Sponsored By Viasat
www.viasat.com/gov-uk
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24 Mar 22. Indra to develop SATCOM system for future defence drones. The technology will enable the operator to pilot the remote aircraft from a base thousands of kilometres away. Indra has announced that it is developing a satellite communication (SATCOM) system for long-range defence drones. According to the company, the technology will enable the operator to pilot the remote aircraft from a base thousands of kilometres away. It will also facilitate real-time data exchanges to support missions offering bandwidths of up to 20 megabits per second. This capability will be critical for future drones and will enable them to maintain connectivity with command centres, as well as with multiple land, naval and air platforms. Additionally, the terminal will operate on both civilian and military communications bands (Ku and Ka bands). It will also use waveforms to prevent signal jamming.
In a statement, Indra said: “Indra’s system will be one of the few that will be designed from the outset to obtain DAL-D (Design Assurance Level-D) security certification, which is essential in order to remotely control large military drones safely.
“The new terminal will be perfectly suited to medium or large platforms such as the future EuroDrone currently being developed by Germany, Spain, France and Italy.”
The company expects that the features will make the new system one of the most advanced in the market.
Headquartered in Spain, Indra is an information technology company catering to the transport and defence markets.
Recently, Indra’s Lanza 3D deployable air defence radar (DADR) successfully cleared Nato’s tactical ballistic missile detection and tracking tests.
The Lanza 3D sensor is capable of detecting and tracking tactical ballistic missiles.
As of last year, Indra has a presence in 46 countries and business operations in more than 140 countries. (Source: airforce-technology.com)
24 Mar 22. DARPA Kicks Off Program to Explore Space-Based Manufacturing. Eight teams selected to pioneer novel ways of designing and manufacturing large structures on orbit. DARPA’s Novel Orbital Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass Efficient Design (NOM4D) program is underway with eight industry and university research teams on contract. The selected teams are tasked to provide foundational proofs of concept in materials science, manufacturing, and design technologies to enable production of future space structures on orbit without the volume constraints imposed by launch. The vision is to ferry raw materials from Earth and collect lunar materials for on-orbit manufacturing. The NOM4D program does not involve building any structures on the surface of the moon. All manufacturing would be done in orbital construction facilities and the results utilized in orbital applications.
“Current space systems are all designed, built, and tested on Earth before being launched into a stable orbit and deployed to their final operational configuration,” said Bill Carter NOM4D program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office. “These constraints are particularly acute for large structures such as solar arrays, antennas and optical systems, where size is critical to performance. NOM4D aims to enable a new paradigm where future structures that support DoD space systems are built off-Earth using designs optimized for the space environment, shedding launch constraints. This would enable enhanced capability, improved robustness, operation in higher orbits, and future cislunar applications.”
For NOM4D, performers won’t be launching raw materials into space, collecting lunar samples or building structures on orbit. Any orbital experimentation would happen in potential follow-on efforts.
The following research teams are on contract to pursue a variety of challenges focused on two areas listed below:
- In-space materials and manufacturing
o HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, California, will be developing new die-less fabrication processes to make orbital mechanical elements and bonded structures on-orbit.
o University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, will develop predictive material and correlative process models to enable on-orbit use of laser forming.
o University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, is working to develop a high precision in-space composite forming process utilizing self-energized frontal polymerization.
o Physical Sciences, Inc., Andover, Massachusetts, will develop continuous fabrication of regolith-derived, glass-ceramic mechanical structures for use in large-scale orbital applications.
o Teledyne Scientific Company, LLC, Thousand Oaks, California, will build a comprehensive materials properties database of additive-modified regolith for use in controlled thermal expansion precision orbital structures.
- Mass-efficient designs for in-space manufacturing
o University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, will explore new design approaches to mass-efficient, high- precision, stable and resilient space structures based on metamaterial and metadamping concepts.
o Opterus Research and Development, Inc., Loveland, Colorado, will develop designs for extreme mass efficient large-scale structures optimized for resiliency and mobility.
o California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, will design novel tension and bending hybrid architectures and structural components with highly anisotropic mechanical response.
During Phase 1, program performers are tasked to meet stringent structural efficiency targets supporting a megawatt-class solar array. In Phase 2, teams are tasked to increase mass efficiency and demonstrate precision manufacturing for radio frequency (RF) reflectors. In the final phase, performers are tasked to demonstrate precision for infrared (IR) reflectors.
“Assuming current space technology trends continue, in 10-20 years we expect to see advances that will enable DoD to take full advantage of the NOM4D-developed technologies and capabilities,” Carter said. “This includes robotic manipulation sufficient to enable assembly of large structures from NOM4D-manufactured components, enhanced on-orbit mobility, and routine re-fueling of on-orbit assets. We also anticipate several other advantages, including more affordable space access and launch costs in LEO [low-earth orbit], GEO [geosynchronous orbit], cislunar space, and beyond.” (Source: ASD Network)
24 Mar 22. Following cyberattack, communication satellite operators want more guidance on reporting. Satellite communications companies said this week that new guidance from the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency asking industry to lower its threshold for reporting signs of possible cyber intrusions is a good step toward raising awareness of malicious activity and holding bad actors accountable. On March 17, the two agencies issued an alert of a possible threat to U.S. and international SATCOM networks and recommended a number of mitigations for network providers and customers, including the use of secure authentication methods and additional monitoring for “anomalous traffic.” President Joe Biden further emphasized the threat this week, telling a group of business leaders on Monday: “Russia may be planning a cyberattack against us.” The warnings follow reports of thousands of distributed denial-of-service attacks on Ukrainian systems as well as a cyberattack against communications provider Viasat’s KA-SAT system that occurred in late February, just as Russian forces were beginning their invasion of Ukraine. The satellite system provides high-speed internet coverage for users in Europe and the Mediterranean. U.S. intelligence agencies continue to investigate the incident, and Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology Anne Neuberger said this week during a White House press briefing the government has not yet attributed the attack.
Craig Miller, Viasat’s president of government systems, told C4ISRNET this week the company has identified a root cause, put mitigations in place and is “bringing users back online by the thousands per day.” The attack, the company has said, did not impact the satellite or its core network infrastructure and did not compromise user data.
“Throughout the whole time, we always had large numbers of users operating in the region,” Miller said. “Some were knocked offline, but we are repopulating all those terminals and within weeks we’ll have all the terminals replaced and every user back to capacity the way it was.”
While Viasat typically operates its own networks, Miller noted that the KA-SAT network is currently operated by a subsidiary company called Skylogic and had a different set of security and tools than Viasat-operated networks.
“It was our estimation that the Viasat-operated networks were never vulnerable to an attack like this,” he said.
Normalizing incident reporting
Miller said Viasat supports CISA’s recommendation for companies to lower their cyber incident reporting threshold — largely because events like this are often accepted as business as usual rather than a serious security violation.
“I really applaud CISA for saying to lower the threshold for reporting because we should hold these actors accountable,” he said. “There’s sort of a perception that it’s just OK. But if I broke into your house and broke down your door, the police would show up.”
Neuberger echoed that sentiment this week, noting that while CISA has detected recent “preparatory activity” for a possible cyberattack, the call to action for network owners should continue even beyond the current heightened security environment.
“Every single day, there should be a call to action,” Neuberger told reporters. “We’re using the opportunity of this evolving threat intelligence regarding potential cyberattacks against critical infrastructure to reiterate . . . specifically to critical infrastructure owners and operators to say, ‘You have the responsibility to take these steps to protect the critical services Americans rely on.’”
Sam Costa, a space intelligence officer for the Director of National Intelligence, said Wednesday there may be a perception among the defense and commercial space industrial base that there would be repercussions for reporting cyber threats.
Speaking Wednesday on a panel at the Satellite 2022 Conference here, Costa said companies should remain engaged with the FBI and CISA in the future and continue reporting incidents.
In some cases, better collaboration between the government and SATCOM providers could improve incident reporting. Pete Hoene, CEO at SES Government Solutions, said the Combined Space Force Component Command’s Commercial Integration Cell at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California enables some of that partnership and information sharing on things like electromagnetic and radio frequency interference.
“We actually have a Commercial Integration Cell person on the [top secret/sensitive compartmentalized information] floor that’s working on observing EMI and RFI disruptions, trying to geolocate those and then trying to make sense of those,” Hoene said during a March 23 panel at the Satellite 2022 Conference. “That information is shared to a certain degree. There is some sensitivity there, but I think that’s an improvement and the interagency processes have improved over the last few years as well.”
Along with the growing partnership on the operations side, Hoene said there is a need for long-term cooperation when it comes to requirements and procurement so that companies can ensure they’re investing in the kinds of resilient capability the government needs. He praised the efforts of the Space Force’s Commercial SATCOM Office — the entity responsible for buying commercial SATCOM services — but said companies need more flexibility and appropriate contract structures in order to respond to the service’s needs.
Improving resiliency
For SATCOM operators and users, resiliency measures can range from things like cyber hygiene and automated network monitoring to the availability of a diverse network of providers operating in multiple orbits.
Miller said that for the Department of Defense, having the “optionality” that comes with multiple providers operating on different frequency bands is a key line of defense against a range of threats – from cyber disruptions and satellite jamming to kinetic attacks.
“The more diverse you make it and the more optionality you create, the harder it is for the adversary,” he said.
Viasat is on contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory to explore how hybrid, or diverse, satellite communications architectures can help make DoD systems more resilient. AFRL awarded the $50.8 million contract in 2021, and Miller said the company is developing multiple proof of concepts in the land and space domains.
Rick Lober, vice president and general manager of defense and intelligence systems at Hughes Network Systems, told C4ISRNET this week the company recently demonstrated the ability to switch internet traffic from a satellite based in geosynchronous orbit to one in low Earth orbit and to share traffic between multiple orbits.
The demonstration was for commercial users, but Lober noted that it has application for military customers as well, particularly when it comes to resiliency.
“The military can do that as a way to make it very difficult to figure out which path is the signal really going on,” he said.
(Source: Defense News)
23 Mar 22. Isotropic Systems’ first-of-its-kind terminal completes simultaneous, full performance, multi-link trials across all orbits. Isotropic Systems, the leading multi-link satellite ground terminal provider, announces that it has completed all tests demonstrating that its multi-link terminal can connect to satellites in LEO, MEO and GEO orbits, simultaneously. The tests ensured continuous, full aperture performance across all links to multiple orbits, enabling full multiplication and aggregation of data connectivity. This announcement follows a series of field tests in various situations, including high-speed links with LEO satellites and simultaneous connections between MEO and GEO satellites for both commercial and military scenarios. The tests with the U.S. Army were part of the U.S. Air Force’s innovative Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program and demonstrated the terminal’s unique abilities to maintain connectivity under challenging Military conditions. Separate tests with Telesat and SES confirmed the terminals’ effectiveness across all satellite orbits with a range of civil and commercial applications. With the technology now proven, Isotropic Systems is expected to unlock unparalleled connectivity and significant enterprise opportunities for end-users.
To date, it has only been possible to connect to a single satellite at a time, obstructing users from harnessing the full capabilities of satellites. Never achieved before and with the potential to reshape the communications industry, Isotropic Systems’ terminal simultaneously connects to different satellites in separate orbits with a single antenna, without any comprise in the performance of each link. Re-defining the global satellite ecosystems, the multi-beam antenna offers limitless connectivity across a range of sectors, including government, defence, maritime, enterprise and aerospace.
John Finney, Isotropic Systems Founder and CEO, said: “Our next-gen multi-beam antenna has shown its full potential to unlock a new age of multi-orbit connectivity. With thousands of satellite constellations launching in the coming years, our technology is critical to unlocking the full benefits of the enhanced broadband connectivity.”
“We have completed various rigorous tests on the defence front by demonstrating our multi-beam and orbit capabilities with the U.S. Army and have also demonstrated unique multi-orbit connectivity alongside Telesat, SES and others.”
“We are thrilled to provide the unprecedented capability of meshing networks without comprising efficiency, preparing ourselves for our product launch later this year.”
About Isotropic Systems
With offices in the UK and U.S., Isotropic Systems is developing the world’s first multi-service, high-bandwidth, low power, fully integrated high throughput terminals designed to support the satellite industry to ‘reach beyond’ traditional markets and acquire new customers with a full suite of high throughput services. The company’s team of industry experts and scientists has pioneered several firsts in satellite terminal design resulting in a line of terminals that are customizable to meet the performance, cost and power requirements of countless applications – from the most complex government defence systems and mobile backhaul solutions capable of extending 5G, to next-gen connected experiences aboard commercial airliners, cruise ships, offshore rigs, and even small fishing boats at sea.
Investors in Isotropic Systems include Boeing HorizonX Global Ventures, SES and Promus Ventures through its Luxembourg based space investment fund, Orbital Ventures, Seraphim Capital, Firmament Ventures, Space Angels and family office investors such as Waterlow Management Limited. Further information is available at www.isotropicsystems.com (Source: PR Newswire)
22 Mar 22. DoD launching efforts to clean up messy SATCOM ground segment.
“A lot of people when they think of space-based capabilities, they always forget the ground segment,” Mike Dean, the Pentagon’s top SATCOM official, said.
The Defense Department is wrapping up a study on how to streamline and better protect its vast array of often incompatible ground terminals for satellite communications, with an eye to launching some changes next year, DoD’s SATCOM chief said today.
Grappling with the military’s myriad sets of SATCOM ground terminals in order to allow machine-speed communications between sensors and shooters on land, at sea, and in the air, space and cyberspace is a critical element in making the Pentagon’s high-priority Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) strategy work, Mike Dean, who works for the DoD Chief Information Officer (CIO), told the SATELLITE 2022 conference here today.
“So, a lot of people, when they think of space-based capabilities, they always forget the ground segment,” he said.
“We’ve spent the last almost two years doing a kind of thorough study. It was meant to be a lot shorter, but then COVID slowed us down,” Dean said. “But we looked at our DoD ground access points — you know, how we anchor our capacity in what we call the DoD Information Network.”
The DoD Information Network is the sprawling number of computer-based networking systems the Pentagon uses for all of its various operations. It is defined as a “globally interconnected, end-to-end set of information capabilities, and associated processes for collecting, processing, storing, disseminating, and managing information on-demand to warfighters, policy makers, and support personnel, including owned and leased communications and computing systems and services, software (including applications), data, security services, other associated services, and national security systems.”
The study found that “with some modest investments and repositioning some of our ground segments, we can build a little bit more optimization and resiliency,” Dean said. “So, we’re looking probably in the next next year to lay out some of those initiatives.”
The other key finding of the study was that “virtualization and digitization … is pretty key” to rationalizing the Pentagon’s SATCOM ground segment, Dean said. This is because the Pentagon uses a “hybrid, heterogeneous space segment of multiple orbits, which have all these different paths to traverse our data.”
This, in turn, results in “having stacks of equipment inside your gateways to try to swap and to go back and forth between networks,” something that just becomes too “cumbersome” for operators, he explained. “So if you want to move data around at machine speeds, you got to digitize and virtualize to some degree.”
The need to modernize and rationalize the SATCOM ground segment also is one of the drivers behind the Space Force’s Satellite Communications Enterprise Management and Control (SATCOM EMC) program. The overarching aim of that effort is to meld military, commercial, and coalition satellite communications capabilities found in orbit (LEO), medium-Earth-orbit (MEO), and geosynchronous orbit (GEO) to create a seamless, real-time communications network to underpin JADC2.
“We have a pretty good idea where we need to strengthen our network transport, and we’re obviously looking forward to integrating a lot of these new commercial space opportunities and transport capabilities so that we can increase the pipes” for information flow, he Dean said.
He explained that while the Space Development Agency is working on a data Transport Layer of satellites in LEO, JADC2 will require that larger network that utilizes all communications satellites in all orbits. (Source: glstrade.com/Breaking Defense.com)
23 Mar 22. Australia, India strengthen ties in space with new funding. The Australian federal government on Tuesday announced it has invested over $42m into space and technology initiatives with India to create jobs and collaborate on more projects. Both nations have worked together in space since 1997 and have continued to strengthen ties in recent years over shared interests in space. The funding, under the International Space Investment (ISI) initiative, will place more money into Australia’s involvement in India’s first manned spaceflight, Gaganyaan, set to launch in 2023. Australia will support the mission by tracking the spacecraft from Cocos Keeling Island, a part of the nation’s external territory, with hopes to establish a ground station there. In the latest round of funding, more than $25m will be invested into Australian businesses and researchers to utilise India’s space capabilities. Then, $9.5m will be spent on an Australia-India Innovation and Technology Challenge, and $7.8m to secure the ongoing Australia-India Strategic Research Fund.
“India is already a key economic partner for Australia and these investments will lock in relationships that are going to improve the everyday lives of residents in both our nations, while also creating economic opportunities for us here at home,” said Minister for Science and Technology Melissa Price.
“India is also an important regional partner, and this funding will allow our nations to keep working together to promote rules and norms, including through initiatives like the Quad.”
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) – the South Asian country’s space agency – is one of the fastest growing in the world, Minister Price said.
It is expected to grow to US$43bn by 2025, and she said the government wants “Australian space businesses to be part of that”.
The Australia-India Innovation and Technology challenge will be led by science organisation CSIRO and will fund 20 innovations to scale-up waste reduction, water security and food system resilience.
The Australia-India Strategic Fund – which is a previously established bilateral science cooperation – will receive $3.8m per year from 2026.
The fund provides grants for collaborations with Indian partners.
The announcement comes a year after the Australian Space Agency and the ISRO signed a memorandum of understanding to increase cooperation across civil space activities.
Since then, the nations have collaborated on civil space research, technology and capability development, educational activities and the peaceful use of outer space. (Source: Space Connect)
17 Mar 22. US government clients unaffected by Viasat cyberattack. A cyberattack that disrupted Viasat internet services in Ukraine and other parts of Europe did not affect U.S. government customers, the company said March 16.
The California-based satellite giant and defense contractor further said the attack did not compromise customer data and did not damage its core network infrastructure and gateways. As of March 11, its KA-SAT network had been stabilized and the company was working to restore services.
“We continue to make significant progress and multiple resolution efforts have been completed while others are underway,” the company said in a statement. “Certain customer modems are receiving over-the-air updates while other customer modems will be replaced.”
The February cyberattack — described as “deliberate, isolated and external” by a Viasat spokesperson — roughly coincided with Russia’s bloody invasion of Ukraine. NetBlocks on March 15 said the Viasat attack was “one of several incidents observed” as Russia rolled in.
The Ukrainian government as of March 16 tallied more than 3,000 distributed denial-of-service attacks on its systems, including a record 275 in one day. The tactic, often referred to as DDoS, floods a website or network with traffic, rendering it useless.
“Russia’s aggression, the intensity of cyber-attacks against Ukraine’s vital information infrastructure hasn’t decreased,” the State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine said in a bulletin. “While Russian missiles are targeting physical infrastructure of communication and broadcasting, Russian hackers are targeting our information infrastructure.”
Moscow has historically denied such operations.
Reuters on March 11 reported Western intelligence teams, including the U.S. National Security Agency, are probing the attack, which has not been attributed to any one player. Reuters described the blitz as possibly “one of the most significant wartime cyberattacks publicly disclosed so far.”
Viasat told C4ISRNET on March 16 it is working with “law enforcement, government partners” and its “third-party cybersecurity firm.”
Viasat furnishes satellite and networking capabilities, among other goods, to the U.S. military. In January 2020, for example, the company announced it had won a $90m Air Force contract to provide specialized Link 16 radios. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
22 Mar 22. Silentium Defence teams up with DARPA, Duke University for disaster planning project. South Australia’s Silentium Defence has announced a partnership with the United States to launch a small satellite into orbit for more accurate weather predictions.
The space surveillance company is working with Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering in North Carolina and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the US Department of Defense for developing emerging technologies.
It comes off the back of the recent flooding disaster in Queensland and NSW, and if successful, will be utilised to monitor future weather events such as bushfires and storms.
The objective is to launch a small prototype satellite, mounted with Silentium’s passive radar sensors, integrated with Duke’s novel meta surface antenna architecture to improve efficiency and cost for real-time Earth observation.
Metasurface antennas use artificial materials that are not found in natural materials, and these structures are smaller in size and enhance radiation.
“Earth-observing satellites are critical tools for forecasting all kinds of activity from severe weather events to floods, open ocean surveillance and impacts of climate change,” said Dr James Palmer, CEO of Silentium Defence.
“The challenge is they require heavy, power-hungry antennas mounted on big, expensive satellites to create and capture those observations.”
Smaller satellites are increasingly infiltrating low-Earth orbit, as these are cheaper and easier to launch, but require regular charging and cannot capture a wide picture of the Earth.
Silentium uses a different type of radar technology in other capabilities, exploiting power from pre-existing transmitters to survey the intended area in a cost-effective way, and it will now be tested for satellite-based Earth observation in this new collaboration.
“If successful, the world-first trial will enable faster, higher quality and more informed object, trend and environment tracking from space”, Palmer said.
The initial phase of the project will explore the feasibility of passive radar systems in Earth observation from low-Earth orbit, the company said.
The second phase will integrate Silentium’s system with Duke researchers’ meta surface antenna architecture to validate the models developed in phase one.
In December 2021, Silentium inaugurated its newest built “Oculus Observatory” in South Australia, to provide situational awareness for traffic management and collision avoidance in space.
Palmer told Space Connect then that typical technology sends out a blast of radio frequency, like a big pulse of energy into the environment that reflects off objects moving, and those echoes return with information on how far away they are and how fast they are moving.
Silentium’s sensors produce the same information, but by taking advantage of pre-existing transmitters such as FM radio and others already in the environment.
He said it provides the same quality of information without needing a radio spectrum licence that is expensive and time consuming. (Source: Defence Connect)
22 Mar 22. X-Bow Launch Systems Inc. (X-Bow), a revolutionary American space technology company focused on 3D printed energetics, announced today that it has exited stealth mode. X-Bow (pronounced “cross-bow”) brings to market its solid fuel rocket motors, along with a suite of small launch vehicles for both orbital and suborbital launch services. Customers already include the U.S. Air Force Research Labs and AFWERX, Los Alamos and Sandia National Labs, as well as the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Since its founding in 2016, X-Bow has focused on the design and development of 3D printed solid rocket motors that are more efficient and considerably more cost effective than traditional motors. X-Bow’s new class of highly flexible, reliable and ultra-responsive solid rocket motors introduces new products to a market that has not seen significant technological change for decades.
“X-Bow is leveraging a unique combination of technologies with an improved manufacturing model to serve existing aerospace markets and enable new ones. Our breakthrough 3D printing technology is positioned to rapidly innovate the solid propulsion and energetics markets just as SpaceX revolutionized the launch market. Our mission is to modernize solid motor production through additive manufacturing while dramatically improving unit economics” said JASON HUNDLEY, CEO.
The company’s product line includes propellants, motors, and turnkey launch services that are available to both government and commercial space customers. Staffed with veteran aerospace professionals, the company is excited to be growing with over 60 employees strategically located across the country.
“For too long, aerospace markets have lacked a 21st century solution that utilizes cutting edge technological advances such as 3D printing, digital engineering techniques and automation. X-Bow is well positioned to fill the gap with disruptive technology that can shake up the emerging space economy” said MATT BIGGE of CROSSLINK CAPITAL who has been a key investor in the company. “We are confident in the experienced team at X-Bow and thrilled to be supporting its mission. This company is poised to revolutionize the future of solid rocket motors.”
ABOUT X-BOW SYSTEMS
Headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, X-Bow has additional presence in California, Alabama, Colorado, Texas, and Washington DC. For more information visit: www.xbowsystems.com. (Source: PR Newswire)
22 Mar 22. Kymeta Signs Agreement with OneWeb to Distribute Low Earth Orbit Satellite Connectivity Services to Military, Government, and Commercial Customers. Kymeta’s electronically steered flat panel u8 terminal enables high-speed broadband connectivity while on the move delivered via OneWeb’s LEO satellite constellation.
Kymeta (www.kymetacorp.com), a world leading company for flat panel antennas making mobile global, and OneWeb (www.oneweb.world), the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, announced today a distribution partner agreement to offer broadband connectivity services across the globe.
The OneWeb LEO satellite network will give Kymeta customers access to high-speed, low-latency broadband connectivity while on the move or while stationary, anywhere in the world.
Kymeta offers the world’s only high-bandwidth, low power, fully integrated family of high throughput mobile terminals and has been widely adopted by military, government, enterprise, and maritime customers. The connectivity from OneWeb will complement Kymeta’s existing broadband geostationary orbit (GEO) and 4G cellular service offering.
Kymeta’s distribution agreement with OneWeb will enable the company to resell OneWeb services in conjunction with fixed and mobility hardware solutions to government and commercial customers globally.
“Whether connectivity is needed on land, at sea, or in the air, Kymeta continues to deliver through innovation and strong partner relationships,” said Walter Berger, President and Co-CEO, Kymeta. “Our distinctive technology can switch between linear and circular polarization in software, allowing support for both LEO and GEO Ku-band constellations without any physical changes to the hardware required. We look forward to working with OneWeb as the addition of capacity from their leading LEO satellite network will give customers, including the U.S. government and military, unprecedented access to connectivity in areas where existing networks don’t reach. Kymeta’s expansion into managed satellite services allows us to package our hardware solutions for connectivity as a service, a capability the US DoD and other end users are increasingly seeking.”
Commenting on OneWeb’s agreement, OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson added, “We believe that space is the future for communications on Earth. This agreement with Kymeta is another example of OneWeb’s dedication to enabling resilient and secure connectivity for all with fast, high-bandwidth, and low-latency communications services that enhance lives and can be accessed through revolutionary technology like Kymeta’s flat panel u8.”
The announcement comes just three months after the two companies partnered in a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to develop and bring to market by the end of 2022 a new u8-based LEO terminal that supports communications on the move (COTM) and communication on the pause (COTP) for governments, businesses, and communities.
The new Kymeta service, supported by OneWeb’s network of satellites, will distribute standalone OneWeb LEO service on the u8 or package together broadband services to offer GEO/LEO while also enabling military users access to a multi-constellation platform while on the move for the first time. The collaboration between the two leading companies in their respective fields provides a unique and comprehensive solution that expands connectivity and applications across all verticals and meets the needs of customers around the world. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
22 Mar 22. Inmarsat Government LAISR Wins 2022 MSUA Satellite Mobile Innovation Award. Mobile Satellite User Association’s Award recognizes the company’s track record of successful customer-centric innovation.
Inmarsat Government, the leading provider of secure, global, mission-critical telecommunications to the U.S. government, is the recipient of a 2022 Satellite Mobile Innovation Award from the Mobile Satellite User Association (MSUA). The company was honored in the “Aerospace Mobile Innovation” category for its L-Band Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (LAISR) service.
This year’s recognition marks the sixth time in seven years that Inmarsat was selected as a winner of this prestigious award. LAISR joins Inmarsat’s Arctic payloads – GX10A & GX10B – Global Xpress, LACE II, L-TAC and WiSL in the list of the company’s innovations that MSUA has recognized with this prestigious award.
Inmarsat Government, a wholly owned subsidiary of Inmarsat, developed the LAISR capability in response to U.S. government requirements for cost-effective high-speed beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) global connectivity for small-aperture aero platforms. With LAISR, airborne users can receive and return large quantities of video and sensor data at rates as high as 3 Mbps, while simultaneously maintaining the reliability, ease of use and low cost of adoption that is provided by the ELERA worldwide space and ground network.
LAISR is delivered via low-profile, small form-factor ultralightweight terminals that maximize aviation platform range and reduce signatures. The compact size and low weight of these terminals make them ideal for smaller Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS).
Steve Gizinski, President, Inmarsat Government, said: “Inmarsat’s team prides itself on delivering innovative solutions that meet our customers current and future needs – and LAISR is a testament to our commitment to the U.S. government market. Every innovation is designed with our customers and their missions in mind so that they can operate with confidence.”
Notes to Editors
For more information on the MSUA awards please visit https://www.msua.org/awards.
ABOUT INMARSAT GOVERNMENT
The U.S. government has relied on and trusted Inmarsat satellite services since 1979. Inmarsat Government continues to deliver the world’s most advanced global, mobile satellite communication services to U.S. defense, intelligence, homeland security, public safety and civilian agencies, with highly reliable, secure and affordable connectivity. Built with government users in mind, Inmarsat Government provides resilient, flexible capabilities to complement government satellite resources, anytime, anywhere. Leveraging an industry-leading scalable multiband network infrastructure, Inmarsat Government offers a suite of managed network services and end-to-end communication solutions to support users on land, at sea and in the air, even in the world’s most remote regions. Headquartered in Reston, VA, Inmarsat Government is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Inmarsat Group Holdings Limited. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
22 Mar 22. Hypersonics at core of newly operational Space Command. The Royal Australian Air Force’s new space division has today commenced operation, with managing hypersonic threats and enhancing space-powered ISR capabilities to be among its core responsibilities.
The Australian Defence Force’s Space Command — a new division of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) — has today (22 March) commenced operations., with Minister for Defence Peter Dutton marking the occasion with an address to the Air and Space power Conference.
The establishment of Defence Space Command was first announced in May last year, with Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts, AM, CSC assuming her role as head of the division in January.
The division includes personnel from all three Services, as well as public servants, and industry contractors.
Defence Space Command is expected to work alongside the Australian Space Agency, industry partners, and research and scientific institutions.
Among the responsibilities of Space Command will be supporting space domain awareness, sovereign controlled satellite communications and space-based Earth observation, and navigation.
In his address, Minister Dutton added that monitoring hypersonic threats would also form a key part of the division’s mission, pointing to the recent ramp up in hypersonic missile activity from China and Russia.
The minister described the creation of the Space Command as a “necessary endeavour” for the protection of Australia’s interests.
“Both Russia and China are already developing hypersonic missiles which can travel at more than 6,000 kilometres per hour,” he said.
“Together with like-minded partners and the United Nations, Australia has long championed the responsible and peaceful use of outer space in accordance with international norms,” Dutton said.
Minister Dutton also outlined initiatives to bolster space collaboration with the United states as part of a newly released Defence Space Strategy.
This involves teaming up with the US National Reconnaissance Office to ramp up cooperative satellite activities.
“Our partnership will also contribute to the US National Reconnaissance Office’s pursuit of a more capable, integrated, and resilient space architecture to support global coverage in a wide range of intelligence mission requirements,” the minister added.
The launch of Defence Space Command forms part of the Commonwealth government’s broader $7bn investment in space capabilities over the next 10 years. (Source: Defence Connect)
21 Mar 22. Commercial remote sensing firms seek government help to plan for, respond to sat attacks.
“There is no 911 … for us to call to get help,” said J.J. Riordan, chief revenue officer at BlackSky.
Concerned about their satellite networks becoming targets in conflicts as commercial imagery becomes increasingly entangled with warfighting, remote sensing firms have been initiating discussions with US government leaders about what they should do in case of adversary attack, industry representatives said today.
The increasing capabilities of companies to provide high-resolution images, rapid turn-around times and high revisit rates over a place of interest has meant that commercial firms now are being eyed as part of a so-called hybrid architecture providing the Intelligence Community and the US military with tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). In turn, the likelihood commercial remote sensing networks might come under attack during conflicts has risen — with senior US officials last month warning firms about the potential for Russian interference with satellites providing visuals of Moscow’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The new role in tactical ISR “has definitely made us more of a target,” Tony Frazier, executive vice president for global field operations at Maxar Technologies, told a panel on geospatial intelligence at the Satellite 2022 conference today. “It’s definitely something that our leadership team in our interactions with stakeholders are actively discussing.”
In a brief conversation with Breaking Defense after the panel, he noted that while the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has raised the level of concern about possible attacks, it also has raised the level of attention on the issue, including among both Space Force brass and within the interagency process.
However, the question of how industry and government should respond to any attacks on satellites or their ground stations is harder to answer than it might seem, fraught with potentially negative political and economic consequences for both sides.
Further, there isn’t a formal process for reporting such attacks and/or discussing response options, industry leaders said during the panel.
“There is no 911 … for us to call to get help,” said J.R. Riordan, chief revenue officer at BlackSky. While BlackSky is “trying to make stronger doors and locks” to protect its own satellites and networks, he told Breaking Defense the worry that someone might embed a virus within one of the firm’s images that then spreads virally when someone views it is something that “keeps me up at night.”
“It’s definitely a problem,” Frazier agreed.
Blacksky, Maxar and Planet all currently provide electro-optical imagery and their analytical products to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Another five companies are providing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery that, unlike optical cameras, can “see” at night and through clouds: multinational firm Airbus’s US arm; California startup Capella Space; Finnish firm ICEYE’s US branch; Florida startup PredaSAR; and California-based Umbra.
And while no one will say so in public, it is clear that imagery from these commercial firms is also being shared in near real-time with the embattled government of Ukraine, as well as on a delayed basis with news media outlets around the world. Indeed, one of the key reasons NRO has been so interested in acquiring commercial imagery is exactly the ability to share it with allies and partner nations — something that cannot be easily done with images taken by NRO’s highly classified spy sats.
Frazier said that one of the things under discussion is how the US government might protect commercial operators who do become victims in warfare, noting that there are “models in other domains.” For example, the US government compensates airline firms that are tapped under the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) program to provide airlift support to the US military — such as in ferrying evacuees from Afghanistan — if their aircraft are damaged or destroyed.
But, at the moment, such discussions are strictly informal, the industry reps said, in part because there isn’t a one-stop-shop within government responsible for the issue; rather there are many stakeholders from the IC to the services to the Department of Homeland Security that handles cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
21 Mar 22. Kymeta Momentum Continues With Strong Financial Backing, Increased Global Market Adoption, and New u8 Product Names Unveiled. The success of Kymeta’s u8 family of products over the past year has heightened customer and investor interest and will accelerate with new pricing, availability of the Osprey u8, and future product iterations Kymeta (www.kymetacorp.com), the communications company making mobile global, announced today the introduction of three new product brands for the u8 terminal including the Hawk TM u8, Goshawk TM u8, and Osprey TM u8. Along with unveiling the new Kymeta branding, the company announced the Osprey u8 product for the military is now shipping. In addition, the company introduced significantly lower pricing for the Hawk u8 that will open additional markets and vertical opportunities.
This follows last week’s news of $84 million in new financing for Kymeta to further evolve the company’s growth as it prepares to expand offerings for LEO and defense customers and evolve the u8 product line from the full Ka band into the Ku band in the future. In a landmark year for Kymeta, the company was also named one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies and listed as number 5 on the 10 Most Innovative Space Companies of 2022 by Fast Company.
Through strong relationships with key partners including iDirect, Comtech, and Kratos to enable solutions that cross over multiple applications and groundbreaking trials with Intelsat and OneWeb that demonstrate future-proof capabilities including satellite-enabled 5G and interoperability with low Earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary (GEO) satellite constellations, Kymeta’s market momentum in the key areas of defense, government, public safety and commercial industries has continued to see significant interest from customers. Since the launch of its military-specific communications on the move terminal, the Osprey u8, there have been significant interest and acquisitions by multiple military branches with the Department of Defense (DoD) and other country Ministries of Defense.
“There is a great deal of excitement around Kymeta,” said Neville Meijers, Chief Strategy Officer at Kymeta. “This all builds up to our company vision; to revolutionize the way we work, live and interact anytime, anywhere, while on the move in a globally connected world. We’ve received a great deal of positive market interest as Kymeta continues to reach our business goals. Our continued growth, sales, and development of innovative products continue to position us as the leader in this space. We’ll be at SatShow all week and are excited to be announcing additional high-profile partnerships, so stay tuned.”
Visit the Kymeta team at SATELLITE 2022 in Washington D.C. from March 21-23 in meeting room #156 for an on-site meeting or to schedule a driving demonstration to see first-hand how Kymeta’s connectivity solutions can enhance lives by unlocking the potential for global satellite and cellular broadband communications while on the move. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
21 Mar 22. CAES Introduces Family of Radiation Hardened NOR Flash Memories for Space FPGAs. New 1Gb RadHard SONOS memory technology delivers the density and SWaP performance demanded by modern space processors.
CAES, a leading provider of mission critical electronics for aerospace and defense, today introduced a line of RadHard NOR Flash Memory devices that uniquely deliver the boot-memory densities required by microprocessors and FPGAs used in space applications. The new radiation hardened (RadHard) devices feature the highest levels of space assurance required for the longest, harshest space missions and include the industry’s first 1 Gb monolithic NOR Flash Memory device enabling the storage of mission critical boot images.
“Modern space programs require more processing power in ever smaller packages. By using our new SONOS RadHard NOR Flash Memories, the most contemporary FPGAs can deliver greater processing power for superior mission capability and functionality,” said Mike Elias, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Space Systems Division, CAES. “Our long-range product and technology roadmap is aligned with leading FPGA and processor producers, ensuring technology relevance, scalability and interoperability with their programs.”
Purpose-built using intrinsically radiation-hardened Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon (SONOS) memory technology, CAES’ RadHard NOR Flash Memories are specifically designed for the space applications and meet the needs of current and next-generation microprocessors and FPGAs, including CAES’ GR740, low power Certus™-NX-RT and CertusPro™-NX-RT, as well as Xilinx’s XQRKU060 and AI-optimized VERSALTM devices. SONOS technology has exceptional bit-cell radiation resilience, delivering over 300 krad (Si) TID and 100K cycles per sector performance. CAES’ RadHard design techniques lower error rates, suiting the new devices to the highest-reliability mission profiles in the harshest environments, including those requiring QML-Q and QML-V military- and space-grade qualification.
CAES NOR Flash Memory Devices Deliver Leading SWaP Performance
CAES Memory Devices offer the industry’s most reliable solution for efficient, multi-image, non-volatile storage these devices provide the highest available bit density, which allows aerospace designers to reduce system size and complexity. As the latest addition, the new RadHard NOR Flash Memory Devices provide the most area- and power-efficient solutions. A single 1 Gb SONOS RadHard NOR Flash device can store multiple boot images, while typically consuming less than 0.1W of power.
CAES RadHard NOR Flash Memories are available in 1 Gb and 64 Mb densities, with standard x1, x8 and x16 parallel or SPI interfaces. They are powered by a single, wide-range, 1.8V – 3.3V source. The new modules also allow configurable read/write modes, enabling the same scalable technology block to be reused multiple times.
CAES offers a wide range of volatile and nonvolatile memory solutions including SRAM, SDRAM, MRAM and PROMs. In addition, CAES memory solutions are complemented by a complete portfolio of RadHard system building blocks that include processors, smart power-switch controllers, high-speed interconnects and buses. CAES’ RadHard NOR Flash Memories as well as space microelectronics are designed, packaged, tested and supported from trusted domestic facilities with the assurance of long-term supply. For more information on CAES’ memory products, please visit https://caes.com/sonos-nor-flash. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
21 Mar 22. OneWeb to Resume Satellite Launches through Agreement with SpaceX.
- OneWeb, SpaceX sign agreement that will enable OneWeb to resume satellite launches
- First launch anticipated in 2022
OneWeb, the LEO the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, announced today that the company and SpaceX entered into an agreement that will enable OneWeb to resume satellite launches.
The first launch with SpaceX is anticipated in 2022 and will add to OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation that currently stands at 428 satellites, or 66 percent of the fleet. OneWeb’s network will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity.
OneWeb CEO Neil Masterson said: “We thank SpaceX for their support, which reflects our shared vision for the boundless potential of space. With these launch plans in place, we’re on track to finish building out our full fleet of satellites and deliver robust, fast, secure connectivity around the globe.”
Demand for OneWeb’s broadband connectivity services has continued to grow across telecommunications providers, aviation and maritime markets, and governments worldwide. OneWeb has activated service with its network at the 50th parallel and above, and early partners are initiating service. Terms of the agreement with SpaceX are confidential.
21 Mar 22. Number Of Orders Passed Through EDA’s EU Satcom Market Exceeds 500. When EDA’s EU Satcom Market (ESM) made its first steps in 2009, nobody seriously imagined that this project, designed to serve as a one-stop shop for quickly and easily providing participating Member States with commercially available satellite communications (Satcom) and other communication & information Services (CIS), would become one of the Agency’s most successful activities. A number is proof of that: the mark of 500 Satcom & CIS orders handled through ESM at the request of its members has just been passed!
On average, there is a new Satcom order coming in every 1.5 days, ranging from matters as small as shipping out a few SIM cards to the on-site deployment and assembly of a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT)
The system is super flexible and responsive, which makes it a valuable support tool for Member States’ Armed Forces and CSDP missions and operation in times of crises and urgent deployment. Last summer, for instance, ESM provided urgent operational support to a contributing Member State for the evacuation of civilians from Afghanistan, only 7 hours after the request was made.
ESM’s roots stretch back to 2009 when it was launched as an EDA ad hoc procurement cell to test the idea of pooling demand for commercial satellite services among a small handful of EDA militaries. Five years later more of the Agency’s Member States had joined. It was then renamed and given a more formal footing as a service open to all EDA militaries, CSDP operations and missions (both military and civilian) as well as EU entities and, subject to the EDA Member States approval, third states which have an administrative arrangement signed with the Agency (currently Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine and Serbia). Today, ESM has 33 members* and the volume of its activities has been growing steadily.
(Source: EDA)
21 Mar 22. Elon Musk’s Starlink Helps Ukrainians Control Drones. Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system is helping Ukrainian forces in the drone war as the nation fights back with technology to track down invading Russians.
Aerorozvidka (Aerial Reconnaissance) is being used to attack Russian drones and target Vladmir Putin’s army of tanks and track down their positions in the conflict, which has been ongoing since February 24, according to The Telegraph.
Drones used in the field are able to use the newly available Starlink to keep connected and provide intelligence as internet and power outages plague Ukraine.
With the technology, the drones can be directed to drop anti-tank munitions to help ward off the Russian attack.
The so-far-successful implementation of the satellites into the defense of the war-torn nation makes good on a promise outspoken mogul Musk – who challenged Putin to a fist fight for the future of Ukraine earlier this week – made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier in the month, that SpaceX will send more Starlink satellite stations to provide internet to some of the country’s stricken cities.
The president of the embattled country took to Twitter to thank the Tesla CEO, 50, for the support, and invited the tech mogul to visit Ukraine once the war is over.
‘Talked to @elonmusk. I’m grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds. Next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities,’ Zelensky wrote at the time.
Early Saturday morning, a further 53 Starlink internet satellites were launched into space via rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, further bolstering the burgeoning surveillance network.
SpaceX said Saturday that the 230-foot rocket, dubbed the Falcon 9, launched the satellites into low orbit without a hitch.
The Ukrainians are also enlisting the help of PD-1 unmanned aerial vehicles fitted with infrared sensors. With a wingspan of 10 feet, the vehicles are being used to collect vital information on the movements of Russian troops.
The Ukrainian drone unit uses a ‘Delta’ system, which has been perfected in recent years with the help of Western advisers.
It can be accessed by basic laptops, and has a ‘situational awareness’ software installed, which creates an interactive map using images from drones, satellites, human intelligence and sensors to build a physical picture to help in tracking the enemy.
The system, which is said to be on par with similar NATO technology, is believed to have been tested in the Sea Breeze military exercise held in the Black Sea in 2021, which involved the USA, Ukraine and 30 other countries.
The Ukrainians have perfected the system with the help of Western countries, who have provided radio communications superior to Soviet-era technology. The US is said to have spent millions of dollars on the system to protect against Russian hacking.
Starlink, however – now the most popular app in Ukraine, with more than 100,000 downloads in the few weeks since it went live – uses terminals that resemble TV dishes equipped with antennas that have so far addressed those concerns, with the satellites mounted on roofs to allow Ukraine citizens to access the Internet via satellite in rural or disconnected areas.
Ukraine has so far received thousands of antennas from Musk’s companies and European allies, which the country’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, saying the tech has already proved ‘very effective,’ in an interview with The Washington Post Friday.
‘The quality of the link is excellent,’ Fedorov, 31, told the paper from an undisclosed location in the country, in remote interview made possible by a Starlink connection.
‘We are using thousands, in the area of thousands, of terminals with new shipments arriving every other day,’ the official revealed, speaking on how the satellites have proved instrumental in helping citizens and leaders communicate as the Kremlin continues its large-scale attacks in cities across Ukraine.
Shortly after the invasion, Fedorov, who also serves as the country’s vice-prime minister, had sent a tweet to Musk, asking to be given access to Starlink stations.
Musk, currently valued at $232bn according to the Bloomberg Billionaire‘s Index, responded just hours later: ‘Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.’
Within days, trucks arrived at Ukraine hauling Starlink terminals, as well as adapters providing power via cigarette lighters in cars, or battery packs, and a roaming feature to ensure people are connected while they travel to safety.
Starlink uses thousands of small satellites around 340 miles above the earth’s surface.
Base stations on earth send radio waves up to the satellites, which beam those down to a satellite dish terminal back on the planet.
The aim of the system is to bring internet access to rural and poorly connected parts of the world. It has allowed internet connections to travel quickly, with more speed provided due to travelling through space.
The lower orbit of Starlink also allows signals to travel even faster.
Over 2,000 satellites have been sent up to space so far, and there are plans to launch around 12,000 in total.
The usefulness of the system has now reached into military operations, with the Ukrainian drone armies of ‘Aerorozvidka’ being able to use it to continue communicating with their bases by sending signals from Starlink terminals and using ground stations in neighboring countries, including Poland.
The Aerorozvidka unit was formed by a group of civilian model airplane enthusiasts and those with a background in engineering in 2014 following the outbreak of war in eastern Ukraine.
The group helped to build drones and sensors for the military to monitor the border, and helped to adapt commercially available drones to gather intelligence and even drop homemade explosives. Eventually, the system was integrated into the Ukrainian armed forces. (Source: UAS VISION/Daily Mail)
13 Mar 22. Five New Satellites From Satellogic To Launch Onboard The SpaceX Transporter-4 Mission. The upcoming launch includes the first deployment of Satellogic’s new Mark V satellite model. This new generation of satellites enhances the company’s constellation with improved cameras, radios, computers, and other subsystems compatible with all components from previous models, offering Satellogic’s customers higher quality products.
The remaining satellites are four updated NewSats Mark IV. These improved satellites contain increased onboard storage and upgrades to the propulsion and navigation systems. The enhancements include manufacturability and cost saving processes used in preparation for the start-up of Satellogic’s High-Throughout Plant in the Netherlands later this year.
The new Mark V model includes a new proprietary-designed multispectral camera as the primary payload that will boost image quality with 70 cm native resolution and significantly improve the Signal-to-Noise Ratio and the Dynamic Range of the images. The new satellite also increases swath by 40%, optimizing Satellogic’s constellation size while guaranteeing world remap capabilities and reducing imagery costs. The Mark V also includes a new generation of onboard computers with enhanced processing power, allowing for better operations and improved efficiency.
Satellogic’s customers have the opportunity to fly their own hardware in space onboard each NewSat Hosted Payload bay without the purchase of an entire satellite. This bay’s modular design and standard interface definition facilitate hardware integration in the company’s manufacturing plants, provide transparent operations for customers, and optimize time to orbit from contract signature to launch date.
The Mark IVs include Hosted Payloads from Satellogic’s customers and the company’s last-mile testing of future payloads, including onboard edge computing for customers who want to run their algorithms where data is generated, and future radio frequency (RF) products. With this Hosted Payload, Satellogic will begin to equip its satellites with a payload that enables its constellation to geolocate devices that emit RF signals.
This launch is part of Satellogic’s previously announced plans for 2022 and will expand Satellogic’s fleet to 22 satellites delivering high-resolution data from space. Satellogic plans to launch up to 12 additional spacecraft later this year, offering up to seven daily revisits of any point of interest, which would result in a total of 34 commercial satellites in orbit by Q1 2023.
The company intends that its constellation will include over 200 satellites by 2025, providing Satellogic with the capacity to remap the entire Earth daily. By democratizing EO imagery, Satellogic is able to serve previously underserved verticals, and partner with US government and Dedicated Satellite Constellations customers around the world, to provide new insights into the occurrence and progression of economic activities, security risks, and natural events unfolding across the globe.
“We are excited to increase our customer’s opportunities and product offering with this launch,” said Matthew Tirman, President of Satellogic North America. “The new and enhanced satellites will increase the quality of our current services and create new opportunities for our customers.” (Source: Satnews)
17 Mar 22. SpaceBridge, Thaicom + WTD Networks Partner To Build MSB Ku-Band VSAT Network. SpaceBridge Inc., Thaicom and WTD Networks are partnering to deliver and commission an HTS, multiple spot beam (MSB), Ku-band, broadband VSAT network.
These companies will provide the end-to-end solution based on the in-country managed services. The network delivers services over the IPSTAR satellite, enabling communities, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), enterprises, consumers, hospitals, first responders, government and defense entities to transmit true real-time internet applications data over satellite.
Patompob (Nile) Suwansiri, Thaicom Chief Executive Officer, said, “We would like to thank SpaceBridge Inc. and WTD for their trust in us to provide the HTS capacity needed to support the expansion of communications infrastructure for Indonesia. As the world’s first high-throughput satellite (HTS), we believe that IPSTAR capacity will provide customers with an enhanced broadband satellite service experience. On top of that, we are confident that this agreement will strengthen our regional partnerships and accelerate economic growth across Indonesia.”
“We are pleased to be part of this important infrastructure build-up and contribute with our latest technology, along with two major players in the territory. The three parties’ combination of latest highest efficiency and availability HTS technology, Advanced HTS Ku-band Satellite and superior service delivery through local ISP as WTD, will bring an excellent quality of service and great experience to the Indonesian community,” said Mr. David Gelerman, SpaceBridge Inc. CEO and President.
“We are very optimistic with our international cooperation between Spacebridge, IPSTAR satellite and WTD, that can open a wide range of opportunities, especially for the Indonesia area. Indonesia is an archipelagic country where millions of people still desperately need to cross the digital divide, acquire the internet connection to improve their quality of life. We believe that our Advanced HTS based VSAT network solution can provide enormous benefits to the people of Indonesia presently and years ahead,” said Mr. Wahyu Dirgantoro, WTD Managing Director. (Source: Satnews)
16 Mar 22. Lockheed Martin Space Partners With SWISSto12 + CAES for Advanced 3D-Printed Phased Array Antennas. SWISSto12 and the firm’s US-based partner, CAES (Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions), have been selected by Lockheed Martin’s Space business to develop advanced, 3D printed, phased array antennas for upcoming satellite missions.
SWISSto12 and CAES have partnered to bring additive manufacturing and 3D printing technology to the United States aerospace and defense manufacturers. The company’s expertise, product and patent portfolio combined with CAES design engineering, manufacturing, and test enables uniquely-designed RF products and subsystems that meet challenging size, weight, and performance requirements.
With initial development conducted at SWISSto12’s headquarters in Switzerland, these 3D-printed Phased Array Antennas will be manufactured by CAES’ new additive manufacturing laboratory in Exeter, New Hampshire.
“We look forward to this developing collaboration with Lockheed Martin, a global technology leader in aerospace, space and security. There is tremendous opportunity offered by our 3D printed antenna technology to help upcoming satellite missions optimize their performance and throughput while enhancing their coverage flexibility,” said Dr. Emile de Rijk, Founder and CEO of SWISSto12. “We are grateful for the trust Lockheed Martin places in SWISSto12 and CAES to embark onto this development which has long-term strategic value to both our companies.”
“For decades, CAES has developed and manufactured a variety of antennas, RF subsystems and microelectronics for Lockheed Martin’s space missions,” said David Young, Chief Technology Officer, CAES. “Together with our partner SWISSto12, we are thrilled to collaborate once again to usher in a new wave of pioneering advanced electronic solutions based on additive manufacturing technologies.”
“SWISSto12 and CAES provide a strong mix of innovative technical solutions and skilled talent,” said Kyle Griffin, vice president of Lockheed Martin Space’s Advanced Program Development group. “We look forward to strengthening this relationship as we build solutions for increasingly complex challenges in space.”
SWISSto12 is a leading developer of advanced engineered radio frequency (RF) products for telecommunications, EW and radar applications in the aerospace industry. The company’s patented 3D printing technologies and associated product designs are unique to deliver lightweight, compact, highly performing, and competitive RF products and sub-systems. SWISSto12 has developed commercial with success in Europe and Israel with prominent partners and customers such as Thales, Elbit, IAI and the European Space Agency. SWISSto12 is the fastest growing Swiss aerospace company, spun off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), is privately owned and backed by prominent Swiss and European Investors.
CAES is a pioneer of advanced electronics for the most technologically challenging military and aerospace trusted systems. As the largest provider of mixed-signal and radiation-hardened technology to the United States aerospace and defense industry, CAES delivers high-reliability RF, microwave and millimeter wave, microelectronic and digital solutions that enable our customers to ensure a safer, more secure planet. On land, at sea, in the air, in space and in cyberspace, CAES’ extensive electronics and enhanced manufacturing capabilities are at the forefront of mission-critical military and aerospace innovation. (Source: Satnews)
19 Mar 22. SpaceBridge Becomes The Newest Member Of DIFI. SpaceBridge Inc. has joined the Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (“DIFI”) Consortium, an independent space industry group formed to advance interoperability in satellite and ground system networks. SpaceBridge Inc. joins a rising number of leading organizations within the space industry that are coming together to shape the DIFI Consortium. These organizations are contributing to the innovation of digital transformation of space, satellite and related technologies for the benefit of the space industry. SpaceBridge Inc. sees great value in joining this Consortium by solving current industry and customer challenges in a seamless and automated way through bringing digital IF/RF to life.
“30 years ago, while the entire market was using the 70MHz or 140MHz for modems as the intermediary interface (IF) to RF, the SpaceBridge portfolio company (ACT-wireless Inc.) pioneered the new revolutionary idea to implement L-band interface in the modems and was the first to introduce it to the satellite market in our SL2048/QD2048 modems. 4-5 years ago SpaceBridge realized the trend of separating the routers and servers from modems/RF and started to implement the digital interface between our high-speed modems and RF equipment. Today we are happy to join the club of companies who believe that now is right time to revolutionize again the RF/IF interface and build the new digital standard to ensure modems/RF interoperability.” said David Gelerman, President and CEO of SpaceBridge Inc.
Stuart Daughtridge, Chairman of DIFI and SVP for Advanced Technologies at Kratos, said, “We are pleased to add SpaceBridge, another international leading edge technology company, to the organization. They will be a strong teammate in furthering the maturity and adoption of our interoperable Digital IF standard and enabling the digital transformation of our industry.
The Digital IF Interoperability Consortium (DIFI) is an independent, international group of companies, organizations, and government agencies that have an interest in the interoperability of networks and ground systems supporting space-based operations. Launched in coordination with the IEEE-ISTO, DIFI’s mission is to enable the digital transformation of space, satellite, and related industries through a simple, interoperable Digital IF/RF standard that accelerates industry transformation from L-Band IF to Digital IF, while discouraging vendor lock-in. The founding members of DIFI include Hawkeye 360, Intelsat Corp. (OTCMKTS: INTEQ), Kongsberg Satellite Services AS (KSAT), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS), Microsoft, and the U.S. Navy.
SpaceBridge Inc. is an established supplier and global market pioneer in Broadband Satellite Communications systems technologies and infrastructures. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, the company develops and provides satellite network solutions and managed services. This includes VSAT HUBs and Terminals for Point-to-Point, Point-to-Multi-Point, and Mesh topologies, as well as SCPC and broadcast modems, for GEO and NGSO satellite constellations. SpaceBridge Inc. also provides autonomous managed services for its customers, through implementation of creative and collaborative business models to reduce CapEx investments and save on network management OPEX, while speeding up time-to-market. (Source: Satnews)
14 Mar 22. MDA Creates New Jobs With New Canadian Global Headquarters And Space Robotics Center Of Excellence. MDA Ltd. (TSX:MDA), a provider of advanced technology and services to the ever expanding global space industry, revealed details of its new purpose-built global headquarters and Space Robotics Center of Excellence in Brampton, Ontario, a facility that will support the company’s ongoing growth and lay the groundwork for long-term success in the evolving commercial space robotics market.
The modern 200,000 square-foot building will feature state-of-the-art labs, manufacturing, R&D, and assembly, integration and test facilities. The Center of Excellence will also house a unique Space Robotics Mission Control Center, enabling MDA to provide critical on-orbit operations capabilities to commercial and government customers worldwide.
“This new facility will be home to our growing team and will further unlock the potential of our world-class engineering and space mission expertise, while allowing us to bring to market a full suite of innovative commercial space robotics products that leverage Canadarm3 technology,” said Mike Greenley, Chief Executive Officer of MDA.
“Ontario is home to the brightest talent and a thriving innovation ecosystem that make projects with incredible companies like MDA, a global leader in the space robotics industry, possible,” Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “Today’s investment will strengthen Ontario’s vibrant advanced technology sector, create exciting new jobs and ensure that scientific breakthroughs will continue to be made in our province.”
“Investing in innovation is key to Ontario’s economic growth, and with today’s announcement, Brampton is positioned to continue playing a leading role in the province’s high-tech and advanced manufacturing sectors,” said Prabmeet Sarkaria, President of the Treasury Board and MPP for Brampton South. “Our government is investing in technology today to build the Ontario of tomorrow—and made-in-Brampton innovation from leading-edge companies like MDA will be a major contributor to the growth of Ontario’s aerospace sector and beyond.”
The creation of the MDA Center of Excellence for Space Robotics, which is currently under construction with the lab slated to be operational by the end of 2022, will be supported by a generous $25M grant from the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. The project is also being actively supported by the City of Brampton Economic Development Office and Kaneff Group, a Brampton-based development, construction and property management company. (Source: Satnews)
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At Viasat, we’re driven to connect every warfighter, platform, and node on the battlefield. As a global communications company, we power millions of fast, resilient connections for military forces around the world – connections that have the capacity to revolutionize the mission – in the air, on the ground, and at sea. Our customers depend on us for connectivity that brings greater operational capabilities, whether we’re securing the U.S. Government’s networks, delivering satellite and wireless communications to the remote edges of the battlefield, or providing senior leaders with the ability to perform mission-critical communications while in flight. We’re a team of fearless innovators, driven to redefine what’s possible. And we’re not done – we’re just beginning.
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