August 2015

Artist rendering of a CYGNSS satellite monitoring a hurricane. Photo: NASA [Via Satellite 08-25-2015] The University of Michigan recently started building a constellation of eight microsatellites for use on NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission, which aims to improve hurricane forecasting. The mission, when launched in October 2016, will be the first in…

Digital rendering of a BCT satellite based on the XB1 bus. Photo: BCT [Via Satellite 08-25-2015] Commercial weather startup PlanetiQ has opened a science and engineering facility in Boulder, Colo., where the development and manufacture of the first 12 Pyxis sensors will take place. The facility includes a laboratory clean room, and is collocated with Blue…

Artist’s rendition of Es’hail 2. Photo: Mitsubishi Electric [Via Satellite 08-25-2015] Qatari satellite company Es’hailSat has selected a 50,000 square meter site north of the city of Doha, Qatar, to establish a new teleport. Promer Qatar Contracting Company will design and build the teleport, with design finalization expected by the first quarter of 2016, and…

Lockheed Martin’s High Power Microcryocooler. Photo: Lockheed Martin [Via Satellite 08-25-2015] Lockheed Martin scientists have improved threefold the power density of the company’s High Power Microcryocooler. The new system cools optics and electronics to as low as minus 320 F (minus 195 C) while maintaining roughly the same power efficiency rating as lower-power coolers. Highly…

[Via Satellite 08-25-2015] Top Brazilian television network TV Globo has selected Newtec’s M6100 broadcast satellite modulator to upgrade its Satellite Newsgathering (SNG) fleet. The company is transitioning its news feeds to High Definition (HD) as part of an all-HD production strategy that includes the entire SNG fleets of the Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and…

David Williams, CEO of Avanti. Photo: Avanti [Via Satellite 08-24-2015] British satellite operator Avanti, having finished the financing for its latest satellite, now plans to redouble its focus on sales and marketing for satellite services throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The company announced Aug. 18 that it had completed financing for Hylas…

A satellite Earth station. Photo: Optus Satellite [Via Satellite 08-24-2015] Australian satellite operator Optus Satellite has launched a new service for Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) businesses to ensure unhindered communications during terrestrial outages. Dubbed Optus Satellite Business Continuity, the solution supports critical communications over Optus’ satellite network rather than traditional terrestrial network infrastructure, effectively…

Artist’s rendition of an A2100 satellite. Photo: Lockheed Martin [Via Satellite 08-24-2015] Lockheed Martin has signed a contract with Orbital ATK for propellant and pressurant tanks for its modernized A2100 satellite platform. Under the new five-year contract, Orbital ATK will supply flight sets for A2100 satellites until March 2020. Flight sets consist of a hybrid…

An oil rig. Photo: Linsey G (Flickr) [Via Satellite 08-24-2015] SpeedCast International has won a significant satellite services agreement with an energy sector customer to provide communications in more than 20 countries. The multi-year, multi-million dollar contract is one of SpeedCast’s largest ever in the energy sector. The company has assigned a dedicated team to…

Netwec’s MDM6000 satellite modem. Photo: Newtec [Via Satellite 08-24-2015] Newtec together with Intelsat, have achieved a world first for the amount of throughput in a single transponder. During a demonstration at Intelsat’s Fuchsstadt teleport in Germany, engineers from both companies used the Newtec MDM6000 satellite modem with all digital built-in Bandwidth Cancellation (BWC) technology to set…