March 2015

Photo: RR Media [Via Satellite 03-27-2015] RR Media launched a new office in Russia approximately 18 months ago, comfortably ahead of the nation’s recent economic downturn. The sliding ruble has strained markets, but RR Media executives say the trend toward higher quality video and broadcast capability continues to remain strong in the country. “It is…

Flooded street in Vanuatu.Photo: Simon_sees (Flickr) [Via Satellite 03-27-2015] The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is supplying emergency satellite communications equipment to the archipelago of Vanuatu, which on March 13 endured a category 5 tropical storm known as Cyclone Pam. The storm caused winds estimated at 250 Km/h, along with peak gusts of roughly 320 Km/h,…

An oil derrick. Photo: Pixabay [Via Satellite 03-23-2015] Hughes Network Systems received an order for its Jupiter system to serve as the foundation network for a large oil wellhead-monitoring project. The customer, based in the Middle East, will use a network of two Jupiter gateways and more than 600 ruggedized Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition…

Shanghai at night. Photo: Mike Behnken [Via Satellite 03-27-2015] Broadcom Corporation has revealed a new System-on-a-Chip (SoC) for HD Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) targeting China’s Free-to-Air (FTA) satellite broadcast market. The BCM7228 SoC features 1080p Audio Video Coding Standard (AVS+) for decoding and display, more than 750 Dhrystone Million Instructions per Second (DMIPS) application, CPU and a…

The AL-4034D heavy duty tracking positioned. Photo: Orbit Communications [Via Satellite 03-27-2015] An undisclosed small satellite launch provider based in the United States and Oceania has purchased a turnkey tracking and telemetry ground station from Orbit Communications to support their launch missions. Orbit is providing an integrated turnkey solution based on its AL-4034 5-meter S-band…

A SmallSat Deployment from the ISS. Photo: NanoRacks [Via Satellite 03-26-2015] Despite a few recent setbacks, NanoRacks, a company that provides access to the International Space Station (ISS) for customers to launch their payloads into space, sees more opportunity than ever in the growing small satellite market; but alongside these prospects comes the challenges of…

Ceremony signature in Paris. Photo: Airbus Defence and Space [Via Satellite 03-26-2015] Arianespace has signed a launch service contract with Airbus Defense & Space to launch the PeruSat 1 satellite for the government of Peru. Built by Airbus Defence & Space in Toulouse, France, PeruSat 1 is a high-resolution Earth Observation (EO) satellite. The first…

Bayu-Undan field. Photo: ConocoPhillips [Via Satellite 03-26-2015] SpeedCast has been awarded a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract to deliver satellite communications services to exploration and production company ConocoPhillips. The SpeedCast service will provide high-speed connectivity between ConocoPhillips’ offshore production facilities in the Bayu-Undan field in the Timor Sea and their regional headquarters in Perth, Australia. With…

Eutelsat 3B satellite. Photo: Eutelsat [Via Satellite 03-26-2015] Gilat Satellite Networks’ announced that its SkyEdge II-c High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) Multi-Spot Beam went live at JCP, the Brazilian telecommunications subsidiary of Florida-based Brastrading. With its new network, JCP is making Ka-band broadband services available to consumers, enterprise and the maritime and aviation mobility markets. “Our VSAT…

MAGX-000912-650L0S GaN on SiC HEMT Pulsed Power Transistor. Photo: MACOM [Via Satellite 03-26-2015] M/A-COM Technology Solutions announced the new MAGX-000912-650L00 and MAGX-000912-650L0S, a 650 W gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon carbide (SiC) HEMT pulsed power transistor for L-band pulsed avionics applications. The transistor is available in standard flange or earless flange packaging. The internally matched…