Echostar successfully launches Ku band satellite

Dish Network affiliate EchoStar announced that it had successfully launched its EchoStar XVI Ku Band satellite which was constructed by Space Systems/Loral or SS/L. The launch took place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday. The bird was brought to its geostationary orbit at at 61.5 degrees west longitude by the International Launch Service.

According to Echostar, the XVI - the 22nd satellite of their fleet - will be fully leased to Dish Network for DTH services and broadcasting solutions to DISH customers. The bird will also expand the high-definition programming of the company.

Recently, Dish Network was in the news for a rumored partnership with Google in the development of a robust wireless network. Also last month, the company launched its internet from satellite service aimed at delivering high-speed broadband access to rural clients.

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Pactel provides SATCOM network for Australian immigration facilities at Nauru

Pactel International wasted no time in setting up a satellite communications infrastructure for Nauru refugees in Australian immigration facilities. On behalf of CenpacNet Inc., Nauru's local telecom provider, Pactel designed and debuted a SATCOM network to provide the first group of asylum seekers with Internet and VoIP access.

Pactel based its network on the IS-18 C-band and Ku-band satellite platform. The new network will be able to provide Internet connectivity and high-quality VoIP calls for up to 1500 people -the maximum number that the detention facilities can hold- thanks to the efficient bandwidth allocation capabilities of Pactel’ QoS technology.

“Access to communication facilities that enable refugees to communicate with their families and request for assistance has become a basic need in current circumstances,” said Andrew Taylor, the CEO of Pactel International. “We will ensure our service satisfies this need.”

On behalf of CenpacNet Inc., manager Rudolph Garoa, Manager explained that the Company chose Pactel International due to the latter's extensive experience and high accountability in the Pacific Region. PactTel's 24/7 network support and fast, reliable satellite communications services met all of CenpacNet's expectations.

Astrium provides for NewSat under Lockheed Martin Contract

Astrium Satellites is providing Ku band and Ka band payload hardware for the Jabiru-1 commercial telecommunications satellite being built for NewSat of Australia under a contract with Jabiru-1 prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems, as they announced it on July 19.

The contract is a representation of a breakthrough of Astrium’s product division, placing itself to win business with Astrium Satellites; prime contractor competitors aside from providing in-house components for Astrium-built satellites.

According to Astrium’s Head of Products Department Andreas Lindenthal, the contract illustrates an increasingly common practice among satellite prime contractors that test the open market with value-for-money considerations than just the automatic buying from their own divisions.

“All of the primes are doing this. They test the market for make-or-buy decisions to determine whether someone else can deliver a product more quickly, or less expensively, or one that is state of the art. Astrium has made a conscious decision to extend or business with external contracts. Our contract with NASA is another example of this.”

In 2011, NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) selected Astrium to supply a high-precision fiber-optic gyro unit for the Joint Polar Satellite System meteorological program.  

Lindenthal, in a July 20 interview, stated that Astrium was well-positioned for the Lockheed contract following a development program for Ku band communications receivers and Ka band beacons, funded in part by the European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency.

The Generic Flexible Payload program is the result of this effort. They developed satellite electronics gear that is 60 percent generic, remaining it can be applied to any given communications satellite regardless of prime contractor.

The generic product line enables Astrium to produce larger batches of the communications equipment, reducing unit costs and giving the company a stock of hardware that can speed delivery times. The remaining 40% that is specific to a given satellite program “can be completed in a couple of months,” Lindenthal said.

Launched in November 2006 for Avanti Communications of London, the Bylas 1 satellites was the first Astrium-built satellite that made full use of the Generic Flexible payload investment.

See: Communications satellite

Sky-Stream gets Eutelsat satellite capacity, coverage for marine, oil and gas sectors

In response to growing connectivity demands by customers in the marine and oil and gas sectors, Sky-Stream purchased capacity on two Eutelsat Communications satellites. Sky-Stream will also get to increase the footprint covered by its satellite Internet services.

Satellite Internet provider Sky-Stream has entered into a contract with Eutelsat for a total of 70 MHz of bandwidth. Sky-Stream will gradually deploy its new bandwidth on the EUTELSAT 3C and 10A satellites, whose combined footprint covers Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East, and Africa.

The new capacity will be used by Sky-Stream to provide GSM backhaul, satellite Internet access, and on-demand video services to its bandwidth-hungry customers in the maritime and oil & gas sectors.

Sky-Stream will use an Automatic Beam Switching aboard EUTELSAT 3C to extend the satellite's current coverage of the Middle East's Ku-band to the Mediterranean, where its luxury yacht customers can benefit from the satellite downlink.

At the same time, Sky-Stream will take advantage of EUTELSAT 10A's broad C-band beam to further enhance Sky-Stream's solid satellite communications services for both maritime and energy (offshore and on-shore) sectors in the Middle East, across Africa, and in the Atlantic.

EUTELSAT 10A's massive footprint will allow SkyStream to expand its current C band coverage. Sky-Stream will be able to ensure connectivity for its subscribers anywhere from Australia and East Asia across to the coast of the Americas, which is roughly two-thirds of the planet.

GMV USA building ground control center for MEASAT-3b

GMV USA received a contract with MEASAT Global Berhad ("MEASAT") to manufacture the satellite ground control and payload ground control systems for the MEASAT-3b communications satellite.

The Rockville, Maryland-based GMV USA is a US affiliate of GMV, a multinational satellite ground systems supplier and world leader in satellite ground systems.

"GMV is proud to offer exceptional technical competency that enables us to stand out from the competition for this project," said Theresa Beech, president of GMV USA. "We are pleased to bring our experience in successful communications satellite control center installation and operation around the globe to MEASAT."

MEASAT already has control centers for Boeing Satellite Systems-built MEASAT-3 and Orbital Sciences Corporation-manufactured MEASAT-3a satellites, which provide . The two older platforms will be switched out of their current real time system solutions and into GMV's hifly solution, which will provide MEASAT with a consolidated control center.

The geostationary MEASAT-3b is a powerful platform that will provide Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and Australia with satellite communications services through a minimum of 48 high powered Ku-band transponders. It will join MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3a at the 91.5*E hotslot, and was designed to operate in tandem with the earlier satellites. MEASAT-3b will provide in-orbit redundancy and increase satellite capacity for the planned expansion of MEASAT's core DTH customers.

GMV will develop and deploy the ground control center for MEASAT-3b. The control center's satellite telemetry and telecommand system will be based upon GMV's hifly product, while the flight dynamics system is patterned on GMV's product focusSuite. GMV will also design and implement ground equipment monitoring and control.

The kick-off meeting between GMV and MEASAT took place in January 2012. On-site acceptance of the GMV-designed satellite ground control center is set for the third quarter of 2013. MEASAT-3b itself is currently being built by Astrium SAS, and is scheduled to be launched before 2013 ends.