.

Satnews Weekly This Week's Satellite News   
August 18, 2008 — August 24, 2008

ECC Chipping Away At DVB-S2 Multi-Streams...
Efficient Channel Coding (ECC), a ViaSat company, has introduced a multi-stream extraction feature that enables its ECC3100 Digital Video Broadcast Satellite standard (DVB-S2) receiver chip to extract multiple data streams from a single DVB-S2 input. Embedding multi-stream soft-IP into the receiver FPGA eliminates the need to use multiple DVB-S2 application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), reducing circuit board size and cost. Full Story

FCC Hits The Road To Enlighten All Regarding The Digital TV Transition
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has announced a nationwide initiative to increase awareness about the upcoming transition to digital television. The FCC identified target television markets for specific DTV outreach, including all those markets in which more than 100,000 households, or at least 15 percent of the households, rely solely on over-the-air signals for television. Full Story

Superbird-7 + AMC-21 Up, Up & Away To Orbital Slots
A successful launch has placed the Superbird-7 and AMC-21 telecommunications satellites into accurate geostationary transfer orbits. This was the 9th mission performed by Ariane 5s in a 12-month period, during which the workhorse vehicles carried 16 civilian and military telecommunications satellites along with the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for the International Space Station. The combined total payload weight equals 75,430 kg. Thursday's flight also marked the Ariane 5's 27th consecutive successful launch, and was the fifth of seven missions planned by Arianespace in 2008. Full Story

A Beacon For the Air Force Research Laboratory
Beacon Power Corporation which designs and develops advanced products and services to support more stable and reliable electricity grid operation, has been awarded a contract through the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and co-funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense. The contract, valued at $750,000, is for the preliminary design of a space-based flywheel energy storage system for satellite applications, and is a Phase II award under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Technology. Beacon announced completion of an associated Phase I project earlier this year. Full Story

XipLink Optimizes The Heck Out Of Bandwidth
XipLink has announced a single board computer version of its wireless bandwidth optimizer, the XE-104. The rugged board can be used to rapidly integrate specialized satellite acceleration software into custom communication controllers for maritime, aviation and other mobile satellite applications. Historically, TCP accelerators have been deployed in MilSat networks using appliances that followed the SCPS-TP standard for interoperability. Full Story

ARTEMIS Sees All
Coming to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Virginia is a first — the Tactical Satellite-3 mission is scheduled to demonstrate rapid data collection and transmission to the combatant commander in the theater of interest. During this upcoming flight a new capability will be demonstrated and tested; that of employing a hyperspectral imager with a space-based, onboard processor to obtain and send images within minutes to the warfighter on the ground. Full Story

NASA Disappointed Destroys Rocket After Launch
NASA destroyed an unmanned experimental rocket carrying a pair of research satellites Friday when it veered off course shortly after an early morning liftoff. At 5:10 a.m. Friday, August 22, the rocket was destroyed by range safety officials after liftoff from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. No injuries or property damage have been reported. Full Story

No Constellation Concerns At RapidEye
With all of the necessary components for the launch of the RapidEye satellite constellation currently waiting in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, all appears to be set for the August launch for the German company RapidEye AG. All five earth observation satellites will be sent into orbit on a DNEPR-1 launch vehicle, released into a shared orbit at 630 km and will circle the globe 15 times daily. Full Story

Moving On Up... HRL Laboratories...
HRL Laboratories, LLC, is a corporate research-and-development laboratory owned by The Boeing Company and General Motors. The lab specializes in research into sensors and materials, information and systems sciences, applied electromagnetics, and microelectronics. Now named as the President and CEO of HRL is Dr. William A. Jeffrey. Full Story

Ball Has OMPS For NPOESS Well In Hand
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.’s Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) Protoflight Model (PFM) that will fly aboard the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) has entered final integration and acceptance testing. The Company expects to complete integration and testing in August and deliver the OMPS PFM for spacecraft integration no later than September 30th. Full Story

To Subscribe Click Here