February 2016

SES Digital Network Operation (DINO). Photo: SES [Via Satellite 02-09-2016] Tele 5, the German commercial broadcaster, has renewed a multi-year contract with SES subsidiary SES Platform Services, for services that include editing and distributing video and metadata (such as information about license periods, pictures, trailers and brief descriptions) from live broadcasting to Video-on-Demand (VOD). Tele…

Duncan Pilgrim (left), vice president and general manger of Peregrine Semiconductor’s high performance analog business unit, and Brad Little (right), general manager of e2v. Photo: Peregrine Semiconductor. [Via Satellite 02-09-2016] Peregrine Semiconductor and e2v have reached a strategic reseller agreement whereby e2v will be the sole provider of Peregrine’s Integrated Circuits (ICs) for the worldwide…

Eutelsat 65 West A at Kourou, French Guiana. Photo: Arianespace [Via Satellite 02-09-2016] Eutelsat’s next satellite, Eutelsat 65 West A, landed in Kourou, French Guiana on Feb. 6 for an upcoming Ariane 5 launch March 9. The 6.5-ton Space Systems Loral (SSL)-built satellite will be located at 65 degrees west, a premier position for the…

[Via Satellite 02-09-2016] NovelSat has announced the availability of a new, streamlined customer support program that offers customers a three-tiered set of support packages — standard, silver and gold — for the company’s satellite transmission products. The support packages include options such as 24/7 support, immediate response, free software updates, and annual system-wide auditing. The…

Kurt Riegelman, SVP of sales and marketing, Intelsat. Photo: Intelsat [Via Satellite 02-08-2016] Intelsat sees the recent launch of its first High Throughput Satellite (HTS), Intelsat 29e, as the beginning of an interoperable satellite ecosystem between the operator’s own spacecraft and OneWeb’s future Low Earth Orbit (LEO) system. Launched on Jan. 27, Intelsat 29e is…

Inmarsat headquarters. Photo: Matt Biddulph (Flickr) [Via Satellite 02-08-2016] Inmarsat has become a member of the LoRa Alliance, an international non-profit organization founded in 2015 to standardize Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) for the Internet of Things (IoT). Members of the Lora Alliance seek to guarantee interoperability between operators in order to make LoRaWAN…

The SES 9 satellite. Photo: Boeing [Via Satellite 02-08-2016] SpaceX and SES have established Feb. 24 as the mutually agreed date for the launch of SES 9, with Feb. 25 as the backup date. SES 9 is slated to launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The mission was previously expected in 2015, then in mid-January…

Forest worker felling oak. Photo: Forestry Commission. [Via Satellite 02-08-2016] The Forestry Commission in England and Scotland has agreed to deploy 550 Globalstar Spot Gen3 messengers under a new sales and support contract with Global Telesat Communications (GTC). The organization is using satellite to improve the safety of its staff when working in areas with…

The Atlas 5 launch of GPS 2F-12. Photo: ULA [Via Satellite 02-08-2016] The final satellite in the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System 2F series, GPS 2F-12, launched Feb. 5 aboard an Atlas 5 rocket from United Launch Alliance (ULA), completing the constellation. The Boeing-built satellite entered its Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) position at around…

[Via Satellite 02-05-2016] Flat Panel Antennas (FPAs) promise to unlock numerous market opportunities for the satellite industry, if and when their prices and capabilities reach the level of widespread commercial acceptance. Northern Sky Research (NSR), in what it describes as the first multi-client report on FPAs, anticipates shipped units could produce more than $710 million…