Forums: Satellite Tv Software

Canada’s MDA Corp., which has a well-established record in space robotics, is designing a satellite-servicing demonstration to refuel spacecraft in orbit and, when necessary, to push dead satellites into graveyard orbits, an MDA official said March 3. The company is prepared to finance the first mission at least in part on its own. MDA has signed an option with an unidentified satellite fleet operator that has agreed to provide an aging telecommunications spacecraft for a refueling operation as the inaugural customer, according to Logan Duffield, vice president for strategic business development of MDA Information Systems. Richmond, British Columbia-based MacDonald, Dettwiler...

The US Air Force has received its first global positioning system (GPS) IIF satellite. It will undergo final preparations for launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, a media report said. The USAF's Space Vehicle 1 (SV-1), the first of 12 GPS IIF satellites, is scheduled to be launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV vehicle, by end of this year, a statement by Boeing said. Boeing delivered the next-generation navigation spacecraft, from its satellite manufacturing facility in El Segundo, aboard a Boeing-built C-17 Globemaster III airlifter. The GPS IIF system will bring enhanced performance to the GPS constellation...

Leading Russian spacecraft producer Energia has presented a concept of a universal military satellite with offensive capabilities. The 20-ton orbiter with a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years would be powered by a 150 to 500 kilowatt nuclear reactor and will be able to “monitor territories and airspace, provide informational superiority – including in armed conflicts – and perform target designation and traffic control. It will also be offensive-capable,” said Energia head Vitaly Lopota, as cited by ITAR-TASS news agency. He did not specify what offensive capabilities the satellite would have; whether it will be able to target other...

The Beidou (Compass) Navigation Satellite System, which will be completed in 2020 with 35 satellites, will enable China to shake off its dependence on GPS and achieve huge economic benefits," Pang Zhihao, a senior researcher with the China Academy of Space Technology, told China Daily. Navigation systems deliver data from satellites that allow travelers, drivers, and military officials directions on locations and travel advice. The third Beidou satellite will lift off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province at "an appropriate moment soon", atop a Long March-3C carrier, the center said on Friday in a statement. Both the...

Obama Commercial Space Business? Russia Prepares To Launch US Telecoms Satellite File image. Proton-M launch. by Staff Writers Moscow, Russia (RIA Novosti) Feb 10, 2010 A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying a U.S. telecommunications satellite has been delivered to a launch pad at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan in preparation for the February 12 launch. The carrier rocket will put into orbit the Intelsat-16 satellite, which was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation for the Intelsat Ltd., a leading provider of satellite services worldwide. The Intelsat-16 satellite is equipped with 24 transponders and will provide telecommunications services to customers in Brazil...

The Obama administration’s proposed 2011 spending plan includes some changes to major missile defense and space programs that emphasize a focus on space situational awareness and ballistic missile tracking capabilities. The proposal also underpins the aging nuclear weapons infrastructure, while adhering to the aim of eventually scrapping nuclear forces altogether and securing so-called nuclear loose material worldwide. Few new expensive programs are being started in Fiscal 2011, and the most dramatic shift in the funding request is the termination of the joint Defense-Commerce Dept. National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (see p. 14). By contrast, the Air Force is setting...

For the FReeper national security community -- Whereas the Iranians have promised/threatened something big on the 11th, and Whereas polar orbit satellites pass over the CONUS repeatedly, and Whereas satellite orbits can be willfully decayed to reach a given altitude at a given Long/Lat., and Whereas the US has no defense against or ability to recover from an EMP attack from near space, and Whereas the TOTUS is a FNG/REMF when it comes to serious national security; Do the Iranians or their proxies have a satellite in low-earth/ polar orbit at the present time?

The trend over the last several years of annual funding increases for U.S. Air Force space activity appears to be at an end, and that, coupled with the ongoing recapitalization of the service’s operational satellite fleets, means there is little money left for new development initiatives. The service’s 2011 budget request, submitted to Congress Feb. 1, scales back the Third Generation Infrared Surveillance (TGIRS) program and curbs funding for the Operationally Responsive Space Office. This follows U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision early last year to cancel the $26 billion Transformational Satellite communications system. Overall, the request includes $8 billion for...

Iran fires satellite carrier into space Iran on Tuesday test-fired the Kavoshgar 3 satellite carrier, sending its third explorer — with living organisms onboard — into space. The Kavoshgar 3 (Explorer) rocket, carrying an experimental capsule, transfers telemetric data, live pictures and flight and environmental analysis data. The Iranian Aerospace Organization (IAO) says live video transmission and the mini-environmental lab will enable further studies on the biological capsule — carrying a rat, two turtles and worms — as it leaves earth's atmosphere and enters space. In February 2008, Iran became the 11th country to have acquired space-related technology by blasting...