Satellite News

Xplore Inc., a commercial space company providing Space as a Service has announced a follow on contract with the U.S. Air Force, (USAF) to continue developing their positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) solution as a commercial service for cislunar space.

The Agency for Air Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar, ASECNA, has started broadcasting an SBAS (Satellite-Based Augmentation System) signal over the Africa and Indian Ocean (AFI) region, providing the first SBAS open service in this part of the world via NIGCOMSAT-1R.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has provided consultation for Qualcomm towards enabling NavIC capability in their Snapdragon mobile chipset platforms.

Thales Alenia Space announced that it has signed a new contract with the European Space Agency (ESA), on behalf of the European Commission, to upgrade Europe’s EGNOS satellite navigation system. Via this contract Thales Alenia Space will develop a new version of EGNOS (version V242B), incorporating new advanced functionalities.

Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system is back in service after a six-day outage, its oversight agency said. “Galileo Initial Services have now been restored. Commercial users can already see signs of recovery of the Galileo navigation and timing services, although some fluctuations may be experienced until further notice,” the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GNSS) said.

Globalstar, Inc. and Echo Ridge, LLC have signed an agreement to collaborate, share data, and jointly pursue market opportunities for a new assured positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) technology that can backup and/or complement GPS when GPS is unavailable or unreliable.

Globalstar, Inc. and Echo Ridge, LLC have informed the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that the companies have developed and are prepared to participate in and support a live field demonstration of a stand-alone positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) capability that can provide accurate and reliable PNT services to backup and/or complement GPS in case of GPS unavailability or unreliability.

Lockheed Martin has delivered the GPS III Contingency Operations (COps) software upgrade to the U.S. Air Force’s current GPS ground control system. The upgrade will enable the Air Force to start commanding the new, next-generation GPS III satellites now coming off the production line and beginning to launch.