General news on the satellite and space industry from around the web
Inmarsat headquarters. Photo: Matt Biddulph (Flickr) [Via Satellite 10-06-2014] Inmarsat reports LightSquared has not submitted a quarterly Phase 2 payment due on Sept. 30. The company owed $12.5 million along with a related payment of $5 million, which was never received. Based on the terms set in the cooperation agreement, Inmarsat issued a notice of…
Photo: Bigtime700 (Flickr) [Via Satellite 10-06-2014] Orbcomm has released the GT 1100 Chassis Tracking Solution (CTS), designed for chassis management for any truck fleet, regardless of size. The solution uses two ruggedized devices: the GT 1100 for tracking and monitoring, and the PS 100 proximity sensor and custom-mounting bracket. A solar rechargeable battery as well…
An areal view of the Harwell Science and Innovation campus in the U.K. Photo: Harwell Oxford. [Via Satellite 10-03-2014] When the United Kingdom first announced its goal to grow the country’s share of the global space industry to 10 percent, it garnered a lot of attention. Since that time, two satellite industry primes, Lockheed Martin…
EIAST joining the Global Earth Observation Alliance. Photo: EIAST [Via Satellite 10-03-2014] The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) has joined the first global alliance of Earth observation satellites operators, PanGeo. The alliance, announced at the annual Summit on Earth Observation Business in Paris, is a coalition to share the products, data and…
CNES pavilion at the Paris Air Show. Photo: CNES [Via Satellite 10-03-2014] The French Space Agency, CNES, has signed a contract with STmicroelectronics to develop the Astragan1 chipset, which aims to bring fast satellite broadband to users everywhere, including in areas outside those covered by terrestrial fixed and mobile broadband networks. The chipset will support…
The State vs. Oscar Pistorius. Palace of Justice, Church Square, pretoria. Photo: Wikipedia [Via Satellite 10-03-2014] A partnership between Avanti Communications, hardware supplier Sematron and Broadcast IP Systems (BIPS), allowed global news agency, Thomson Reuters to successfully broadcast live HD coverage of the entire Oscar Pistorius court trial. Since March, Reuters and its commercial partners…
GSP-1700 Satellite Phones. Photo: Globalstar [Via Satellite 10-03-2014] The Spanish Ministry of Defense has approved the Globalstar GSP-1700 satellite phone for use by its personnel and also has extended its use of Spot Gen3 GPS tracking and safety devices with an order for a further 300 units. The Spanish government will use the devices to…
Comtech EF Data’s CDM-625A modem. Photo: Comtech EF Data [Via Satellite 10-03-2014] Comtech EF Data has received $1.7 million in satellite communications equipment orders from a systems integrator in Asia. The customer ordered the equipment to support the expansion of an existing satellite-based network infrastructure based upon Comtech EF Data products. The orders specified high-speed…
Xplornet’sExecutive Vice President of Marketing, Chris Johnston. Photo: Xplornet [Via Satellite 10-02-2014] Xplornet, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) dedicated to providing connectivity in rural Canada, has ramped up the satellite side of its business in order to cover the entire country. Earlier this year the company signed lifetime contracts for all the residential Canadian capacity…
Eutelsat 21B Widebeam. Photo: Eutelsat [Via Satellite 10-02-2014] Eutelsat has entered an agreement with new customer Vizocom for capacity on the Eutelsat 21B satellite. Vizocom will be using two of Eutelsat’s high power service areas to provide connectivity at speeds between 6 and 10 Mbps across the Middle East and Africa. Vizocom has plans to…