SpaceX: Reports Key Milestone to Fly Astronauts to International Space Station

October 25, 2011 - Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announced it has successfully completed the preliminary design review of its launch abort system, a system designed for manned missions using its Dragon spacecraft. In a release on Oct. 20, SpaceX said this represents a major step toward creating an American-made successor to the Space Shuttle. NASA's approval of the latest design review marks the fourth successfully completed milestone under the agency's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program and demonstrates the solution that's possible when NASA partners with the private sector.

October 28, 2011 - A Delta II rocket was launched with the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft at U.S. Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on Friday, boosting into an orbit 800 km above the Earth around an hour later the newest UASA Earth-observing satellite after a years-long delay. The satellite is on a dual mission to improve weather forecasts and to monitor climate change. The new satellite, about the size of a small SUV, is more advanced for more precise observations. It carries five science instruments including four new state-of-the-art sensors, which will provide critical data to help scientists explore the dynamics of long-term climate patterns and help meteorologists improve short-term weather forecasts. Meteorologists will use the data to improve their forecasts of hurricanes and other extreme weather, while climate researchers hope to gain a better understanding of long-term climate shifts.

October 31, 2011 - Arianespace and Optus announced that the Optus 10 satellite would be launched into geostationary transfer orbit mid-2013 by an Ariane 5 from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. Optus 10 will be the sixth satellite launched by Arianespace for the Australian operator. The Optus 10 satellite is being built by Space Systems/Loral using an SS/L 1300 platform. It will weigh about 3,200 kg at launch, and is fitted with 24 Ku-band transponders. It is designed to provide direct TV broadcast, internet connectivity, telephone and data transmission services for Australia and New Zealand. Optus 10 offers a design life of 15 years.

October 11, 2011 - Harris Corporation has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed William M. Brown president and chief executive officer effective November 1, 2011. The Board expects to appoint Brown, 48, to the Board of Directors at its December 2011 meeting. Brown succeeds Howard L. Lance, who has served as CEO since January 2003. Lance announced in May 2011 his intention to retire when a successor was named. Lance will continue to serve as chairman, president and CEO through October 31, 2011, and will then serve as non-executive chairman of the Board until December 31, 2011.

October 13, 2011 - The Board of Directors of Eutelsat Communications has unanimously decided to propose to shareholders at the General Assembly of 8 November 2011 to nominate Jean-Martin Folz as a Board member. If elected, Jean-Martin Folz will be appointed by the Board as Chairman to succeed Giuliano Berretta. Jean-Martin Folz joined PSA Peugeot Citroën in 1995 and was the Group's CEO from 1997 until February 2007. He was Chairman of AFEP (The French Association of private companies) from 2007 to 2010. His current Board memberships include Alstom, Axa, Saint-Gobain, Société Générale and Solvay.

October 19, 2011 - SES has appointed Niclas Friese-Greene as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications. In the newly created position, he reports to Ferdinand Kayser, Chief Commercial Officer, and Romain Bausch, CEO of SES respectively. He will be responsible for the worldwide marketing activities including market communications as well as for corporate communications. Niclas brings almost 20 years of experience in the fields of product management, marketing and sales, the majority of which in technology-based organizations. His global roles have included Loewe, Nintendo and Siemens Mobile. Since 2007, Niclas has been working as an independent professional and has managed projects in the UK, U.S., Switzerland, Germany and France. Since early 2011, he has also been responsible for the SES re-branding after the company had reorganized its management and organization structure.

October 19, 2011 - Thuraya Telecommunications Company has announced the appointment of Patrick Chenel as Chief Financial Officer. In addition to leading Thuraya’s financial management, planning and reporting functions, he will also be responsible for maintaining and developing the Company’s relationships with the relevant financial institutions and strategic suppliers across the globe. Prior to joining Thuraya, Patrick was the Chief Financial Officer for the real estate arm of the Qatar Investment Authority, Qatari Diar. He began his career with Alcatel in 1989, holding a number of various senior positions in the finance area. Patrick has extensive experience overseeing business performance and strategic growth initiatives through his various international assignments in the UAE, Qatar, Canada, China, and France.

October 28, 2011 - AeroSat Corporation named industry expert Dennis Ferguson as the company's new CEO. Ferguson will leverage the company's long history of quality engineering robust broadband airborne antennae systems into new markets and new opportunities through strategic alliances and product development. Ferguson has more than 30 years experience in aviation and has a significant track record transitioning entrepreneurial companies into market leaders. He most recently served as President and CEO of Mooney Airplane Company and prior to that he was President of Airshow, Inc., an avionics manufacturing company that introduced the first passenger connectivity application that used an airborne telephone data link.

October 31, 2011 - Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Erez Antebi as Chief Executive Officer of the Company, effective January 1, 2012. Amiram Levinberg, Gilat's current CEO and Chairman of the Board, intends to continue to serve as Chairman of the Board. Antebi currently holds the position of Gilat's Executive Advisor for Ka Band solutions. Previously, Antebi held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Gilat's equipment business unit (Gilat Network Systems - GNS) for five years, including two years in which he also headed Spacenet Rural Communications.

October 5, 2011 - NSR’s Global Satellite-Based Earth Observation, 3rd Edition, released today, indicates that last year the global Earth Observation (EO) market grew by 9% and is set to grow to US$10.5 billion by 2020. Commoditization of space technologies is also dropping the average price tag of a high-performance satellite to less than US$100 million. With the lower price tag and the quicker turn around, private sector companies and countries with developing space programs find entering the EO market a more attractive proposal. Major programs such as the NGA’s EnhancedView or the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) of the EU are large contributors to the market revenues, but may also be a target for cuts as their justification could be questioned within larger government spending reduction efforts.

October 25, 2011 - WTA's newest report, Inside The Top Operators of 2010, takes an insider’s look into the world’s biggest and fastest-growing teleport operators, based on data they submitted for the 2010 Top Operators rankings. The report explores trends in revenue growth, pricing, transmission capacity and mix of services from companies with combined annual revenues of US$12.8 billion. The annual Top Operator rankings are developed by surveying teleport operators in many nations on their revenues and revenue growth, supplemented with published financial data from publicly-traded firms. From this information, WTA publishes rankings of the Global Top 20 (companies by revenue including independents and satellite/fiber operators), the Independent Top 20 (companies by revenue excluding satellite and fiber operators), and the Fast 20 (based on year-over-year revenue growth, including independents and satellite/fiber operators).

Now in its 13th year, SMi’s Global MilSatCom 2011, Europe’s show for military satellite communications professionals, will take place on the 29 November to 1 December 2011 in London. Featuring an impressive international speaker line-up; Global MilSatCom 2011 is the ideal place for delegates to discuss issues ranging from national requirements, to cyber security threats with an array of military speakers from across the globe; network with key European and NATO players and interact with leading decision makers from across the SATCOM arena.

APSCC is a non-profit, international organization representing all sectors of satellite and space-related industries. The aim of the organization is to exchange views and ideas on satellite technologies, systems, policies and outer space activities in general along with satellite communications including broadcasting for the betterment of the Asia-Pacific region.

Conferences, forums, workshops, and exhibitions are organized through regional coordination with its members in order to promote new services and businesses via satellite as well as outer space activities. APSCC membership is open to any government body, public or private organization, association, or corporation that is involved in satellite services, risk management or associate fields such as data-casting, informatics, multi-media, telecommunications and other outer-space related activities with interests in the Asia-Pacific region. More information is available at www.apscc.or.kr.