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Skeptics abounded in 1963 when Joseph Charyk went looking for investors and customers for the new, quasi-private Communications Satellite Corp. (COMSAT). The company came into being when President Kennedy signed legislation designating COMSAT to represent the United States in the nascent international satellite realm.
With Sputnik having launched just six years earlier, satellite technology was in […]

Intelsat and Intelsat General are both playing significant roles to support hurricane relief work in Haiti in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. The hurricane passed directly over the southwestern peninsula of the Caribbean nation on October 4, killing more than 1,000 people, destroying thousands of homes, and leaving an estimated 1.4 million Haitians in urgent

Once upon a time the Army’s mission revolved around seizing a physical spot on a map. But today that task has broadened because the map has been turned into a globe by Information Technology. An Army that faces ISIS isn’t just combating fighters holed up in a Middle Eastern city. It must contend with a

Robert Tarleton looks at the future of military communications satellites while trying to remedy some of the shortcomings of their past.
As director of the Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) Systems Directorate at the Space and Missile Systems Center in Air Force Space Command, Tarleton is charged with overseeing several significant MILSATCOM programs worth about $42 billion.

Recently I attended the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference.  I have attended this conference before and I am always impressed by the technological revolution that is occurring in all things related to Space Situational Awareness (SSA).  At this year’s conference there was also a great deal of discussion on the policy side,

The importance of accurate weather forecasting to the Air Force can’t be overstated. “Weather can be our greatest ally or our strongest adversary,” the service says in a pitch to recruit weather officers.
History provides evidence of both points. A sandstorm forecasted five days in advance prompted a change of plans that aided the successful U.S.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those that cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”  –George Bernard Shaw
We are in the midst of the Golden Age of Space. Revolutionary technologies are being introduced right now that will change how we communicate, relate, and see the world. And the U.S. government must change its concept of

Late last month there was an important hearing held by the House Armed Services Committee Strategic Forces Subcommittee. The hearing was entitled, “National Security Space: 21st Century Challenges, 20th Century Organization. Many of the remarks related to a recent GAO Report on the Organization of Space, which identified a “persistent fragmentation” in the leadership of national

When Defense Sec. Ashton Carter reached out to Silicon Valley a year ago, the move was lauded as a Washington paean to innovation. Instead, it was only the first step toward a cultural-change goal.
“If we form a hypothesis and build an experiment, you have to be willing to be wrong,” said Gen. Paul Selva, Vice

Gen. John Hyten, long a champion of linking space and cyberspace domains in U.S. defense planning, is expected to get a chance to further that advocacy in leading Strategic Command.
President Obama nominated Hyten, who has headed Space Command for two years, to lead the Strategic Command (STRATCOM) on September 9. The Senate Armed Services Committee

As part of a continuing exchange between the military and the commercial space industry working together, Space Command leader Gen. John Hyten outlined his science and technology goals in a February memo to his staff that was made public.
“I call [the memo] our crystal ball so industry and academia have a little bit better idea

Recent performance testing announced by both Intelsat (NYSE: I) and Intelsat General Corporation has confirmed the dramatic performance gains of the next-generation Intelsat EpicNG high-throughput satellite (HTS) platform. Customers and ecosystem partners have documented a 165% increase to throughput using existing ground equipment and up to a 330% improvement in throughput using next generation equipment

Intelsat General Corporation (IGC) recently completed a new mission statement video. The space environment is a dynamic one, and the company decided to explain what’s new, and what hasn’t changed.
IGC moved its headquarters to Tysons Corner, Virginia last year. This year, the next-generation Intelsat EpicNG satellite platform has been launched. This high-throughput satellite network delivers