Satellite News

When Roskosmos head Anatoly Perminov last January said the Russian defence ministry refused to launch South Africa’s SumbandilaSat because the country “refused to use our satellite,” nobody really knew what he meant. It wouldn’t have been the first translation error in an English-language report by a Russian news agency, anyway. Now a South African newspaper reports that the country had indeed ordered a spy satellite from Russia — and later cancelled that order.

Telesat Holdings Inc. announced the appointment of Michel Cayouette as the company’s Chief Financial Officer.

SES Astra announced the creation of a new company, Astra Broadband Services (ABBS), bundling its broadband activities.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the financing of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) by another RUB67 billion (EUR1.8 billion, US$ 2.6 billion).

Ellipso was the name of one of the many broadband satellite constellations planned in the second half of the 90s. The plan collapsed, as most others, but Ellipso, Inc. still exists — and has now asked its patent counsel to investigate potential patent infringements by O3b Networks Limited.

The Sea Launch vessels have departed Sea Launch Home Port and are now on their way to the Equator for the launch of Intelsat’s Galaxy 19 satellite, on 23 September.

Measat Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. was awarded “Regional Satellite Operator of the Year” in the Excellence in Satellite Management Awards at the 12th World Summit for Satellite Financing in Paris, France.

SES Astra announced that it has signed the first capacity agreement with a customer for its African capacity Astra 4A at the orbital position 5 degrees East.