Microcom's Space Newsfeed

8 June 2008

Previous News

Satcoms
C-COM Receives Follow Up Orders For Mobile Antennas From Hughes
(4 June 2008) C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. announced today that it has received a follow up order for a 41 additional iNetVu mobile antennas from Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), the world's leading provider of broadband satellite networks and services.
Detecon Al Saudia To Distribute Intelsat's Network Broadband Global Maritime Service
(5 June 2008) Intelsat Ltd., the world's leading provider of commercial satellite services, announced today that Detecon Al Saudia Co. Ltd. has signed a multi-year agreement with Intelsat to distribute Intelsat's Network Broadband Global Maritime service to its maritime customers.
GCI Successfully Transitions All Traffic To Galaxy 18 Satellite
(3 June 2008) GCI announced today that it successfully transitioned all of its rural telecommunication services last night to the Galaxy 18 satellite.
Globalstar Completes Construction Of Singapore Satellite Gateway
(4 June 2008) Globalstar, Inc., a leading provider of mobile satellite voice and data services to businesses, governments and individuals, today announced it has installed a simplex data applique at its new gateway ground station in Singapore.
Globecomm Systems Awarded Blanket IDIQ Contract From A Global Multilateral Organization Valued At Up To US$ 117 Million
(3 June 2008) Globecomm Systems Inc., a leading provider of satellite-based communications infrastructure solutions and services on a global basis, today announced that the Company has been awarded a blanket indefinite-delivery / indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract from a global multilateral organisation.
Mobile Satellite Ventures Announces Additional Extension Of Current Generation Satellite Services
(3 June 2008) Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) today announced plans to further extend its current generation network voice and mobile data services through December 31, 2012, and will offer these services on its next generation hybrid satellite-terrestrial communications network slated to be launched in 2010.
Star One C2 Satellite Operational In Orbit
(3 June 2008) Following the Final Acceptance Review (FAR) successfully held on May, the control of Star One C2 telecommunication satellite has been transferred to Star One and is now operational in geostationary orbit at 70° West.
Stratos Is First Company Licensed To Offer BGAN Mobile Satellite Service To Canadian Market
(3 June 2008) Stratos Global Corporation, the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions, today announced that its subsidiary Stratos Wireless Inc. has been granted a spectrum license by Industry Canada to offer the BGAN mobile satellite service to Canadian businesses and government agencies.
Vizada To Offer Iridium OpenPort Service Worldwide
(4 June 2008) Vizada, the world-wide leading provider of satellite communications solutions, has entered into an agreement to become a global distribution partner for the Iridium OpenPort service.
Wegener Partners With Muzak To Launch New Customisable In-Store Music And Messaging Experience
(4 June 2008) Wegener Corporation, a leading provider of equipment for television, audio and data distribution networks world-wide, announces that Muzak's new Encompass LE2 digital music delivery service is based upon a powerful, end-to-end solution that incorporates satellite media distribution, media players, and content management technology by Wegener.

Broadcast
Intelsat Distributes Interactive HD TV Programming To Russia
(5 June 2008) Intelsat, Ltd., the world's leading provider of commercial satellite services, signed a multi-year agreement with Rikor TV for the distribution of interactive High Definition (HD) television services into Russia.
Thales Alenia Space Wins Nilesat-201 Satellite Contract
(3 June 2008) Thales Alenia Space today announced the signature of a contract with Nilesat, the Egyptian satellite company, to provide the Nilesat-201 broadcasting communication satellite and associated services and ground stations.
Vintage Studio Chooses AsiaSat 2 For 'Ayur Living India'
(2 June 2008) Asia's leading satellite operator, Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat) and Ayur Group's broadcast arm Vintage Studio Pvt. Ltd. (Vintage) announced today the signing of a lease agreement for C-band capacity on AsiaSat 2 for the launch of Vintage's new television channel 'Ayur Living India' across India and the Asia-Pacific.

Earth Observation
Northrop Grumman Awarded Contract To Modify CERES Sensor For NPOESS Preparatory Mission To Extend Climate Measurements
(3 June 2008) Northrop Grumman Corporation was awarded a contract by NASA Langley Research Center to make modifications to a sensor that helps determine the influence of clouds on the Earth's temperature.

Tracking
Com Dev Validates Advanced Space-Based AIS Performance
(5 June 2008) Com Dev International Ltd. today announced that a space-based AIS payload, launched on a dedicated satellite on April 28, has validated the advanced space-based AIS performance capability that Com Dev has developed.

Military Space
GeoEye Receives Additional U.S. Government Awards Totalling US$ 22 Million
(4 June 2008) GeoEye Inc., a premier provider of satellite, aerial and geospatial information, announced new awards totalling US$ 22 million to supply geospatial products and related services.

Science
NASA'S Ames Supports Three Small Explorer Finalists
(30 May 2008) Researchers from NASA's Ames Research Center will play important roles in developing three of six missions selected this week as finalists in the Small Explorer (SMEX) Program.

Astrophysics
Low-Cost EUV Satellite Shut Down
(2 June 2008) The Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer satellite (CHIPSat), funded by NASA in 1998, was designed to look for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emissions from the bubble of hot gas that envelops our solar system out to a distance of several hundred light years.

Stars
Astronomers Weigh The Coldest Brown Dwarfs With Astronomy's Sharpest Eyes
(2 June 2008) Astronomers have used ultrasharp images obtained with the Keck Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope to determine for the first time the masses of the coldest class of "failed stars," a.k.a. brown dwarfs.
Integral Reveals Exotic And Dusty Binary Systems
(5 June 2008) ESA's orbiting gamma-ray observatory, Integral has revealed a new population of exotic and dusty binary stars which might represent a brief evolutionary period in a binary star's life.
White Dwarf Lost In Planetary Nebula
(3 June 2008) Call it the case of the missing dwarf.

Pulsars
Scientists Edge Closer To Unlocking Secrets Of Mysterious Crab Pulsar
(2 June 2008) Like a celestial top, the spinning neutron star known as the Crab Pulsar is slowing, a phenomenon that astronomers have yet to fully understand.

Galaxies
Two Of The Milky Way's Spiral Arms Go Missing
(3 June 2008) For decades, astronomers have been blind to what our galaxy, the Milky Way, really looks like.

Sun
Lockheed Martin And NASA Ames Team Selected To Design New Solar Mission
(3 June 2008) The Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, and a national and international team of co-investigators have been selected by NASA to undertake a US$ 750 thousand six-month study to design a new NASA Small Explorer Mission called the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS).

Moon
NASA Scientists Pioneer Method For Making Giant Lunar Telescopes
(4 June 2008) Scientists working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have concocted an innovative recipe for giant telescope mirrors on the Moon.

Mars
Aerojet Ships Propulsion For Mars Science Laboratory
(5 June 2008) Aerojet, a GenCorp company, announced shipment of its rocket engines destined for use on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

Mars - Phoenix Lander
NASA'S Phoenix Lander Robotic Arm Camera Sees Possible Ice
(30 May 2008) Scientists have discovered what may be ice that was exposed when soil was blown away as NASA's Phoenix spacecraft landed on Mars last Sunday, May 25.
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Ready To Gather Samples
(4 June 2008) Two practice rounds of digging and dumping the clumpy soil at the Martian arctic site this week gave scientists and engineers gathered at the University of Arizona confidence to begin using Phoenix's Robotic Arm to deliver soil samples to instruments on the lander deck.
Highest Resolution View Ever From Mars Comes From NASA Lander
(5 June 2008) A microscope on NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander has taken images of dust and sand particles with the greatest resolution ever returned from another planet.

Extra-Solar Planets
Astronomers Find Tiny Planet Orbiting Tiny Star
(2 June 2008) An international team of astronomers led by David Bennett of the University of Notre Dame has discovered an extra-solar planet of about three Earth masses orbiting a star with a mass so low that its core may not be large enough to maintain nuclear reactions.
Hunt For Super Earth Planets Underway
(2 June 2008) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scientist, Dr. Drake Deming, will present an update on the EPOXI mission on June 2, 2008 at the 212th American Astronomical Society in St. Louis,
NASA's Deep Impact Begins Hunt For Alien Worlds
(2 June 2008) NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is aiming its largest telescope at five stars in a search for alien (exosolar) planets as it enters its extended mission, called Epoxi.
Small Planet, Small Star
(2 June 2008) Astronomers have discovered an extrasolar planet only three times more massive than our own, the smallest yet observed orbiting a normal star.

Exobiology
Team Hopes To Use New Technology To Search For ETs
(4 June 2008) A Johns Hopkins astronomer is a member of a team briefing fellow scientists about plans to use new technology to take advantage of recent, promising ideas on where to search for possible extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy.

Manned Space
Boeing Awards Ares I Rocket Subcontracts To 3 Small Businesses
(3 June 2008) The Boeing Company has awarded subcontracts to three small businesses under its NASA Ares I avionics contract.
SpaceX And NASA To Improve Mission Critical Software Systems
(5 June 2008) Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and NASA's Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) Facility at Fairmont, West Virginia, working through the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) of Greenbelt, Maryland, announced the signing of a Space Act Agreement effort to advance the state of the art in mission- and safety-critical software that will be used for sending SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).

Manned Space - STS 124
NASA'S Shuttle Discovery Launches With Japanese Laboratory
(31 May 2008) Space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 5:02 p.m. EDT Saturday to deliver and install a Japanese laboratory on the International Space Station.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #01
(31 May 2008) Space shuttle Discovery initiated delivery of a Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station this afternoon, lifting off at 4:02 p.m. CDT from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #02
(1 June 2008) The seven members of shuttle Discovery began their first full day in space this morning, waking up to "Your Wildest Dreams" by the Moody Blues.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #03
(1 June 2008) The crew members of shuttle Discovery moved swiftly through activities during their first full day in space.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #04
(2 June 2008) The massive Kibo laboratory is one step closer to its final destination as the shuttle Discovery is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station at 12:54 p.m. CDT today.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #05
(2 June 2008) The space shuttle Discovery eased into port at the International Space Station at 1:03 p.m. Monday bringing with it the largest space laboratory ever launched.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #06
(3 June 2008) A busy day is ahead for the crews of shuttle Discovery and Expedition 17 aboard the International Space Station as they prepare to transfer the orbiter boom sensor system (OBSS) from the station to the shuttle as well as install the Kibo laboratory.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #07
(3 June 2008) Closely choreographed spacewalking and robotics work led to the installation of a new, and the largest, laboratory on the International Space Station.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #08
(4 June 2008) The crew of STS-124 and Expedition 17 will focus on continuing the set-up and initialisation of the Kibo laboratory today.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #09
(4 June 2008) The door to more experiments and more space opened up aboard the International Space Station.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #09
(4 June 2008) The door to more experiments and more space opened aboard the International Space Station.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #10
(5 June 2008) After spending the night camped out in the Quest airlock, astronauts Mike Fossum and Ron Garan are prepared to embark on the second of three spacewalks today to continue the outfitting of the newly installed Kibo laboratory.
STS-124 MCC Status Report #11
(5 June 2008) After a seven-hour spacewalk, the newly installed Kibo laboratory is closer to its final configuration.

Technology
QinetiQ Delivers Successful First Test Of Penetrator For Future Planetary Research
(6 June 2008) Defence technology holds the key to alternative to manned space-flight.

Launch Services
An Independent Group Of Experts Investigates The Software Glitch That Delayed Ariane 5's Launch
(3 June 2008) A software programming glitch discovered during final checks of last Friday's planned Ariane 5 ECA mission is under review by an independent group of experts, and will be fully solved before the dual-payload flight is rescheduled.
SpaceX Conducts First Five Engine Firing Of Falcon 9 Rocket
(3 June 2008) Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) conducted the first five-engine firing of its Falcon 9 medium to heavy lift rocket at its Texas Test Facility outside McGregor on Thursday, May 29.
Successful Ariane 5 Solid Rocket Booster Test Firing
(6 June 2008) Yesterday, a successful test firing of an Ariane 5 solid rocket booster took place at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.

In Orbit
GMV Will Provide Software And Hardware To Support Brasilsat B1-B4 Satellites
(4 June 2008) GMV today announced it has been selected by Star One to upgrade the Brasilsat Satellite Control Facility for the Brasilsat B1, B2, B3 and B4 spacecraft.

Launches
Space Shuttle Discovery ISS-26-1J
Launch Schedule

Products and Services
DataPath Introduces Fly-Away Satellite Terminal For U.S. Military's Wideband Global SATCOM System
(5 June 2008) DataPath, Inc., a leading provider of satellite and wireless communications networks around the world, has launched the DataPath V-SNAP Fly-Away multi-band SATCOM terminal as part of its continued focus on developing systems that leverage the U.S. military's newly deployed Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) system.
Locate, Track And Communicate Via Satellite With Sat201 D+ Terminal
(2 June 2008)Global Satellite USA, one of the leading providers of satellite communications for the yachting industry, will unveil at National Harbor, the SAT 201 D+ terminal that provides global satellite tracking to safeguard personnel, fleets, cargo, fixed or mobile assets using Satamatics technology.
Satlynx Introduces Portfolio Of Maritime Services Across EMEA
(2 June 2008) Satlynx, a GE Company and a leading provider of satellite telecommunications announced today the availability of a range of Maritime VSAT services across its portfolio of platforms including SCPC, and shared and dedicated TDMA hubs.
Swedish Microwave Introduces High Stability Full Ku-band LNBs
(3 June 2008) Swedish Microwave AB, a leading manufacturer of professional LNBs, announces a switchable PLL-LNB (Phase Locked Loop) with either internal high LO stability or with external 10 MHz reference.

Events
Earth Observation Highlighted At UN Biological Diversity Conference
(3 June 2008) Addressing the global issue of biodiversity loss, participants from all over the world recently gathered in Germany to attend the UN's Convention of Biological Diversity Conference of Parties.

People
Astrotech Appoints New Chief Executive Officer
(4 June 2008) Spacehab Inc. recently announced the appointment of retired Gen. Lance W. Lord to the position of chief executive officer of its Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary (ASO) effective June 2, 2008.
Com Dev Announces Appointments Of Two Division Presidents, Michael Pley Named Chief Operating Officer
(5 June 2008) Com Dev International Ltd., a leading manufacturer of space hardware subsystems, today announced the appointments of George Cwynar as President of Com Dev Canada and Michael Williams as President of Com Dev International Products.
Intelsat Announces Acting Chief Financial Officer
(2 June 2008) Intelsat, Ltd., the world's leading provider of fixed satellite services, today announced that it has accepted the resignation of its Chief Financial Officer, Jeffrey Freimark, to be effective June 5, 2008.