First Inmarsat Xpress Satellite Passes Test Stage
The first Inmarsat-5 (I-5) satellite has now passed two major test stages in preparation for the launch of Global Xpress. One of three in Inmarsat’s new Ka-band broadband network – the satellite has been subjected to extensive mechanical and thermal tests at manufacturer Boeing’s Satellite Space Systems International (BSSI) in El-Segundo, California, US. The tests were designed to prove its ability to survive being blasted into space and to cope with the harsh thermal environment of geosynchronous orbit. “The satellite has now passed the mechanical and thermal testing with flying colours and is on schedule to be completed in early November – ready for shipment to the launch site,” said Franco Carnevale, Inmarsat's Vice-President for Satellite and Launch Vehicles.
Can Google Track Warships Better than DoD?
No way, says Guy Thomas, a man who’s in a position to know because he designed the satellite on which the information giant is renting space for its latest venture — a satellite that uses the same technology the Navy and the Coast Guard use. “Anybody driving along the shore with a pair of binoculars can see that destroyer out there. That’s the only time those ships have AIS on,” said Thomas, the Coast Guard’s science and technology adviser for maritime domain awareness. The controversy over AIS popped up after Michael Jones, chief technology advocate for Google Ventures, said in a May 17 speech to the U.S. Naval Institute’s annual Joint Warfighting Conference that his company was developing a system to track ships at sea globally — including naval vessels.
