Satellite News

ESA’s Galileo satellites have achieved their very first aerial fix of longitude, latitude and altitude, enabling the inflight tracking of a test aircraft.

Northrop Grumman Corporation said it took a satellite communications system normally used in space and transformed it into a high-functioning, low-cost communications system that can be used on aircraft.

ATK announced that it successfully completed the last major technical milestone in its contract from the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center Defense Weather Systems Directorate.

ESA’s network of tracking stations will provide crucial support for the five-day lunar cruise of China’s Chang’e-3 spacecraft. Chang’e-3 lift-off is set for around 1800 UTC on 1 December, and the 15 m-diameter dish in Kourou will pick up the first signals around 1844 UTC.

Boeing’s Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) development programme has completed the functional qualification testing phase for the protected wideband satellite communications system. FAB-T will be used in the command and control of U.S. nuclear forces.

The Lockheed Martin prototype of the next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite, the GPS III, recently proved it was backward-compatible with the existing GPS satellite constellation in orbit.

Avanti has signed a multiyear contract for over 56 Mb of managed capacity on its HYLAS 2 satellite with Internet Solutions (IS), a division of Dimension Data, South Africa.

Eutelsat Communications and Cyfrowy Polsat announced a new contract for additional capacity at Eutelsat’s Hotbird video neighbourhood and a multi-year agreement to extend the lease of existing capacity.