Global Milsatcom Show Daily | U.K. military seeks to ride wave of commercial space innovation

Tuesday, November 7, 2017 View this email in your browser Sponsored by U.K. military seeks to ride wave of commercial space innovation LONDON  — At the annual Global Milsatcom conference that kicked off here Tuesday, U.K. officials are trying to stir enthusiasm about the nation's space business and highlighting the growing convergence between government and private-sector investments. As a major producer of satellites, the United Kingdom boasts a $14 billion a year space business that employs 14,000 people. Satellite services account for more than $300 million in annual economic activity. Britain produces 40 percent of the world's small satellites and 25 percent of telecom spacecraft. The military is looking for ways to tap into the space boom, said General Sir Chris Deverell, commander of the U.K. Joint Forces Command. The command is responsible for Britain's military satellite communications. — Sandra Erwin Luxembourg eyes Earth-observation satellite for military and government Luxembourg is considering building an Earth-observation satellite for governmental and military purposes that would add a new capability to the expanding space assets of the European nation with population of just 580,000. Luxembourg's Directorate of Defence has recently launched a study and is already in talks with a preferred contractor, according to Geoffroy Beaudot, space program manager. "We are already engaged with a company to develop this Earth observation program. We have already found some technical specifications and what we want exactly," Beaudot told SpaceNews at the Global Milsatcom conference in London Tuesday. — Tereza Pultarova DARPA laying groundwork for growth in-space robotics The forward-leaning technology arm of the U.S. Defense Department is betting that in just a few years, the business of sending robots to high orbit to repair and refresh satellites will be so successful that the government and the industry should now begin to discuss rules and protocols. "We need to work on a set of rules," Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Program Manager Todd Master told SpaceNews. DARPA recently launched a "Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations" to start bringing the industry to the table. The agency is hoping all major industry players will join the group, including geosynchronous satellite operators and the handful of firms preparing to offer in-orbit robotic servicing of satellites. —Sandra Erwin Why Xtar's road to a second-gen fleet goes through Spain Since 2010, satellite operators with U.S. defense business have posted falling government-based revenues as American troop levels have fallen in the Middle East. As painful as the slowdown in defense business was for diversified satellite operators, it was even more acute for Xtar, a Northern Virginia venture that operates two X-band satellites whose sole business is providing secure telecommunications services to the U.S. government and its allies. In 2015, as Xtar's revenue shrank by double-digit percentages, its majority shareholder threatened to divest. Loral Space and Communications still owns 56 percent of Xtar, but told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this August that it has "no commitment to provide further financial support to Xtar." That leaves Hisdesat, the Madrid-based operator that holds the balance of Xtar's private shares — and is itself owned 30 percent by the Spanish Ministry of Defence. — Caleb Henry Sponsored A Better Way for Governments to Acquire the Latest in Satellite Technologies New technology such as high-throughput satellites (HTS) have transformed space architecture and invigorated what had been a predictable global market. Countries of all sizes want to leverage the capabilities and connectivity that space can provide. These assets use high-power spot beams and frequency reuse to maximize the signal sent down from the satellite and, at the same time, enable smaller terminals to transmit at higher data rates back to the satellite. This kind of performance is a game changer for many missions, to include small tactical unmanned systems, which can now carry a comms package with performance that exceeds current payload requirements. SATCOM for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) is expected to be a larger market than other categories, due to ever-increasing use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and the corresponding need for large amounts of bandwidth. However, the high cost of military satellite programs has to date impeded smaller nations from acquiring greater space-based capabilities. — Intelsat General Corporation Copyright © 2017 SpaceNews Inc., All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: SpaceNews Inc. 1414 Prince St, Suite 204 Alexandria, VA 22314