June 2015

Artist’s impression of the debris objects in orbit around Earth. Credit: ESA. [Via Satellite 06-17-2015] Space agencies and technology centers from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom have all signed a Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) consortium agreement to provide a European Union (EU)-wide SST framework. The consortium will exploit existing national infrastructures…

Photo: Globecast [Via Satellite 06-17-2015] Bright Lights Media has partnered with Globecast and Measat to launch a new HD pay-TV channel in Southeast Asia. The channel, “Simply Money,” provides personal finance-lifestyle content from around the world targeting viewers in Southeast Asia. Globecast is supplying Simply Money with an end-to-end media management solution from its media…

ABE’s Amachuma teleport. Photo: Newtec [Via Satellite 06-17-2015] Agencia Boliviana Espacial (ABE), the Bolivian Space Agency, has certified the results of a two-month trial campaign using Newtec satellite equipment that transmitted more than 500Mbps over 120MHz on Ka band. The Ka-band tests demonstrated three main use case scenarios with Newtec’s MDM6000 series. Major results include transmitting…

Artist’s rendition of SES 3. Photo: SES [Via Satellite 06-17-2015] SES has launched an Ultra-HD demonstration channel for North America from the SES 3 satellite. The channel is SES’ first Ultra-HD demo channel in the continent. SES previously announced the channel at NAB in April. Broadcasting from 103 degrees west, the channel will enable cable…

A BlackSky Pathfinder spacecraft during final integration. Photo: BlackSky Global [Via Satellite 06-16-2015] BlackSky Global, a rising Seattle-based satellite imagery startup founded in 2013, plans to launch a constellation of 60 Earth observation satellites to enable revisit times of a few hours or less. The company has already raised capital to fully fund its first…

Artist’s rendition of the Ariane 6 rocket. Photo: ESA [Via Satellite 06-16-2015] Airbus Safran Launchers (ASL) has reached an agreement with France and the French Space Agency (CNES) to buy CNES’ 35 percent stake in Arianespace. The shift, subject to completion of all regulatory consultation and approval procedures, increases ASL’s hold to 74 percent of…

Air traffic controllers in a tower in Christchurch, New Zealand. Photo: Airways New Zealand [Via Satellite 06-16-2015] Aireon has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Airways New Zealand, New Zealand’s Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), to collaborate on the investigation of the potential to deploy space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) services in New Zealand…

Inmarsat GX Maritime Aviation Network Diagram. Photo: Digisat [Via Satellite 06-16-2015] Honeywell Aerospace and Inmarsat have completed the first phase of hardware and satellite network flight tests for GX Aviation broadband services, which they promise can deliver in-flight wireless connectivity similar to what is available at home or in the office. The JetWave-branded hardware enables…

Galileo IOV satellite assembly. Photo: Thales Alenia Space [Via Satellite 06-16-2015] LeoSat and Thales Alenia Space anticipate completion of their feasibility study on LeoSat’s proposed Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband constellation this July. LeoSat expects to be ready to contract for its satellite constellation development within about a year, with the launch taking place in 2019…

ESA and Intelsat sign Indigo public–private partnership. Photo: ESA–P. Sebirot, 2015 [Via Satellite 06-16-2015] Intelsat and Newtec are working together with the European Space Agency (ESA) Indigo Project to develop new ground segment technology for Intelsat EpicNG High Throughput Satellites (HTS). Intelsat has selected the Newtec Dialog platform from Europe to deliver numerous services on the Intelsat EpicNG…