December 2015

[Via Satellite 12-03-2015] Inmarsat’s third Global Xpress satellite, Inmarsat 5 F3, successfully completed all in-orbit testing and reached Full Operational Capability (FOC) on Dec. 1, 2015 for government customers. The satellite, launched in August 2015, is at its final orbital position, enabling worldwide coverage with the Ka-band High Throughput Satellite (HTS) system. Inmarsat has said…

Kathmandu Durbar Square, Nepal. Photo: Nirjal stha [Via Satellite 12-02-2015] Roughly half a year after a massive earthquake struck at the heart of Nepal, the country is still trying to recover. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake caused substantial damage to the capital city of Kathmandu, as well as to numerous towns and villages. Though much remains…

A possible vehicle architecture for the future ALTAIR air‐launch system. Photo: ONERA [Via Satellite 12-02-2015] The French Office National d’Etudes et Recherches Aerospatiales (ONERA) is leading a study with partners in six European nations on the feasibility of a low cost system for launching small satellites. The three-year research program, known as the Air Launch…

Eleven OG2 satellites ready to ship from Sierra Nevada Corporation Space Systems to Cape Canaveral for Mission 2 launch. Photo: Orbcomm [Via Satellite 12-02-2015] Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has delivered 11 Orbcomm Generation 2 (OG2) satellites to the launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, for Orbcomm’s upcoming OG2 Mission 2 launch…

Rendering of projected orbital debris in two primary fields: the ring of objects in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and the cloud of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO). Photo: Wikimedia Commons [Via Satellite 12-02-2015] Lockheed Martin and Electro Optic Systems (EOS) have broken ground on a new space object tracking facility in Australia that aims to…

A 25W Ka-band ATOM BUC. Photo: Norsat [Via Satellite 12-02-2015] Norsat International has released its ATOM 25-Watt Ka-band Block Upconverter (BUC) and Solid State Power Amplifier (SSPA) products. The 25W ATOM Ka BUC is software switchable between commercial and military Ka-band frequency (29 to 30 and 30 to 31 GHz), is compliant with Wideband Global…

WRC-15 Closing Press Conference. Photo: ITU [Via Satellite 12-01-2015] Outcomes from the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) 2015 World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC-15) turned out to be more favorable than many feared leading up to the event, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland from Nov. 2 to Nov 27. The four-week conference, attended by roughly 3,300 participants…

From left to right: Michel Azibert (Eutelsat), Anne-Laure Prévost (Wikimédia France) and Philippe Tintignac (Afrique Telecom). Photo: Eutelsat [Via Satellite 12-01-2015] Eutelsat, Afrique Telecom and Wikimedia France have teamed up to kick-start a large-scale initiative to extend free access to French-language Wikipedia in Sub-Saharan Africa via Wi-Fi hotspots. The project aims to improve accessibility and…

Hughes Defense and Intelligence Systems Division (DISD) worked with the Australian Army personnel from Battle Group Griffin during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2015 in northern Queensland. Photo: Hughes [Via Satellite 12-01-2015] The Australia Defence Force (ADF) and the United States military partnered with Hughes Network Systems’ Defense and Intelligence Systems Division (DISD) at Talisman Sabre 2015…

RSCC’s Express AM8 satellite. Photo: ISS Reshetnev [Via Satellite 12-01-2015] The newest satellite in Russian Satellite Communications Company’s fleet, Express AM8, was commissioned today, Dec. 1, at its nominal orbital slot of 14 degrees East. Express AM8 launched in September 2015 aboard a Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. JSC Information Satellite Systems – Reshetnev…