ViaSat has supplied an end-to-end Link 16 communications system to support Halifax-class frigates of Canada’s navy. The fleet-wide Link 16 multi-link upgrade will help the Canadian navy boost its communications capacity with U.S., NATO and other allied forces as well as prepare for and address potential at-sea threats, ViaSat said Tuesday. “The Halifax-class frigates are the […] More

DigitalGlobe has entered into a multiyear agreement with Australia’s defense department to provide the Australian government access to the company’s commercial satellite imaging constellation. The department can task and download imagery from five DigitalGlobe satellites that include WorldView-3 and WorldView-4 to a ground station under the Direct Access Program contract, the company said Tuesday. DigitalGlobe expects to generate $83 […] More

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates has secured a multimillion dollar contract from Sierra Nevada Corp. to deliver a communications subsystem for spacecraft SNC is developing under NASA‘s Commercial Resupply Services-2 program. MDA said Wednesday its communications subsystem will work to provide on-board communication signal processing support for the Dream Chaser spacecraft. Dream Chaser is slated to perform six cargo delivery missions […] More

A MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates subsidiary has received a firm-fixed-price contract to build satellites for DigitalGlobe’s WorldView Legion satellite constellation designed to collect Earth imaging data. Space Systems Loral will produce the low-Earth orbit satellites at its Palo Alto, California-based facility, SSL said Thursday. Richard White, president of SSL’s government systems business, said the contract seeks […] More

SES has entered an agreement with MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates to carry out a satellite life extension mission using an on-orbit refuelling spacecraft made by MDA’s Space Systems Loral subsidiary. The agreement will make SES the first commercial customer of the satellite refuelling service and will allow the company to activate the service when needed, SES said Wednesday. […] More

Rob Zitz, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Space Systems Loral’s government systems business, has said SSL’s parent company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates aims to provide Earth imagery and analysis services to U.S. intelligence and defense agencies through its pending merger with DigitalGlobe, Space News reported Thursday. MDA agreed to buy DigitalGlobe through an estimated $3.6 billion […] More

DigitalGlobe and MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates have entered an agreement to make data from MDA’s RADARSAT-2 satellite available via DigitalGlobe’s GBDX geospatial big data platform. The partnership intends to make new GBDX uses possible through the integration of optical and radar satellite data, DigitalGlobe said Monday. The RADARSAT-2 satellite works to collect synthetic aperture radar data to help users see Earth […] More

Rob Zitz, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Space Systems Loral’s government systems business, is scheduled to moderate today a panel discussion on next-generation satellites at the GEOINT 2017 Symposium that kicked off Sunday in San Antonio, Texas. Zitz, who is also co-chair of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation’s small satellite working group, will […] More

Canada-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates expects its pending merger with Earth imaging services provider DigitalGlobe to help counterbalance the fluctuating revenues and profits of its commercial satellite manufacturing business, Space News reported Tuesday. MDA agreed to buy DigitalGlobe through an estimated $3.6 billion transaction in February. Howard Lance, MDA president and CEO, told investors Tuesday the pending deal seeks […] More

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates has signed a security control agreement with the Defense Department in a push to pursue opportunities in the U.S. government and defense markets. The agreement would help MDA seek security clearance for its operations at its Palo Alto, California-based facility as part of the implementation of the company’s growth strategy, MDA said Thursday. […] More

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates has received a contract from Japan’s national space agency to provide grapple fixtures that will work to support connections between the Japanese Experiment Module support equipment and the JEM Robotic Manipulator System. MDA said Tuesday the grapple fixtures are designed to operate with JEMRMS and some of its payloads as the robotic arm supports the JEM […] More

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates will continue to provide RADARSAT-2 satellite information for Collecte Localisation Satellites and ScanEX Research and Development Centre through February 2017 and December 2019 respectively via two contract amendments. MDA said Wednesday CLS uses RADARSAT-2 imaging to monitor and detect illegal fishing vessels around the Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean while ScanEX requires satellite information to monitor ice […] More