set-Top
Boxes
Events
Outer Space Scientific and Technical Subcommittee
Concludes 44th Session in Vienna
People
Scopus Video Networks Appoints Eitan Koter President
Executive Changes Aligned With Company's Focus
Satcoms
AAE Systems Awarded
Disaster Response Vehicular Communications System Contract
(1 March
2007) AAE Systems, Inc. (AAE), a satellite-based equipment manufacturer and
turnkey communication solutions provider, has won a contract to deliver up to
thirty (30) disaster response vehicles to a customer in the Middle
East.
Air Greenland Deploys Blue Sky Network
Equipment to Monitor and Communicate With Aircraft Fleet
(27
February 2007) Blue Sky Network (BSN), the global satellite logistics solution
provider for two-way linking and managing remote transportation assets, today
announced that Air Greenland has deployed its equipment on 17 of its rotor wing
and fixed wing aircraft.
CapRock Provides
Communications for Otto Candies' Gulf of Mexico Fleet
(27 February
2007) CapRock Communications, a leader in global satellite communications to
remote and harsh locations, will provide VSAT services to Otto Candies' fleet
of support vessels operating in the Gulf of Mexico.
Com Dev To Begin Work On Globalstar-2
Constellation
(27 February 2007) Com Dev International Ltd. today
announced that it has received an Authorisation to Proceed (ATP) from Alcatel
Alenia Space to provide advanced payload electronics for the Globalstar-2
satellite constellation.
Iridium Satellite
to Open New Ground Station in Norway
(28 February 2007) Iridium
Satellite LLC announces plans to open a new telemetry, tracking and
command/control (TTAC) earth station in Norway.
RRSat Selects Scopus Platforms for Video Over IP
Projects
(27 February 2007) Scopus Video Networks Ltd., a provider
of digital video networking products, announced today that RRSat Global
Communications Network Ltd. has selected Scopus IP-based solutions for new
Video-over-IP projects.
SES Americom Retires
Satcom C-4 After 14 Years of Service
(1 March 2007) SES Americom, an
SES Company, today conducted its last operations on the Satcom C-4 satellite,
safely de-orbiting the satellite more than 250 km beyond the geosynchronous
orbital belt.
Broadcast
SES Transmits Information Service From European
Union
(1 March 2007) SES Astra, an SES company has announced today
that it has started to transmit the "Europe by Satellite" service, a
multilingual TV news service from the European Commission.
Sirius Satellite Radio Guarantees
Radios
(2 March 2007) Sirius Satellite Radio, which recently
announced plans to merge with XM Satellite Radio, today issued a guarantee to
its more than 12 million listeners that existing radios will not become
obsolete if the merger is approved.
Earth Observation
Agreement Between ESA and the
European Maritime Safety Agency Signed Today
(2 March 2007) Today, 2
March 2007, Mr Willem de Ruiter, Executive Director of the European Maritime
Safety Agency (EMSA) and Mr Volker Liebig, Director of Earth Observation
Programmes of the European Space Agency (ESA), signed an agreement between the
two agencies, strengthening the framework for co-operation in the field of
maritime monitoring and surveillance.
Navigation
GIOVE-A Navigation Signal
Available to Users
(2 March 2007) The GIOVE-A Signal-in-Space
Interface Control Document, the document that gives the technical details of
the signals transmitted by the GIOVE-A satellite, has been
released.
Military
Space
Advantech Satellite Networks Provides DVB-RCS System
to NATO C3 Agency
(27 February 2007) Advantech AMT, Inc, today
announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Advantech Satellite Networks Inc,
has sold a DVB-RCS system consisting of a hub and VSAT indoor units to NATO C3
Agency.
Science
Cosmic Vision 2015-2025: Ready to
Launch
(26 February 2007) Within a few weeks, ESA will invite the
scientific community to propose the first missions for Cosmic Vision
2015-2025.
Astronomy
L-3 Communications Integrated Systems Awarded US$ 26
M Contract to Support NASA's Airborne Observatory
(1 March 2007) L-3
Communications announced today that its L-3 Integrated Systems (L-3 IS)
subsidiary has been awarded a follow-on contract with a potential value of up
to US$ 26 million to provide developmental and engineering work on the
Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) from NASA's Dryden
Flight Research Center.
South Pole Telescope
Achieves First Light
(27 February 2007) Scientists aimed the South
Pole Telescope at Jupiter on the evening of Feb. 16 and successfully collected
the instrument's first test observations.
Sun
STEREO Panorama Previews Improved Solar Storm
Tracking
(1 March 2007) For the first time, scientists can track
solar storms from the sun to Earth using the latest images from NASA's twin
STEREO spacecraft.
Solar
System
The Planetary Adventure Continues - Mars Express And
Venus Express Operations Extended
(27 February 2007) ESA's Mars
Express and Venus Express missions, to explore our nearest neighbour planets
Mars and Venus respectively, will continue to operate until early-May
2009.
Moon
LCROSS Mission Supports
NASA's Lunar Precursor Robotic Program
(28 February 2007) The Lunar
Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) successfully completed
critical design review, giving Northrop Grumman Corporation the green-light to
complete building flight hardware for the mission.
Mercury
Astrium to Build Mercury Probe -
BepiColombo
(26 February 2007) Astrium is set to build the Mercury
probe BepiColombo on behalf of the European Space Agency, ESA.
ESA Gives Go-Ahead To Build BepiColombo
(26
February 2007) BepiColombo, ESA's mission to explore planet Mercury, has been
definitively 'adopted' by the Agency's Science Programme Committee (SPC) last
Friday.
Earth
ESA Contribution to
International Polar Year 2007-2008
(1 March 2007) Today marks the
official start of International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008, a large world-wide
science programme focused on the Arctic and Antarctic.
Mars
Rosetta Swingby Update
(24 February 2007)
Earlier today, on its approach to Mars, Rosetta's navigation camera (NAVCAM)
captured a spectacular image of the Red Planet, just a few hours before the
spacecraft's second planetary swingby on its incredible 10-year journey to
comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Rosetta
Successfully Swings-By Mars - Next Target: Earth
(25 February 2007)
At 03:57 CET today, mission controllers at ESOC, ESA's Space Operations Centre
in Germany, confirmed Rosetta's successful swingby of Mars, a key milestone in
the 7.1-thousand-million km journey of this unique spacecraft to its target
comet in 2014.
Rosetta Comet-Chaser Takes
Close Look At Planet Mars
(25 February 2007) There was considerable
relief today at ESA's space operations centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt,
Germany.
Beautiful New Images From Rosetta's
Approach to Mars: OSIRIS Update
(25 February 2007) This series of
beautiful images taken by Rosetta's Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote
Imaging System (OSIRIS), shows planet Mars in the pre-close-approach phase
(updated with additional spectral information).
Stunning View of Rosetta Skimming Past
Mars
(25 February 2007) This stunning view, showing portions of the
Rosetta spacecraft with Mars in the background, was taken by the Rosetta Lander
Imaging System (CIVA) on board Rosetta's Philae lander just four minutes before
the spacecraft reached closest approach to the Red Planet earlier this
morning.
Sensor Being Developed to Check for
Life on Mars
(28 February 2007) NASA-funded researchers are refining
a tool that could not only check for the faintest traces of life's molecular
building blocks on Mars, but could also determine whether they have been
produced by anything alive.
SpaceDev's
Starsys Division Awarded US$ 1.4M Contract for NASA Mars Science Explorer
Mission
(28 February 2007) SpaceDev announced today that its
subsidiary, Starsys, Inc., has been awarded a US$ 1.4 million cost reimbursable
design and development subcontract with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
support of the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
Jupiter
NASA Spacecraft Gets Boost From Jupiter For Pluto
Encounter
(28 February 2007) NASA's New Horizons spacecraft
successfully completed a flyby of Jupiter early this morning, using the massive
planet's gravity to pick up speed for its 3-billion mile voyage to Pluto and
the unexplored Kuiper Belt region beyond.
Rosetta Teams Up With New Horizons
(2
March 2007) ESA and NASA are mounting a joint campaign to observe Jupiter over
the next few weeks with two different spacecraft.
Comets
Unique Observations of Comet McNaught Reveal
Sprinkling Nucleus
(23 February 2007) Comet McNaught, the Great
Comet of 2007, has been delighting those who have seen it with the unaided eye
as a spectacular display in the evening sky.
Manned Space
Hail Damage Forces Shuttle Atlantis Off Launch
Pad
(27 February 2007) NASA decided Tuesday to roll the space
shuttle Atlantis off its launch pad and back inside the Vehicle Assembly
Building at the Kennedy Space Center.
International Space Station Status Report:
SS07-11
(2 March 2007) The International Space Station's Expedition
14 crew continued work this week on scientific experiments, station maintenance
and clean up following a Feb. 22 Russian spacewalk.
NASA Announces Undersea Mission To Include First
Flight Surgeon
(26 February 2007) NASA will send a flight surgeon,
two astronauts and a Cincinnati doctor into the ocean depths off the Florida
coast May 7-18 to test space medicine concepts and moon-walking
techniques.
NASA's Orion Launch Abort
System
(27 February 2007) Aerojet, a GenCorp, Inc. company and a
core propulsion provider for NASA's new space exploration vehicle, Orion,
recently conducted an internally-funded static firing of a key Launch Abort
System component.
Technology
Clyde Space to Supply SOHLA-2
Electrical Power System, Solar Arrays and Battery
(28 February 2007)
Astro-Technology SOHLA (Space Oriented Higashiosaka Leading Association) has
selected Glasgow based small satellite power specialist, Clyde Space, to supply
the complete power system for the SOHLA-2 spacecraft.
Launch Services
Arianespace to Launch Spaceway
3
(1 March 2007) Arianespace announced today that it will launch the
Spaceway 3 communications satellite for Hughes
Hughes Signs Contract With Arianespace to Launch
Spaceway 3
(1 March 2007) Hughes Network Systems, LLC today
announced that it has awarded a launch services contract to Arianespace for the
launch of its next-generation Spaceway 3 satellite.
Official Opening Of Soyuz Launch Base Construction
Site In French Guiana
(26 February 2007) The construction site of
the Soyuz launch base in French Guiana was officially opened today by
Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General, Yannick d'Escatha, President of
CNES, Jean-Yves Le Gall, Director General of Arianespace, and Anatoly Perminov,
Head of Roscosmos.
Launches
IGS Radar-2, IGS Optical-3 Verification
Launch
Schedule
Business
Arris Evaluating Competing Offer for Tandberg
Television from Ericsson
(26 February 2007) Arris Group, Inc.
announced today that the company is informed that Ericsson announced that it
intends to make an offer for the shares of Tandberg Television.
SkyPort Signs Letter of Intent to Purchase
RAMTelecom, a Major Canadian Teleport Firm
(28 February 2007)
February 28, 2007: A newly-formed subsidiary of SkyPort International has
signed a letter of intent to purchase RAMTelecom Inc. of Canada, a transaction
that will significantly increase SkyPort's capability to serve customers
throughout North America with a range of satellite communications
services.
Products and
Services
AAE Systems Announces New Product
Release
(27 February 2007) AAE Systems, Inc. (AAE), a satellite
equipment manufacturer and turnkey solutions provider, has designed and
produced a line of disaster response vehicles equipped with advanced integrated
communication facilities, designed to provide a full featured communications
platform for first responders at the disaster scene.
STMicroelectronics Announces Dual DVB-S2 Demodulator
to Enable Cost-Effective HDTV Watch-and-Record DVR Satellite Set-Top
Boxes
(28 February 2007) STMicroelectronics, the world's leading
supplier of silicon chips for set-top boxes (STBs), today announced a dual
DVB-S2 satellite TV demodulator chip, intended for STBs that offer the viewer
the ability to watch one standard or high-definition TV channel while recording
another.
Events
Outer Space Scientific and Technical Subcommittee
Concludes 44th Session in Vienna
(26 February 2007) The newly
established space-system-based disaster management programme, a safety
framework for nuclear power sources in outer space, mitigation guidelines for
space debris and the International Heliophysical Year 2007 were key agenda
items of the 44th session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the
United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), held in
Vienna, Austria, from 12 to 23 February 2007.
People
Scopus Video Networks Appoints Eitan Koter President
Executive Changes Aligned With Company's Focus
(28 February 2007)
Scopus Video Networks, a provider of digital video networking solutions,
announced today the appointment of Mr. Eitan Koter to the position of Scopus'
President.
