Archive for the ‘Telecom - Satellites’ Category.
1st September 2008, 03:45 pm
World Defence Indsutry Files
Iran’s flight test of a space launch vehicle failed Aug. 17, according to radar tracking by a U.S. Navy destroyer and infrared data from U.S. Air Force Defense Support Program (DSP) missile warning spacecraft.
Key data on the failure were provided by the USS Russell, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer patrolling the Persian Gulf.
Other U.S. intelligence assets gave the Russell and missile warning satellite system advanced notice of the test, enabling extra preparation for tracking its outcome.
Continue reading ‘Radar, Satellite Data Show Iran Launch Failed’ »
4th August 2008, 06:23 pm
18:00 | 04/ 08/ 2008
MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will launch on August 6 a converted RS-20 Voyevoda intercontinental ballistic missile to put a Thai earth observation satellite into orbit, the Strategic Missile Forces said on Monday.
The launch from a silo in the southern Urals will be carried out under a contract with Kosmotras, a Russian-Ukrainian joint venture, which converts RS-20 (SS-18 Satan) intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), scrapped by Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, into Dnepr launch vehicles.
“The missile, which was decommissioned in 2005 and kept in storage at the Yasny launch site in southern Urals, has been approved as a launch vehicle for spacecraft,” an SMF spokesman said.
Continue reading ‘Russia to launch Thai earth remote-sensing satellite on Aug. 6’ »
9th April 2008, 01:11 am
| Apr 9, 2008
Defence Talk
Today, the European Union took a decisive step forward in the realisation of the Galileo project, which represents the greatest technological challenge in the history of the Union in terms of ensuring its own satellite-navigation system. It is also a major boost to the European industry in this field.
EU Transport Ministers today supported the text of the proposal of the so-called Galileo Implementation Regulation, which represents the legal basis for the implementation of the budget and sets out a new management structure for the project.
“Today, we sent a clear signal to Europe and the whole world that we are still firmly committed to provide all European citizens and enterprises with a high-quality satellite-navigation service by 2013. We will create new jobs and Europe will claim its rightful place side by side with the technologically most developed world powers,” stated the President of the Transport Council of the EU, the Slovenian Transport Minister, Radovan Žerjav.
The budget for the implementation of the entire programme of the European global satellite-navigation system (the European GNSS programme) amounts to EUR 3.4 billion for the period 2007-13.
The project consists of the EGNOS programme (the system of control and correction of signals coming from satellites, which consists of earth stations and satellite transponders) and the GALILEO programme (independent programme consisting of a constellation of satellites and a global network of earth stations).
The European Commission is responsible for the establishment and operation of the programme, while it will be assisted by the GSA Agency and the European Space Agency in its implementation.
The political control of the project, which will be 100% owned by the EU, will be performed directly by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, with the assistance of an informal body named GIP (Galileo Interinstitutional Panel).
8th April 2008, 01:04 am
Space Travel
by Staff Writers
Hanoi (AFP) April 4, 2008
The launch of Vietnam’s first satellite has been delayed by a week, the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) said Friday. The Visanat, originally scheduled for launch April 12, will now shuttle into space on April 19, said Hoang Minh Thong, Vinasat committee director at VNPT.Commercial services launcher Arianespace, which will send Visanat into space from its base in French Guiana in South America, had warned that the launch could be delayed if conditions were not optimal.
The project, which cost about 300 million dollars, has been in the pipeline for more than 10 years.
Vietnam signed a contract with US firm Lockheed Martin in May 2006 to build the satellite after delays largely due to problems in coordinating its frequencies with those of satellites already in orbit in the region.
The satellite, which weighs around 2.5 tonnes and has an estimated lifespan of 15 to 20 years, carries 20 transponders for transmission and reception of television channels, telecommunications and the Internet.
Vietnam also intends to use it to help open up its most remote regions, which have often been left behind by the national economic boom, and to better manage natural disasters, such as typhoons, which hit every year.