Viasat has unveiled a new configuration for its handheld Link 16 radio product designed to help military users communicate during ground or air missions. The National Security Agency cleared the updated AN/PRC-161 Battlefield Awareness and Targeting System – Dismounted radio technology to support communications of U.S. general purpose forces, coalition troops and members of the “five eyes” international consortium, the company said Wednesday.

Gail Rissler, a more than two-decade veteran in the government information technology industry, has been appointed as senior vice president for MetroStar Systems’ civilian and homeland segment, G2XChange ETC reported Tuesday.

Maxar Technologies’ Space Systems Loral business has begun developing standards to streamline operations between non-terrestrial networks, ground terminals and wireless networks via millimeter wave frequencies in preparation for 5G impelmentation.

Executive Mosaic is pleased to announce that Richard White, president of SSL Government Systems, will be inducted into the 2019 edition of the Wash100 — Executive Mosaic’s annual selection of the most influential voices in the government contracting arena — for his efforts to innovate spacecraft technology and revolutionize humanity’s exploration of space. This marks his first Wash100 honor.

Maxar Technologies’ SSL subsidiary has received a contract from Environmental Defense Fund to design and define requirements for a small satellite designed to detect and monitor methane emissions from oil and gas facilities worldwide. MethaneSAT is a small form-factor satellite that will work to provide high-resolution images to help detect and measure low- and high-emission sources in regions that constitute more than 80 percent of global production of oil and gas per week, Maxar said Thursday. 

SSL demonstrated its solar electric propulsion system on two communications satellites that were launched into geostationary orbit this year. The Maxar Technologies subsidiary said Wednesday SPT-140 is an updated version of the SPT-100 electric thruster that has supported 34 missions and logged more than 100K firing hours. SPT-140 is designed to use the Power Processing Unit 140 and …

Maxar Technologies‘ SSL business has built the robotic arm that currently aids NASA’s InSight probe in a mission to study Mars’ deep interior. The Instrument Deployment Arm is designed to place lander instruments, including a seismometer, onto the Martian surface, SSL said Monday. Richard White, president of SSL’s government systems business, said the company is …

Maxar Technologies’ Radiant Solutions subsidiary has received a potential $2M contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to design and build a new optical telescope platform for constellations of small Earth observation satellites. Radiant Solutions will lead a team and combine its experience in geospatial mission engineering with SSL’s …

Maxar Technologies’ SSL subsidiary has delivered to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California two Earth observation satellites the company built for Planet. The SSL-made SkySat 14 and 15 will fly aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as part of Spaceflight’s maiden Sun Synchronous rideshare mission for Planet’s constellation that works to provide …

Rob Zitz, a senior vice president at Maxar Technologies’ SSL subsidiary, told SpaceNews in an interview published Monday that a space layer designed for missile defense will benefit from an end-to-end solution including sensors and satellites. Zitz, chief strategy officer for government systems at SSL, said artificial intelligence and other technology …

Two Maxar Technologies subsidiaries will work together to develop a space-based layer prototype concept designed to help the Missile Defense Agency detect and track missile threats. SSL will leverage and combine its space systems expertise with Radiant Solutions’ experience in ground systems engineering to build the Space Sensor Layer, Maxar …

NASA has picked Maxar Technologies’ SSL subsidiary to develop two spacecraft technologies under the agency’s Tipping Point program. SSL will work with NASA through a public-private partnership to demonstrate an in-orbit fuel transfer system to support on-orbit refueling and servicing missions, Maxar said Monday. The company and the space agency will also …

Rob Zitz, senior vice president and chief strategy officer of SSL‘s government systems business, has noted some technological innovations that he believes will drive the satellite and space industry in the coming years. “I believe we will see much more 3D printing to enable geometries and large structures that were …

NASA has chosen Maxar Technologies’ SSL subsidiary to study the feasibility of using space-based commercial habitats as satellite manufacturing facilities. SSL said Wednesday it believes establishing a capacity to build satellites in space will help save time and resources by doing away with launch vehicle volumes and schedules, as well as help save …

The Space Enterprise Consortium has chosen Maxar Technologies‘ SSL subsidiary to develop antenna subsystems for the U.S. Air Force‘s Space and Missile Systems Center to secure tactical satellite communications. SSL said Thursday it aims to create, analyze and test subsystem prototypes as part of a military satcom resiliency demonstration effort under the contract from the Advanced Technology International-managed …