October 2015

Iridium’s Satellite Network Operating Center (SNOC) [Via Satellite 10-30-2015] Growth for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) in the industrial market is healthy for Iridium, but slower than it could be as the dollar continues to gain strength and the oil and gas industry sees a steep decline in profits in recent months. The company posted $106 million quarterly…

A Proton rocket. Photo: Khrunichev [Via Satellite 10-30-2015] Eutelsat Communications has reached an agreement with International Launch Services (ILS) for a series of launches using the Proton Breeze M rocket. The launches are scheduled to occur from 2016 to 2023 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Eutelsat 9B, built by Airbus Defence and Space, is…

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite. Photo: NASA [Via Satellite 10-30-2015] Astro Aerospace, a Northrop Grumman company, has received a contract from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to design and manufacture the radar antenna for its NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite. A joint project between the United States and India, NISAR will be the…

Orbital ATK-built propellant tank for SSL 1300 platform. Photo: Orbital ATK [Via Satellite 10-30-2015] Orbital ATK has signed a five-year contract with Space Systems/Loral (SSL) to produce flight sets of propellant tanks for the SSL 1300 satellite bus. Each flight set is comprised of two propellant tanks, with each tank containing a high-performance Propellant Management…

Intelsat’s new McLean, Va. headquarters. Photo: Intelsat [Via Satellite 10-30-2015] Intelsat reported signings of six additional contracts for its High Throughput Satellite (HTS) platform EpicNG during its third quarter 2015 earnings. “These contracts span applications including enterprise, fixed and wireless infrastructure, media and mobility,” said Stephen Spengler, CEO of Intelsat. “Of the contracts we are…

Eutelsat 25B/Es’hail 1, built by SSL. Photo: Eutelsat [Via Satellite 10-29-2015] Canada-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), owner of U.S. satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral (SSL), says being located in Canada has provided the company no reprieve from satellite financing challenges related to the closure of Ex-Im Bank. The U.S. Congress let the Ex-Im bank’s…

David Willetts. Photo: Policy Exchange (Flickr) [Via Satellite 10-29-2015] David Willetts, former U.K. minister for science and universities, has joined Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.’s (SSTL) board as a non-executive director. Willetts served the U.K. Government Cabinet Office as minister of science and universities in 2010. During his tenure, which came to an end in 2014,…

KSAT’s new Panama ground station. Photo: KSAT [Via Satellite 10-29-2015] Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) has established a new ground station in Panama City dedicated to the small satellite market. The site consists of two antennas with S-band and Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) capacity. The company completed final tests earlier this month. Panama Canal Authority worked collaboratively alongside…

A Renfe S100 train. Photo: eldelinux (Flickr) [Via Satellite 10-29-2015] Hispasat has implemented a connectivity solution for audiovisual services and Internet access on an AVE train, part of Spain’s high-speed rail system. This pilot project began at the end of May this year on a train from the Series 100 by Alstom, which covers the…

[Via Satellite 10-29-2015] Telecommunications operator Entel Bolivia has deployed an integrated headend solution from Harmonic to power its Direct-Broadcast Satellite (DBS) service. Harmonic is supplying its Electra encoders for MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding (AVC) encoding and DiviTrackIP statistical multiplexing of SD and HD video content. Using Harmonic’s high-density, scalable video infrastructure solutions, Entel Bolivia can…