Satellite News

Hughes Network Systems, LLC announced that it has achieved carrier data rates exceeding 1 Gbps on its Jupiter System.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has signed a US$1.7 million contract with Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) to develop an engineering concept solution to provide on-board communication signal processing capabilities for its Dream Chaser crew transportation vehicle.

Lybid TV, a new Ukrainian pay-TV platform, has initiated full commercial operations on Eutelsat 36B . The platform has signed a multi-year lease for two transponders on the satellite that provides Direct-to-Home reach of the Ukraine.

SES announced a 15-year contract with Platco Digital, a sister company of the South African independent broadcaster e.tv, to broadcast a new free-to-air service in South Africa, with future plans to expand across Southern Africa.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has been awarded a contract by DigitalGlobe to provide a new international Direct Access Facility ground station for an unspecified customer to task, collect and process imagery from the WorldView-1 and WorldView-2 satellites.

SES announced that the East African pay-TV broadcaster Zuku TV will complete its migration on the SES fleet by the end of July 2013 and has committed to growth capacity on the new satellite.

SES and MNC Sky Vision, an Indonesian satellite Pay-TV provider (brand name: Indovision), announced an agreement to provide capacity on the SES-7 satellite to support Indovision’s future Chinese-language Direct-to-Home (DTH) package.

NASA will use the International Space Station to test a new communications technology that could dramatically improve spacecraft communications, enhance commercial missions and strengthen transmission of scientific data.