World of Satellite-News Updates

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GlobeCast Americas Appoints New Sales Staff to Expand Capabilities
April 12, 2013
GlobeCast Americas has expanded its solution-building capabilities in the continent with three strategic appointments to sales positions.

Bert Quesada, formerly Intelsat’s managing director of broadcast services for Latin America and the Caribbean, will join GlobeCast as director of contribution services to provide solutions for broadcasters covering news, sports, and special events in North and Latin America.

The company also appointed two new account managers. Ted Carr, formerly from Evertz Microsystems, will serve as account manager for North America, working on both permanent and ad-hoc accounts.

Finally, Armando Parra will join GlobeCast as its newest account manager for Latin America. Parra previously worked for Claxson Networks, nuvoTV, and Playboy Enterprises. He will be tasked with developing solutions for broadcasters throughout Latin America.

"In today's broadcast world, solution providers like GlobeCast can no longer sell products out of a box. Broadcasters need relationships with their partners that will help them monetize their content across platforms. We're very excited about the newest members of our team as they will provide the attention and customization this new environment requires," Lisa Coelho, CEO of GlobeCast Americas, said in a statement.

 

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MDA Extends Support Contract with Canada’s Department of National Defense
April 12, 2013
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates has signed a CA$8.3 million contract with Canada’s Department of National Defense (DND) to extend its operational support of DND’s Automated Airline Hosting and Aircraft Tasking System (AAHATS).

MDA has been providing support for AAHATS since 1995 when the Company originally delivered the system to DND. AAHATS provides a passenger booking and aircraft scheduling service for the Canadian Forces for five years at six locations in Canada. The contract includes four one-year options to extend the support, with a total anticipated value of the options at CA$8 million.

 

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Martial Arts TV Joins MEASAT’s HD Lineup
April 12, 2013
MEASAT Satellite Systems has announced an agreement with Martial Arts Networks to distribute the Martial Arts TV HD channel via the MEASAT-3a satellite.

Martial Arts TV HD offers combat sports programs, such as mixed martial arts and kickboxing, as well as martial arts shows including anime, movies, reality, video game and lifestyle programming. The channel is dedicated to showcasing the beauty and strength of martial arts from around the world.

The addition of Martial Arts TV HD brings the number of HD channels distributed by the MEASAT-3/3a video platform to a total of 39, and is the ninth HD sports channel offered.

 

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Hawaii Prepares for First Satellite Launch from Kauai
April 12, 2013

The University of Hawaii is planning the first satellite launch from the islands of Hawaii using the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai. The military has used the facility to test missiles but never a satellite.

The satellite, designed by faculty and students, is called HiiakaSat. Kauai Community College students will operate the satellite and also command and control the ground station. The Hawaii Space Flight Lab, which runs the program, has plans to make this the start of a venture to launch small satellites from the island, attracting companies looking to test space technology.

HiiakaSat will be placed in low-earth orbit for a mission that will last one or two years.

 

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Arianespace Hopes to Replicate 2012 Performance in 2013
April 15, 2013
Arianespace has announced it generated revenues of 1.33 billion euros ($1.74 billion) in 2012, one the highlights of the company’s latest set of annual results. Its aim this year, will be to generate a similar number in terms of overall revenues, according to Jacques Breton, senior vice president, sales & customers, Arianespace.

“In 2012, we reached 1.3 billion euros, which was a record for us. In 2013, we expect to be very close in terms of reaching the 2012 figure for revenues. Could we reach 1.5 billion euros? I think we will be quite close to the figure of 2012. I think 1.5 billion euros could be quite difficult to reach, as it represents around 20 percent year-on-year growth. Our target is derive similar revenues this year,” Breton told SatelliteTODAY.com

It is the second year in a row that the company has achieved one billion euros in revenues. Last year, the company announced that it had revenues of 1.01 billion euros ($1.32 billion) in 2011.

In 2012, the company had another successful seven Ariane 5 launches, three Soyuz launches, and the first Vega launch. The company is also expecting a busy year in 2013, and has ten planned launches: six for Ariane 5 (including one already performed), three Soyuz from CSG (in addition to a Soyuz launch from Baikonur, already performed), and one Vega launch.

In terms of how the company might boost profits, Breton said, “Our first target is to have balanced accounts. We are operating a family of launch vehicles, and we want to make them all profitable. We would like to boost revenues, but it is quite difficult. We have quite significantly increased our prices recently, because the support we have received from governments has reduced over time. Our increased prices have been accepted by the market, because of the reliability of our product. However, this has not really impacted our net profits, due to less government support.”

Since the start of this year, Arianespace has already signed a contract with Eutelsat for the launch of two satellites, a contract with Australian operator NBN for the launch of two satellites, and a contract with Intelsat for three launches. The company hopes to sign a number of new contracts this year. “We should see an average year this year. I think you will see around 20 contracts signed this year. The major satellite operators have finished their replacement programs for their fleet but this is compensated by some new players coming on the market. So, we think the market will remain stable. So far we have signed eight contracts, seven of which have been announced. Our competitors have signed three contracts. The target for Arianespace is to launch six Ariane 5 missions, so this represents 12 contracts of which we already have eight. I hope we can double this number during this year. We believe the market is quite responsive to our efforts,” Breton said.

The launch services market is an interesting one this year. SpaceX will launch its first geostationary satellites, Sea Launch will look to rebound after an early launch failure this year, and ILS – which is under relatively new leadership with Phil Slack – will also hope for an error free year, given the odd issue it has recently experienced with the Proton launch vehicle. In terms of how recent events may impact the market, Chris Baugh, President, NSR said, “Overall, in the launch services market and following concerns on Proton's reliability, it should support Arianespace's marketing approach focused on reliability. It should also give a window of opportunity to challengers such as SpaceX, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry and Alcantara Cyclone Space. If the Russian quality crisis is not rapidly addressed in an effective and reassuring way, it should drive launch costs up as the supply is limited.”

Breton believes even though Arianespace is more expensive, it is not losing out on potential business. “The Proton and Zenit vehicles have suffered some setbacks in the recent past. Today, we think customers are making a choice being based on reliability … over price. Our competitors are proposing lower prices, but we are not suffering as a result.”

 

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DISH Network Proposes Merger with Sprint Nextel Corporation for $25.5 Billion
April 15, 2013
DISH Network Corporation has announced its intentions to acquire the third largest wireless carrier in the United States. The company has submitted a merger proposal to the Board of Directors of Sprint Nextel Corporation for a total consideration of $25.5 billion, consisting of $17.3 billion in cash and $8.2 billion in stock, which could put an end to Softbank’s efforts to take over the carrier. Under DISH’s proposal, Sprint shareholders would receive $7.00 per share, based upon DISH’s closing price on Friday, April 12, 2013.

“A transformative DISH/Sprint merger will create the only company that can offer customers a convenient, fully-integrated, nationwide bundle of in- and out-of-home video, broadband and voice services. Additionally, the combined national footprints and scale will allow DISH/Sprint to bring improved broadband services to millions of homes with inferior or no access to competitive broadband services. This unique, combined company will have a leadership position in video, data and voice and the necessary broadband spectrum to provide customers with rich content everywhere, all the time,” said Charlie Ergen, chairman of DISH Network.

The company won regulators’ approval last year to start offering mobile-phone services, but it lacks the network infrastructure that Sprint has. With it, DISH could offer high-speed Internet to users inside and outside of the home using Sprint’s network of cellular towers.

The proposed combination will result in synergies and growth opportunities estimated at $37 billion in net present value, including an estimated $11 billion in cost savings.

 

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Air Force Selects Ball Aerospace for Weather Satellite Follow-on Risk Reduction Contract
April 15, 2013
The U.S. Air Force has selected Ball Aerospace & Technologies to perform risk reduction work on the next generation of microwave sounding and imaging instruments for the Weather Satellite Follow-on program.

Under a contract awarded by the Space and Missile Systems Center, Ball Aerospace will study and present the best ways to achieve Department of Defense requirements for measuring soil moisture and ocean surface vector winds with a microwave instrument designed to fit into smaller, lower-cost launch vehicles. This effort shares a heritage with the Global Precipitation Monitoring Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument, which Ball Aerospace built and recently delivered to NASA for the Global Precipitation Measurement mission.

The company has built the satellite bus and the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) instrument for the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite, NOAA's most recent polar-orbiting weather satellite, and is currently building the satellite bus and an additional copy of OMPS for NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System. Ball Aerospace also built the Operational Land Imager (OLI) instrument that was launched aboard the Landsat Data Continuity Mission on Feb. 11 and began delivering images in March.

 

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ViaSat Acquires LonoCloud to Ehance Broadband Network
April 15, 2013
ViaSat has acquired privately held LonoCloud, an early-stage company with expertise in cloud networking software. ViaSat intends to integrate core components of the LonoCloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) product with the ViaSat broadband network. LonoCloud employees will join ViaSat's broadband networking team.

"Adding this core technical capability to our broadband network will both enhance our existing offering as well as shorten development cycles for new service offerings," said Mark Dankberg , ViaSat chairman and CEO.

LonoCloud is a privately held company based in La Jolla, California that has developed a cloud-based service platform to support the "Internet of Things." The software system contains distributed mesh algorithms that create a network foundation for enterprise services and applications to interact and communicate with one another. This cloud computing architecture runs as an overlay to enterprise network environments, enabling low-cost, distributed computing across multiple servers in the cloud.

 

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RigNet, SnapTV Sign Reseller Agreement for Interactive Media Services
April 15, 2013
RigNet, a provider of managed remote communications solutions to the oil and gas industry, has announced it has entered into a global value-added reseller agreement with SnapTV, a Norwegian specialist in maritime and offshore infotainment and collaborative media.

"We are at a point in the oil and gas industry when media management systems, including those for crew welfare, are becoming more important," said Marcus D. Waters, global product manager for collaboration services at RigNet. "With SnapTV, we can provide robust and flexible media systems to our customers and enable immediate access to infotainment and media management solutions as a result of this agreement. This will be an expanding service to improve remote employee retention by fostering a more enjoyable, engaged and productive environment for oil and gas teams."

SnapTV has specialized in media management for bandwidth-restricted environments and supports fleet-wide management of audio and video for applications such as crew infotainment, e-learning, digital signage, monitoring and surveillance, and organizational communication.

 

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ILS Proton Successfully Launches Telesat’s Anik G1 Satellite
April 16, 2013
International Launch Services (ILS) has successfully delivered Telesat’s Anik G1 satellite into orbit on an ILS Proton launch vehicle. Telesat is a fixed satellite services (FSS) operator providing reliable and secure satellite-delivered communications solutions worldwide to broadcast, telecom, corporate and government customers.

The ILS Proton lifted off from Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 12:36 a.m. today local time (April 15: 6:36 p.m. GMT and 2:36 p.m. EDT). Using the standard 5-burn Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) mission design, the Breeze M successfully released the satellite into orbit after a 9 hour and 13 minute mission. Weighing 4.9 metric tons at liftoff, Anik G1 was the 26th SSL satellite launched on an ILS Proton.

The satellite will be positioned at 107.3 degrees west longitude co-located with Telesat’s Anik F1 satellite, doubling both the C-band and Ku-band transponders serving South America from this orbital location.

The Anik G1 was manufactured by Space Systems/Loral (SSL) and built on the 1300 platform. It has 24 C-band, 28 Ku-band and 3 X-band transponders that form a 55 transponder, multi-mission satellite. Once in service, Anik G1 will provide direct-to-home (DTH) television service in Canada, as well as broadband, voice, data, and video services in South America where economic growth has driven high demand for satellite capacity. It will also provide substantial X-band coverage for government communications over the Americas and the Pacific Ocean including Hawaii.