DefenceTalkKleos Space, a space-powered RF reconnaissance data-as-a-service (DaaS) company, has been awarded a contract to prepare Kleos data to be accessed by the Micro-Satellite Military Utility (MSMU Project) Project Arrangement (PA) which is an agreement under the Responsive Space Capabilities Memorandum of Understanding involving the Departments and Ministries of Defense of Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/kleos-space-awarded-contract-on-micro-satellite-military-utility-project-75597/

DefenceTalkSatellite launch company Rocket Lab announced earlier this week it had been forced to delay the launch of three US intelligence satellites from its New Zealand launch facility after that country ordered residents to stay home amid a spreading COVID-19 outbreak. The private space launch company announced this week it had been forced to postpone […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pandemic-delays-new-zealand-launch-of-three-us-intel-satellites-75096/

DefenceTalkThe US Space Force (USSF) has awarded two $500 million contracts to develop and produce satellite communications modems secure from enemy jamming. On Monday, the USSF’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) announced that L3Harris and Raytheon had each received $500 million contracts to develop Protected Tactical Waveform-capable modems for the US Army and the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-space-force-pens-1b-in-contracts-for-unjammable-modems-75063/

DefenceTalkConstellations of small satellites orbiting close to Earth may provide faster communications and be less vulnerable than traditional ones, defense officials said Thursday. Larger geosynchronous satellites are very expensive and vulnerable to attack, said Dr. Mark Lewis, director of the Defense Research and Engineering for Modernization Office. He chaired a panel discussion at the Association […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-army-looks-to-leverage-low-earth-orbit-satellites-74784/

Lockheed Martin’s third satellite based on the modernized LM 2100 bus launched from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket and is traveling to its transfer orbit for a series of in-orbit tests before operations are handed over to Sky Perfect JSAT Corporation. JCSAT-17 will provide flexible mobile communications services […]

Iran’s government on Wednesday rejected US allegations that the Islamic republic’s satellite programme has a military dimension, days after the failed launch of its latest satellite. “The subject of satellite launch vehicles and satellites is a civilian matter,” Defence Minister Amir Hatami was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA. “We could use a […]

The 2nd Space Operations Squadron decommissioned Satellite Vehicle Number-36, the second to last Block IIA satellite, Jan. 27. Capt. Collin Dart, 2nd SOPS assistant flight commander of GPS mission engineering, said the disposal of SVN-36 will allow for newer vehicles to take it’s place. “The main reason it was decommissioned was because, at this time, […]

As well as providing global navigation services, Europe’s Galileo satellite constellation is contributing to saving more than 2000 lives annually by relaying SOS messages to first responders. And from now on the satellites will reply to these messages, assuring people in danger that help is on the way. This ESA-design ‘return link’ system, unique to […]

Think of it as a celestial parlor game: What is the minimum number of satellites needed to see every point on Earth? And how might those satellites stay in orbit and maintain continuous 24/7 coverage while contending with Earth’s gravity field, its lumpy mass, the pull of the sun and moon, and pressure from solar […]

SpaceX is set Monday to launch its third batch of 60 mini-satellites into orbit, part of its plans to build a giant constellation of thousands of spacecraft that will form a global broadband internet system. The US company is targeting a 9:19pm (0219 GMT Tuesday) launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, […]