Satellite News

COM DEV International Ltd. and GateHouse A/S of Aalborg, Denmark, announced the signing of a strategic alliance agreement to combine their respective skills and capabilities to enable COM DEV’s space-based AIS (Automatic Identification System) data to be collected, stored, managed and displayed.

SpaceDev, Inc. said it recently completed its first milestone under the Space Act Agreement that it signed with NASA in June 2007.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) held official ground breaking ceremonies yesterday at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. SLC-40 will be the primary launch site for SpaceX’s new Falcon 9 launch vehicle, with operations beginning in late 2008.

Hughes Network Systems, LLC announced the signing of an agreement with TerreStar Networks Inc. under which Hughes will design, develop, and supply a satellite chipset platform based on UMTS standards to enable wireless mobile devices to communicate over the satellite portion of TerreStar’s network.

Alliant Techsystems and United Space Alliance (USA) successfully conducted the first in a series of six main parachute drop tests in the development of the deceleration system for the first stage of NASA’s Ares I crew launch vehicle.

Maybe you’ve run across headlines like these over the past few days: “New Google Earth Satellite to Launch,” or “Google Earth to Get Amazing High-Res Photos,” etc. Referring to the WorldView 1 satellite launched today, they’re excellent examples for sloppy journalism.

The Bates family and friends (who occupy a former British military installation located 10 km off the coast of Suffolk, England, and call themselves an “independent micro-nation” by the name of Sealand) announced they “have received a multi-million dollar investment opportunity to fund the launch of a new communications satellite.”

A team of four personnel from the United States Air Force will visit Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, Australia, to monitor the launch of the National Aeronautical and Space Administration’s (NASA) Dawn spacecraft.