June 2015

Professional football players in England. Photo: BT Sport [Via Satellite 06-23-2015] Ericsson has signed a multi-year broadcast and media services deal with BT Sport to help launch three new television channels and an interactive red button service in the United Kingdom. Ericsson will be responsible for designing, building and running BT Sport Europe, Free-to-Air (FTA)…

Airbus Defence and Space’s Wel2Go communications solution. Photo: Airbus Defence and Space [Via Satellite 06-23-2015] Airbus Defence and Space has introduced a portfolio of scalable welfare satcom services for U.K. military personnel. The new mobile connectivity suite is part of the Welfare Communications Everywhere (Welcome) services provided to the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MOD). The…

KVH’s Norway office. Photo: KVH [Via Satellite 06-23-2015] KVH Industries has recently implemented a global private Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network to connect all of the teleports and satellite beams within its mini-VSAT Broadband network. The MPLS network is designed to aggregate all customer satellite traffic and provides Internet egress at KVH’s Point-of-Presence “MegaPOPs” access…

Space debris around Earth, artist rendering. Photo: ESA [Via Satellite 06-22-2015] While recycling and sustainability efforts have taken hold on the earth’s surface, few of us stop to think about the pollution taking place outside of our atmosphere. With nearly 60 years of satellite launches behind us, left over debris is piling up in orbit…

UrtheCast’s Iris high resolution camera. Photo: UrtheCast [Via Satellite 06-22-2015] UrtheCast has teamed up with SSTL and Elecnor Deimos Space to build and launch a constellation of multispectral optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites. The constellation is expected to comprise a minimum of 16 satellites — eight optical and eight SAR — flying in…

Launch of SpaceX orbital carrier rocket Falcon 1 from Omelek Island. Photo: U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) [Via Satellite 06-22-2015] The U.S. Ronald Reagan Missile Defense Test Site has installed ViaLite Communications’ ViaLite RF over fiber to link its command center with remote antennas. The antennas are located on the uninhabited islands of Illiginni and…

Thor 7 in the Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR). Photo: SSL [Via Satellite 06-22-2015] Telenor Satellite Broadcasting’s newest satellite, Thor 7, has completed in-orbit testing as well as its journey from Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) to its 1 degree west orbital slot. Thor 7, built by SSL, launched April 26, 2015 aboard an Ariane 5…

Hot firing of 3-D-printed platinum chamber thruster. Photo: Airbus Defence and Space [Via Satellite 06-22-2015] The European Space Agency (ESA) reported that the agency and industry partner Airbus Defence and Space have completed a series of hot firings of a 3-D printed platinum combustion chamber and nozzle. The firings consisted of 618 ignitions, including a…

An O3b satellite. Photo: O3b [Via Satellite 06-19-2015] O3b Networks, operator of a constellation of 12 High Throughput Satellites (HTS) in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) has announced a slew of new and upgraded contracts for its Ka-band services. Many of these awards came from telcos in the Asia-Pacific, though O3B continues to branch out, expecting…

Artist’s rendition of the BSAT 4a satellite. Photo: SSL [Via Satellite 06-19-2015] Japanese satellite operator Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation (B-SAT) has selected Space Systems/Loral (SSL) to build a new satellite for Direct-to-Home (DTH) television services. The new BSAT 4a satellite will use the SSL 1300 satellite platform, supporting 24 Ku-band transponders for a range of…