Aerospace and Defense Review : News

Boeing is building the first seven O3b mPower satellites under a contract awarded in 2017. These seven satellites were expected to be launched by the end of 2020 on a pair of SpaceX Falcon rockets Boeing is set to manufacture four additional O3b mPower high-throughput communications satellites for fleet operator SES under an order which was announced on August 7, to expand the second-generation constellation to 11 satellites. Currently, Boeing is building the first seven O3b mPower satellites under a contract awarded in 2017. These seven satellites were expected to be launched by the end of 2020 on a pair of SpaceX Falcon rockets. However, the new order suggests that the first three will be launched later next year, six in 2022, and the last two in 2024. All 11 satellites will operate from medium Earth orbit to provide terabits of mobile broadband capacity for government and commercial customers. [vendor_logo_first] “We have built our network around a multi-orbit, multi-frequency, high-throughput, flexible and open architecture increasingly of value to Government users,” said SES CEO Steve Collar. “We are looking forward to the first launch of O3b mPOWER and excited to extend our partnership with Boeing.” Boeing is using its latest 702x software-defined satellite platform to build the O3b mPower spacecraft. Each O3b mPower satellite will be capable of beaming 50 megabits to multiple gigabits per second to customers. Current estimates suggest that SES is spending USD 566 million on the four additional satellites, a cost that will cover manufacturing, launch, and insurance. The four satellites will be more advanced than the original seven, increasing the total throughput of the entire O3b mPower constellation by 90 percent. Boeing and SES stated that they would collaborate on interoperability between O3b satellites in medium Earth orbit and U.S. government-owned military satellite communications systems. “SES’s Networks division, which encompasses O3b and the rest of SES’s broadband-focused business, generates about a third of its revenues from government customers, making military use of O3b mPower a priority,” said Collar. Each of these satellites has a designed life of 12 years. The company is expected to continue scaling the medium Earth orbit constellation if demand for its services continues to grow. At present, SES has no plans for additional growth satellites beyond those in construction. See also:  Top Aerospace Manufacturing Companies ...Read more

This contract is a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III award, an extension of Shift5's current SBIR Phase II project through AFWERX. Shift5, an advanced cybersecurity company that secures operational technology for a range of Department of Defense and commercial platforms, declared a contract award with the Air Force Cyber Resiliency of Weapon Systems (CROWS) office. This contract is a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III award, an extension of Shift5's current SBIR Phase II project through AFWERX. SBIR Phase III awards are dedicated to commercialize the innovation developed through the earlier phases and rapidly field that capability to the warfighter. Following their SBIR Phase I awarded in December 2019, Shift5 immediately satisfied the competition requirements, allowing any federal agency to issue sole-source Phase III awards with buying Shift5's products without competition. This Phase III award is a result of Air Force interest in the disruptive cybersecurity technology given by Shift5. This project will take Shift5 cybersecurity technology and transform it to a micro-form factor prototype. This miniaturization will allow a wider range of use cases, to include those that are extremely weight, size, and power-sensitive. Mitch Plonski, Shift5 Head of Operations, stated, "We are extremely honored to start this Phase III project and our partnership with the Air Force will continue to deliver innovation to the mission of securing critical military platforms against cyberattack along with commercializing the micro-form factor technology. This project, and our mission focus in supporting the DoD, is answering the call to better secure our most critical weapon systems that stems from the 2016 NDAA Section 1647 and is discussed in a GAO report in 2018." The work starts in September 2020 and will primarily occur at Shift5 headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia. ...Read more

In 2017, the U.S. Air Force had revealed that it was in discussions with the NOAA over the possibility of taking over one of the agency’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). The U.S. Space Force announced the reprogramming of a geostationary weather satellite, previously owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to the military for coverage over the Indian Ocean. The NOAA satellite was first launched in 2006 and retired in 2018. The satellite has been now reprogrammed as the Electro-Optical Infrared Weather System – Geostationary, or EWS-G1. Schriever Garrison, the Space Delta 2 at Peterson, Colorado, declared the satellite operational on September 1st. The NOAA is currently operating EWS-G1 for the military, collecting weather imagery over the Indian Ocean region in support of U.S. Central Command. [vendor_logo_first] “EWS-G1 is the first Department of Defense owned geostationary weather satellite,” stated the Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center in a news release. “The satellite provides timely cloud characterization and theater weather imagery to DoD in the Indian Ocean region, addressing needs across Central Command and other operating theaters.” In 2017, the U.S. Air Force had revealed that it was in discussions with the NOAA over the possibility of taking over one of the agency’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). For many years, the U.S. Air Force has relied on an ageing European weather satellite to provide coverage over the Indian Ocean and in 2019 worked out an agreement to take over GOES-13 from NOAA. In 2018, the NOAA decommissioned the GOES-13 and replaced with it with a new spacecraft GOES-16. For over a decade, the GOES-13 was a crucial source of information during significant U.S. weather events like Hurricane Sandy in 2012. GOES-13 was launched in 2006 aboard a Boeing Delta 4 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. “NOAA’s spacecraft was moved to the Indian Ocean region far earlier than a new satellite could be produced and fielded,” said Charlotte Gerhart, SMC’s Production Corps Low Earth Orbit Division chief. “The repurposing of GOES-13, and residual NOAA ground equipment, accomplished the mission at a fraction of the procurement cost of a brand new system.” After the relocation of the satellite, the NOAA and the U.S. Space Force completed a checkout of the EWS-G1 spacecraft and sensors. EWS-G1 is now providing weather data to DoD forecasters. NOAA will continue to operate EWS-G1 on behalf of the U.S. Space Force for its remaining life span from the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland, and Wallops Command and Data Acquisition Station in Virginia. See Also:  Top Aerospace Technology Companies ...Read more