Satellite News

Alcatel-Lucent is joining Inmarsat as a technology partner for the development of the first fully integrated aviation telecommunications network across the European Union (EU). The network is scheduled to enter commercial service by the end of 2016.

The ground network for Galileo’s search and rescue service has now passed a major exam. These stations sit on Spitsbergen in the Norwegian Arctic, Maspalomas on the largest island of Spain’s Canary Islands, and Larnaca on the island nation of Cyprus, forming a triangle enclosing Europe. The three are coordinated and overseen from a control centre in Toulouse, France.

The newest node in NASA’s Mars telecommunications network — a radio aboard the MAVEN orbiter custom-designed for data links with robots on the surface of Mars — handled a copious 550 megabits during its first relay of real Mars data.

With the first Copernicus satellite now operational, ESA and the DLR German Aerospace Center have signed an arrangement on managing and accessing Sentinel data.

Measat Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. announced that customers on the Africasat-1a satellite will now be able to benefit from additional cost savings given the successful test of 64APSK modulation on the satellite’s high-powered pan-African beam.

SES announced that it has signed a new capacity agreement with SageNet/Spacenet to help energy companies connect their mission-critical operations across the region.

SES announced it has signed a new capacity agreement with Global Data Systems (GDS) to enable Stallion Oilfield Services to connect an increasing number of oil and gas drilling sites across the U.S. and Canada.

Eutelsat America Corp., the U.S. subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications, has been selected by SES Government Solutions to provide satellite capacity to support communications for U.S. Africa Command.