Satellite And Space Projects News - 17 October

Mitsubishi Electric Corp wins Qatar contract: Qatar satellite company, Es'hailSat, announced on 8 September that it has selected Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) to build its second satellite, Es'hail 2. The satellite will be positioned at 26° East longitude and will provide DTH broadcasting services across the Middle East and North Africa. In addition to building Es'hail 2, MELCO will also provide ground systems and training services for the satellite, delivering a full turnkey solution.

Loral/Viasat settlement in patent dispute: Loral Space and Communications and former Loral subsidiary, Space Systems/Loral LLC (SSL), have reached a settlement with Viasat Inc in litigation brought by Viasat for claims of breach of contract and patent infringement. Under the settlement, Viasat will receive a total of US$100m, US$40m of which is a current payment, with the balance to be paid over two-and-a-half years with interest. Loral and SSL have yet to decide how that settlement sum will be apportioned between them. This will be determined through arbitration, expected to take place in October 2014.

Space Situational Awareness data sharing: On 22 September 2014, the UK, Canada, Australia and the USA signed a memorandum of understanding on combined space operations. The MoU will facilitate joint space operations as well as the sharing of space-related information and resources.

Calls for clarity on space data sharing: Experts attending the 2014 Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference called for more clarity on policies and regulation around the sharing of space situational awareness data, both between countries and between businesses.

Blue Origin LLC strikes deal with ULA: Blue Origin, LLC - owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos - has entered into a deal with US space launch company, United Launch Alliance. The companies are to jointly fund the development of Blue Origin's BE-4 rocket engine. Full scale testing is planned for 2016 and the first flight is expected to take place in 2019. The BE-4 will be available for use by ULA and Blue Origin...