Satellite Industry News Bits December 18, 2009

 Arianespace began 30 year history of launches with first European Space Agency launch from Kourou December 24, 1979 and never looked back.
[Space Travel - 12/18/2009]

SES wins auction, gets Protostar 2 satellite for U.S. $185 million; satellite will provide incremental capacity over Asia for SES.
[SatNews - 12/18/2009]

GeoEye-1 satellite shut down after antenna malfunction.
[Satellite Today - 12/18/2009]

GOES-14 enters full service; will be used to predict storms and monitor weather over 60% of the planet.
[SatNews - 12/18/2009]

Arianespace postpones the launch of French satellite Helios 2B a second time due to an anomaly.
[Satellite Today - 12/18/2009]

ViaSat finalizes acquisition of WildBlue Communications.
[Trading Markets - 12/18/2009]

Etisalat UAE signs multi-year contract for capacity on Intelsat's recently launched Intelsat 15 satellite.
[SatNews - 12/18/2009]

DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 high-resolution satellite expected to achieve full operational capacity on January 4, 2010.
[SatNews - 12/18/2009]

Orbital Sciences is awarded a Phase 2 contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for "Future Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying" (System F6) spacecraft.
[SatNews - 12/18/2009]

FCC unveils a list of proposals to meet national broadband plan - FCC raises idea of forcing cable and satellite operators to provide low-cost set-top devices to integrate broadband and video services.
[Washington Post - 12/17/2009]

Eutelsat wins broadband capacity, distribution deals in Albania.
[Satellite Today - 12/17/2009]

Satellite users may see more sporting events as federal investigators seek to close a loophole that allows cable TV operators to withhold sporting events and programming they own from rival providers.
[Tennessean - 12/17/2009]

Inmarsat hits 5,000 FleetBroadband terminal activations.
[Satellite Today - 12/17/2009]

RT Logic develops software-defined modem for feeder link terminals for Iridium which will be deployed by Iridium at its ground stations.
[TMCnet - 12/17/2009]

Satellite TV may be only option for thousands of Hawkeye fans to see their team in the Orange Bowl, as a dispute between Mediacom Communications Corp. and Sinclair Broadcasting Group could leave cable subscribers without local channels.
[Forbes - 12/17/2009]

China launches first public-welfare mini satellite from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province.
[Space Daily - 12/16/2009]

Telenor Satellite Broadcasting's Thor 6 satellite completes in-orbit testing.
[Satellite Today - 12/16/2019]

MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates announces $254 million U.S. contract win to build and launch a communications satellite for the Ukrainian space agency.
[Vancouver Sun - 12/15/2009]

Russia orbits three new Glonass navigation satellites.
[GPS Daily - 12/15/2009]

Vizada connects satellite service to submarine fiber cable along the East Coast of Africa.
[Satellite Today - 12/15/2009]

Iridium OpenPort provides fishing vessels operating in high northern latitudes continuous coverage including 3 phone lines and a data line up to 128 kbps simultaneously.
[SatNews - 12/15/2009]

NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer blasted off from Vandenberg AFB on a mission to find hidden asteroids, comets, and other objects never before seen in space.
[R&D - 12/14/2009]

IoStar International Ltd. of Hong Kong is using more than a full Ku band transponder on Telesat's Telstar 18 satellite to serve the communications needs of NATO troops.
Satellite Today - 12/14/2009]

Orbital Sciences wins contract to build Intelsat 23 for Intelsat SA.
[Washington Business Journal - 12/14/2009]

Dish Network passes 14 million customer milestone.
[SatNews - 12/13/2009]

Small satellites grow in prominence and take on a growing number of operational roles alongside their full-size counterparts - a conference next year in Greece will discuss their evolution.
[R&D Magazine - 12/11/2009]

China launches remote-sensing satellite, "Yaogan VII", from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province.
[Space Mart - 12/11/2009]

While the satellite industry in general has been trumpeting its successes during the economic downturn, there are signs of weakness in a few key markets in North America.
[NSR Report - Global Assessment of Satellite Supply & Demand, 6th Edition]

Changes in programs, flux in budget, movements in personnel, and delays in decisions, while more bandwidth is required, characterize the government and military satcom market.
[NSR Report - Government and Military Satellite Communications, 6th Edition]

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