General news on the satellite and space industry from around the web
Tata Sky 4K STB. Photo: Tata Sky. [Via Satellite 01-12-2015] Direct-To-Home (DTH) TV operator Tata Sky has launched its first 4K Set Top Box (STB) in India, in preparation for the upcoming cricket matches to be broadcast in Ultra-HD. Apart from relaying 4K content, the box will also showcase Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition…
Artist rendition of the search for exoplanetary systems. Photo: ESA/C. Carreau [Via Satellite 01-12-2015] The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected Thales Alenia Space for one of the three phase B1 studies of the Planetary Transits and Oscillation of Stars (PLATO) program, part of ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015-25. The main purpose of the PLATO mission,…
Dave Davis, CEO of Global Eagle Entertainment. Photo: Row 44 [Via Satellite 01-09-2015] In-Flight entertainment and connectivity provider Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE) is not worried that burgeoning demand for In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) services will cannibalize the more established world of traditional content, Dave Davis, CEO of GEE said at the Citi Internet, Media & Telecommunications…
Cape Canaveral. Photo: NASA [Via Satellite 01-09-2015] The U.S. Air Force has awarded a potential multi-billion-dollar contract to a joint venture between Raytheon and General Dynamics. Under the contract, the joint venture, called Range Generation Next (RGNext), will be required to operate, maintain, and sustain launch ranges at Florida’s Space Coast and Vandenberg Air Force…
CEA engineers working on the Cherenkov Telescope Array. Photo: CEA [Via Satellite 01-09-2015] CNES, the French space agency, and CEA, the French atomic energy and alternative energies commission, have signed a new framework research agreement to step up cooperation between the two agencies in science and technology. Under the new agreement, priority fields of research…
Photo: Ted Eytan (Flickr) [Via Satellite 01-09-2015] SiriusXM reached 27.3 million subscribers in 2014, adding more subscribers than anticipated based on the company’s guidance. In 2014 SiriusXM gained 1.75 million net subscriber additions, having originally anticipated 1.5 million. The company had 1.44 million self-pay net additions, again surpassing the expected guidance of 1.25 million and…
Com Dev HTS components. Photo: Com Dev [Via Satellite 01-09-2015] Com Dev has announced an expansion to an October 2014 contract to provide Ku-band equipment for a communications High Throughput Satellite (HTS). The expansion calls for additional multiplexers, switches and ancillary equipment orders for an approximate added value of $7 million, bringing the total contract…
[Via Satellite 01-09-2015] ViXS Systems announced its new XCode 6800 family of media processing System-on-a-Chip (SoC) products that, according to the company, represent the first silicon solution to support 4K Ultra-HD with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and 12-bit color depth. The XCode 6800 continues to support current and previous video standards, while paving the way…
A DirecTV satellite dish. Photo: ellibertario (Flickr) [Via Satellite 01-08-2015] DirecTV has selected a new USB powered Ethernet-to-coax adapter from Entropic and Wistron NeWeb Corporation for Ultra-HD 4K broadcasts. The adaptor provides sufficient throughput for Ultra-HD video and streaming media services to any DirecTV-ready television without requiring a separate Set-Top Box (STB). The new USB…
[Via Satellite 01-08-2015] To support the international response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) has releases a series of Image City Map products created with satellite imagery and human geography data sets from DigitalGlobe. Through NGA’s EnhancedView program, military and civilian health workers, international partner nations and…