Just 4 Kids enjoy satellite solutions from Beam Communications

Just 4 Kids, an Australian charity organization that caters to disadvantaged and disabled children, will now enjoy their adventure trips more, thanks to the ingenious satellite communication solution that Beam Communications developed for the organization.

The charity organization makes trips to remote Australian areas, hence the need for a reliable satellite communication is essential in case an emergency arises and there is no mobile phone services and UHF and HF radio signals are poor.

The motor trails of Just 4 Kids make use of Beam’s PotsDock 9555 mounted in the car along with a privacy handset. The Iridium 9555 handset fits in the docking station, featuring GPS, phone charging, RJ11/Pots, tracking, Bluetooth, and so on. The alert and tracking module can be changed to support periodic polling or emergency alert reporting.

CET Teleport, MEASAT sign capacity deal on Africasat-1a

Broadcast services provider CET Teleport GmbH recently entered an agreement with MEASAT Satellite Systems for capacity on Africasat-1a satellite. As one of the biggest teleports in Europe, the secured C-band capacity on Africasat-1a will help CET to improve their presence across the African continent.

Situated in northwest Germany, CET Teleport’s location is ideal to access satellites across the orbital arc from 58°W to 76.5°E to deliver coverage across Africa and connectivity in Europe, Middle East and Southeast Asia.

In a company statement, CET Teleport CEO Ken Armstrong noted: “We are delighted to be one of the first operators to take capacity on this modern new satellite. This capacity will greatly improve our C-band coverage of Africa, complementing the existing Ku-band coverage we have in the region to enable us to provide services to the whole continent of Africa.”

Complementing Armstrong’s statement, MEASAT Broadcast Sales VP Jarod Lopez said: “MEASAT is proud to support CET Teleport’s satellite capacity requirements in the African region. With the newly launched AFRICASAT-1a satellite, we are able to support expansion of services throughout Africa.”

Turkey to launch military reconnaissance, Earth observation satellites

The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) aims to launch five Earth observation satellites and military reconnaissance in space as part of their plan to increase the country’s investment in satellite communications. The new fleet will be joining Gokturk-2 Earth observation satellite which was launched December 2012.

To decrease Turkey’s dependency on the U.S GPS, the nation’s Space Group command will spearhead the initiative and plans to develop a Turkish satellite positioning system. Because of the U.S’ command over the GPS, all missiles launched by Turkey can be controlled by the U.S and make trajectory changes.

Presently, the Turkish military uses the national Turksat spacecraft. However, there is no dedicated military communications satellite.

Mitsubishi Electric doubles satellite production by expanding facility

Japanese manufacturing company Mitsubishi Electric is happy to announce that the company has finished its satellite production facility expansion in order to increase its annual satellite production capacity to eight satellites. This is said to be the biggest among all the other facilities operated by Japanese satellite manufacturers.

In a company statement, Mitsubishi Electric said that the global satellite market is exhibiting a growing demand for communication and other purposes, which refers to the Japanese government’s Basic Plan for Space Policy covering for five fiscal years starting next month. This includes extended use of space for broadcasting, positioning, remote sensing and telecommunications all for an improved quality of life.

Mitsubishi Electric has already produced and delivered several satellites that now supports daily life. These include the following: meteorological satellite Himawari-7; Superbird-C2, the first Japan-made commercial communications satellite; and the Quasi-Zenith Satellite-1 MICHIBIKI, used for location-information services. At this time, the Japanese company is developing the Himawari-8, Himawari-9 and ALOS-2 satellites.

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Com Dev wins contract to develop satellite equipment for Cospas-Sarsat system

Com Dev International has been selected by the Public Works and Government Services of Canada to design and begin work on a satellite equipment that will be used for Cospas-Sarsat — a next generation global search and rescue system. The project will last for a period of 15 months and will take place at the company’s Cambridge and Ottawa facilities.

During the first phase of the Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (MEOSAR) project, Com Dev will work on a repeater that Canada plans to launch into orbit as part of Cospas-Sarsat’s payload. The satellite deal, valued at $4.7 million, includes a $14 million option of continuing the development work to produce a fully-integrated prototype of the MEOSAR repeater for test and space qualification.

Once in its place, the repeater will be able to detect signals from emergency beacons and broadcast those signals to receiver stations on Earth.

“This project demonstrates Canada’s continued commitment to the global search and rescue system,” said Mike Pley, Com Dev CEO. “It is also an excellent example of how Canadian space technology can be harnessed for the benefit of all humanity.”

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Azerbaijan successfully sends first telecommunications satellite into orbit

Great news for Azerbaijan! The country has finally launched its very first telecommunications satellite — Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a — into space. The satellite was launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Center near Kourou in French Guiana.

The Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a telecommunications satellite will deliver satellite-aided communications service, and will also serve as a reliable satellite platform to its broadband, broadcasting and government clients.

In a statement to reporters, Azerbaijani Ambassador to the United States Elin Suleymanov said, “The launch of Azerbaijan’s first telecommunications satellite marks an important milestone in the successful partnership with U.S industry and the government of Azerbaijan.”

The satellite was designed, built and tested by Virginia-based technology company, Orbital Sciences Corporation, at an estimated cost of $120 million.

The systems of the satellite are designed to support digital broadcasting, Internet access, data transmission, and governmental communications. After its launch, Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a will undergo in-orbit testing before putting it into operation on an orbital path leased from Malaysia’s Measat Satellite Systems. The satellite is expected to have 15 years of life service.

Azerspace-1/Africasat-1a reportedly carries a total of 36 transponders that will deliver telecommunications services to the Caucasus, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and North Africa.

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‘Africa 24’ chooses Arabsat’s Badr-4 satellite for coverage expansion

News channel Africa 24 has appointed Arabsat — a leading communications satellite operator in Arab countries — to extend its coverage and launch in French on ARABSAT’S Badr-4 satellite at 26 degrees East to enable them to cover the entire Middle East, North Africa and portions of Western Europe.

“We are very pleased with the new partnership with Africa 24 and deeply appreciate their confidence in ARABSAT satellites technical capabilities,” Arabsat President and CEO Khalid bin Ahmed said in a statement. “ We look forward to strengthening this partnership, and provide our full support to Africa 24 to develop and expand its broadcast and coverage, and we wish them best of luck.”

Echoing the sentiments of Mr. Ahmed, Africa 24 President and Founder Constant Nemale said, “With the exclusive launch of AFRICA-24, ARABSAT continues to offer the best African programming line-up in the Middle East and North Africa. AFRICA24 is completely aligned to ARABSAT Network’s continuing commitment to offer the most attractive African programming options to the diverse African communities at the best value.”

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Search and rescue payload of Galileo Navigation Satellite passes first space test

After the European Space Agency (ESA) turned on the search and rescue (SAR) package on its Galileo Navigation Satellite, it has successfully cleared its first space test, which marks an important expansion of the COSPAS-SARSAT program — a satellite-based network designed to help air and sea vessels in distress.

ESA’s Galileo SAR Engineer Igor Stojkovic elaborated on how the space test was done, saying: “The first day was a matter of turning the repeater on and checking its temperature and power profiles were as predicted. The following day involved sending a signal to the repeater using the UHF antenna at ESA’s Redu Centre in Belgium, then picking up the reply from our L-band antenna.”

The second batch of Galileo satellites, sent on October 12, 2012 aboard a Soyuz rocket from Kourou, are known to be the first of the European constellation of navigation satellites to host a SAR system. The satellites SAR repeaters have the capability to acquire UHF signals casted from emergency beacons aboard aircrafts, ships, or even ones carried by individuals. Meanwhile, ground stations known as Local User Terminals, locate the source of distress calls with the use of signals transmitted by participating satellites, and then alert local authorities for rescue.

On January 17, the test campaign begun on the third Galileo satellite in orbit. The ten meter radius antenna of Redu was able to accurately measure the shape of the transmitted signal, the power and the time taken by the relay.

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Peru State Bank awards Gilat with $9.6 million satellite connectivity deal

Gilat Satellite Networks, a world-leading company that offers satellite solutions, said in a company statement that its subsidiary — Gilat To Home Peru — was given a three-year contract worth $9.6 million by Banco de la Nación to provide satellite connectivity for 320 rural locations, plus a disaster recovery site in Chiclayo.

With this new project, Gilat will be using the SkyEdge 2 platform, featuring the cutting edge WebEnhance VSAT to provide broadband connectivity to various bank branches all over Peru. This expanded business partnership will enable Banco de la Nación to connect remote offices with enterprise applications and to offer ATM and online banking access to clients in remote and itinerant branches.

Also as part of the contract, Gilat will provide a satellite backup to the Bank’s data center by deploying a disaster recovery site in Chiclayo — a city to found at the northern part of Peru. Satellite backup will ensure continuous broadband connectivity, enabling mission critical operations to move forward during emergency outages when terrestrial systems fail.

Lockheed successfully transports GEO-2 SBIRS spacecraft to Florida

Lockheed Martin has shipped the second Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO-2) Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) space probe to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, to be prepped for an anticipated launch aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket.

The goal of the SBIRS program is to offer a resilient and enhanced missile warning capabilities for the country, featuring a combination of satellites in geosynchronous orbit, hosted payloads in highly elliptical earth (HEO) orbit, and ground hardware and software — all while delivering essential contributions to the military’s missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness mission areas.

“We performed a disciplined integration and test campaign for GEO-2 and are now looking forward to successfully launching this spacecraft to ultimately help protect our nation and allies with unprecedented global, persistent infrared surveillance capabilities,” Lockheed Martin Vice President of Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) Missions Jeff Smith said in a company statement. “As we continue to produce SBIRS assets, we expect to drive even greater efficiency into our operations to reduce costs for the government while still ensuring mission success.”

Engineers from Lockheed will be finishing post shipment testing, fuel the satellite’s propulsion system and encapsulate the space probe inside the launch vehicle’s payload fairing before its launch. The fairing will be mated on top of the Atlas 5 rocket for final integrated testing and closeout preparations for launch.

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