Military Satellite News (September & October 2008)Visit
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October 30, 2008
Lockheed Martin Fully Aware of U.S.A.F. Tactical Space
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] a $30 million contract for the development phase of the Self-Awareness Space Situational Awareness (SASSA) technology demonstration program.</b
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October 29, 2008
SBIRS Spurred On With Lockheed Martin Test Success
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has successfully completed acoustic testing of the first geosynchronous orbit (GEO-1) spacecraft in the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) program.
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Democracy in Space as Astronauts Vote
NASA Commander Mike Fincke (right) and Flight Engineer Greg Chamitoff in the International Space Station should get a prize on November 4 for the votes that came the farthest — in this case traveling 220 miles above Earth and orbiting at 17,500 miles per hour.
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ASRC Research and Technology Gets PAAC III Nod from NASA — again
NASA has selected ASRC Research and Technology Solutions, LLC, of Greenbelt, Maryland, to provide mission support services under the Program Analysis and Control (PAAC III) contract that will support NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Flight Projects Directorate in Greenbelt.
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TCS SNAPs To Additional Funding With CECOM LCMC Order
TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (NasdaqGM: TSYS) has received an additional $9.7 million of funding from the U.S. Army to provide additional Secure Internet Protocol Router (SIPR) and Non-secure Internet Protocol Router (NIPR) Access Point (SNAP) Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) Satellite Systems.
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Congrats! NASA Selects 142 Small Businesses
NASA has selected 142 proposals for negotiation of Phase 2 contract awards in the Small Business Innovation Research program, known as SBIR. The selected projects have a total value of approximately $85 million.
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October 28, 2008
Mission Critical Video Info System Demo'd Successfully By Harris
Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS has successfully demo'd the situational awareness benefits of its Full-Motion Video Asset Management Engine (FAME™) at Empire Challenge 2008, which was held this summer at China Lake, Calif.
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Honduras Calls TSF — 200,000 Flood Victims
Honduras' office of the UNDAC (the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination) requested Telecoms Sans Frontieres’ (TSF) support after devastating rains have killed least 24 people and thousands have been evacuated after several days of heavy rain leading to mudslides and floods. According to the government more than 200,000 have been affected, 25,000 have been left homeless and eight people are missing.
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Going From Graduation To UAV Training
From the Air Force Times comes the report of the first airman to be assigned directly to UAV duty after he graduated from undergraduate pilot
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U.S.A.F. Academy Conducts Space Deterrence Workshop
The Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies held on September 22-23 a Space Deterrence Workshop, convening experts from military, civilian and industrial circles. A full-day of deliberation centered on review of deterrence theory, space domain-contemporary and future operating environments.
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October 27, 2008
Success —30th Space Wing and Thales Alenia-Space COSMO-SkyMed 3 Satellite
Congratulations to Vandenberg AFB which successfully launched a Delta II rocket today at 7:28 p.m. preparing for the event in record time. The rocket took off from Space Launch Complex-2 carrying the Thales Alenia-Space COSMO-SkyMed 3 Satellite.
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Philippine Police Push Out Their Own UAV
GIlbert Felongco, a correspondent for gulfnews.com, reports that police authorities in Makati and Manila have unveiled innovative solutions to address local security concerns using readily available materials and low cost technology.
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October 24, 2008
Uncle Sam Wants You to Go Fly a UAV
New technology requires newly trained and skilled people to properly conduct the task at hand. And so it goes with the demand for unmanned aircraft, in fact the Air Force is launching two new training programs, including an experimental one that would turn out up to 1,100 pilots to fly the drones over Iraq and Afghanistan.
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The KillerBee's Wedge Winning Wing Hopes For A Win
With an eye on a UAV market that may be worth $250 million, Raytheon promoting their heavy-lifting, flying-wedge, unmanned aerial vehicle known as the KillerBee.
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October 23, 2008
NSOM Program For U.S.A.F. To Continue With Harris
Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has been awarded a $60 million contract by the U.S. Air Force to continue work under the first-year option for the Network and Space Operations and Maintenance (NSOM) program.
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Xianglong UAV Being Developed By China
China is reported to be developing a new UAV that's similar to the U.S.' RQ-4 Global Hawk. The Chinese aircraft is the Xianglong (Soaring Dragon) and is about half the size of the Global Hawk.
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Heron UAVs To Fly For Turkey
Israeli contractors will be delivering 10 unmanned aircraft to Turkey to be used for, among other things, intelligence-gathering operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
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Thuraya's Got the Whole World In Its Hand
Thuraya, provider of handheld mobile satellite services offered demonstrations of a series of new products and services at GITEX 2008, furthering their business diversification and expansion.
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October 22, 2008
China Readies for Emergencies With C-COM Satellite
Ramping up for emergency situations, C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. [TSXV: CMI] has received an initial order for US$400,000 iNetVu Mobile systems from one of its resellers in Beijing.
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BuckEye Re-Ups for Stint in Afghanistan
The U.S. Army Topographic Engineering Center (Army TEC) has awarded a contract extension to Flight Landata Inc. of North Andover, Massachusetts, for the continuation of the BuckEye aerial imaging services in Afghanistan.
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October 21, 2008
Understanding More About UCAV
Europe's only dedicated UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle) conference is upcoming... November 17th through the 19th, to be held in London.
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October 20, 2008
Sanswire's Lighter Than Air UAV To Be Tested As A Surrogate Ground Station
Sanswire Corp. (PINKSHEETS: SNSR) has entered into an agreement with Global Telesat Corp. (GTC), a provider of satellite-based tracking and monitoring services and satellite-based airtime to government and commercial end users of Globalstar, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GSAT) global mobile satellite system.
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October 17, 2008
UAV Procurements High On India's Defense Needs
Jane's Information Group is reporting that India is planning to significantly upgrade its unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capability over the next decade in order to enhance situational awareness along its land and maritime borders.
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IAI's Heron UAV Hunkers Over To Canadian Forces In Afghanistan
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has delivered the first Heron UAV system to the Canadian Air Force. IAI and MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) as prime contractor were recently awarded a contract to deliver IAI’s Heron UAV through MDA to Canadian forces deployed in Afghanistan (NOCTUA project).
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October 16, 2008
U.S. Army's FCS Receive Full Funding, Includes UAVs
The Army.Mil/NEWS site offers all information regarding FCS obtaining full funding in the Authorization Act. The testing of Future Combat Systems (FCS) equipment and testimonials from soldiers using it may have helped the program receive full funding for the first time.
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Expand’s WAN Optimization Capabilities Win Out Over Comtech and XipLink
Expand Networks, a provider of application acceleration solutions over the wide area network (WAN), announced the company has replaced Packeteer’s (recently acquired by BlueCoat) Performance Enhancing Proxy (PEP) for Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)’s DVB-RCS Network, based on its ability to provide a complete WAN optimization solution, rather than a TCP Acceleration only solution for the DVB-RCS VSAT network.
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October 15, 2008
Welcome Mat is Out as Expedition 18 Parallel Parks at ISS
We're here! Commander Edward Michael "Mike" Fincke, an Air Force colonel, and Flight Engineer Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov, a colonel in the Russian Air Force, of the 18th International Space Station crew docked their Soyuz TMA-13 to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module at 4:26 a.m. EDT Tuesday.
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BAMS UAS Prime Has Help From Aurora Flight Sciences
Aurora Flight Sciences announced is now a supplier on the Northrop Grumman RQ-4N aircraft for U.S. Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System (BAMS UAS) program.
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A STRIX Test Upcoming By NATO
From AvioNews, we learn NATO will conduct its next major field test, named Trial Imperial Hammer, this month in Sardinia, Italy (September 29th through October 15th) to demo the Alliance’s ability to share time critical intelligence, which will better protect NATO forces and populations from terrorist attacks through better ID and tracking of enemy combatants.
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October 14, 2008
Expedition 18 Off and Away
It's a launch — the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft, carrying Expedition 18 Commander Michael Fincke, Flight Engineer Yury V. Lonchakov and American spaceflight participant Richard Garriott, occurred Sunday, October 12, 2008, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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U.S. Army Calls In DataPath's Hardware Kits for STTs
DataPath, Inc., knows how to pack it up — it being spare electronics and other equipment used to operate and maintain hundreds of DataPath(R) Satellite Transportable Terminals (STTs). In fact DataPath, a provider of satellite and wireless communications networks worldwide, has been awarded two delivery orders totaling $4.8 million by the U.S. Army for their hardware kits.
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Media Encryptors Solution For NSA Won By ViaSat
ViaSat Inc. has been awarded a US$1.5 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract to manufacture KG-200 and KG-201 In-Line Media Encryptors (IMEs) in a competitive procurement by the National Security Agency (NSA).
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German Navy Successfully Tests Schiebel's CAMCOPTER S-100 UAS
Schiebel's CAMCOPTER S-100 has completed its toughest test to date. Three weeks of demanding flights in the Baltic Sea onboard the new K130 Class Corvettes of the German Navy were undertaken.
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Lockheed Martin Makes MUOS Move On
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] has successfully delivered the core structure with an integrated propulsion subsystem for the first satellite in the U.S. Navy's Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) constellation.
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October 13, 2008
Britain's Need For UAVs Finds Lease Plan In Effect With Thales
The same contractor (Thales) providing Israeli Hermes 450 UAVs for British forces in Afghanistan has also offered to provide similar services for the French troops stationed in that region.
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October 10, 2008
ISPCS 2008 New Mexico Offers More Aerojet
There will be more Aerojet representatives at this year's ISPCS (International Symposium on Personal and Commercial Spaceflight) held from October 22-23 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It seems as though last year's one rep, Senior Consultant Don Smith realized that the combination of the senior reps and the new Aerospacers was a good blend of those who have flown in space and those wanting to be a serious part of commercial Aerospace.
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NASA Improves Swimsuits, Babyfood, and Heart Valves
Celebrating their 50th anniversary, NASA released the 2008 edition of NASA's annual Spinoff publication and highlights 50 new examples of how NASA technology is being put to use in everyday life.
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Harris Will Guide Multiband SatCom For U.S. Navy
Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has been awarded a potential US$37 million contract modification by the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California.
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Mobile Satellite Ventures Receives Multiple Patents for Multiple Talents
Hats off to Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) for their multiple patents awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
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October 9, 2008
GEOINT To Feel Effects Of New Harris Contract
Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has received a US$140 million order to provide systems integration and information technology (IT) services to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
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MQ-8B Fire Scout Handles Northrop Grumman Package With Aplomb
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) flew its new Airborne Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Minefield Detection System (ASTAMIDS) for the first time aboard an unmanned air vehicle.
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October 8, 2008
A New Moniker For UAV Firm
Sanswire Corp. develops lighter than air unmanned aerial vehicles has confirmed the Company's previously announced corporate name change from GlobeTel Communications Corp. (PINKSHEETS: GTEM) to Sanswire Corp. is now effective.
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UAVs Weather The Battle With TACMET II
TACMET II has been fielded on more than 50 UAV ground control systems for the U.S. military. Climatronics Corporation now offers an improved, tactical weather station, the EMI-hardened TACMET II (P/N 102304), to provide real-time surface weather input for UAV ground control stations.
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Sky Warrior Succeeds With Automated Takeoffs + Landings
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA ASI) and the Company's "Team Sky Warrior" partners AAI Corporation and L-3 Communication Systems-West have successfully first-attempted automatic takeoffs and landings of a Sky Warrior UAS controlled from the AAI-developed Extended Range/Multi-Purpose (ER/MP) One System Ground Control Station (OSGCS).
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SATCOM For NETCOM Is DataPath's Charge
DataPath, Inc. has received a $3.7 million order to provide on-site personnel to operate and maintain satellite communications (SATCOM) systems managed by the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM) in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of operations.
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Countdown to Satellite Finance Symposium
Less than one week to secure reservations for ISIS NYC '08, and with that comes news that on October 14 Helen Domenici, Chief, International Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, will be the featured luncheon keynote speaker.
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October 7, 2008
Spaceflight Confab In New Mexico
Smart people want to share their knowledge — they want to learn from primary sources and have fun while doing it — they come to the International Symposium on Personal and Commercial Spaceflight, or ISPCS.
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Harris' Falcon III Meets JTRS Requirements
Harris Corporation's Falcon III AN/PRC-117G(V)1(C) manpack networking radio has fulfilled Joint Tactical Radio System test requirements.
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TacSat Terminals En Route From Harris
Harris Corporation has introduced the first tactical satellite terminals with the capability of transmission/reception of TOP SECRET global wideband data communications.
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General Dynamics Delighted With JTRS Tests
The General Dynamics C4 Systems Handheld, Manpack and Small Form Fit (HMS) radios have demonstrated their critical networked-communications capabilities in recent government-run Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) field tests.
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Upcoming Conference Addresses Armed UAS
The Armed UAS Conference occurs in Washington, D.C., from October 28th through 29th.
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Guardrail For Army Ground Components Fielded By Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has successfully fielded Guardrail Ground Baseline (GGB) 2.0 hardware and software to U.S. Army military intelligence battalions, standardizing Guardrail ground components across the service.
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October 6, 2008
ORBCOMM + U.S.C.G. Enter AIS Relationship
ORBCOMM focuses on Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and, through the use of global network of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites and accompanying ground infrastructure, ORBCOMM’s two-way data communications products and services track, monitor, and control mobile and fixed assets in four core markets: commercial transportation; heavy equipment; industrial fixed assets; and marine/homeland security.
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Donley Confirmed As New Secretary of U.S.A.F.
The next secretary of the U.S. Air Force will be Michael B. Donley, who has been serving as the acting secretary since June 21, 2008.
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Orbiter Mini-UAV Finds A Great Deal Of Cooperation
AAI Corporation, an operating unit of Textron Systems, has entered into a teaming agreement with Aeronautics Defense Systems Ltd. of Israel to market the Orbiter Mini-UAV (unmanned air vehicle) system jointly to U.S. and select international customers.
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October 5, 2008
Vandenberg A.F.B. Celebrates Its Fiftieth
The California Space Authority (CSA) offers its congratulations to Vandenberg Air Force Base (Vandenberg AFB) on its fiftieth anniversary.
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October 3, 2008
KillerBee UAS Proves Combat Capabilities
Raytheon Company's (NYSE: RTN) KillerBee unmanned aircraft system demonstrated its interoperability, integration and functionality as an end-to-end UAS combat system.
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Gain Solutions at Global MilSatCom 2008 in Cheerio London
Perfect timing considering the global situations for gathering the best at the Global MilSatCom 2008, November 3-5 at the Millennium Conference Centre, London, United Kingdom. This is the tenth anniversary of the event in which the European hub for Military Satellite Communications nations gather and discuss national developments, international cooperation and current operational challenges.
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October 2, 2008
Aye Laddie, The Isle of Man's First International Institute of Space Commerce
What a dicotomy on the Isle of Man where ancient ruins are visible is the world’s first International Institute of Space Commerce (IISC), opening on Saturday October 4th at the International Business School.
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ViaSat Brings Expertise To MilSatCom Via LinkWayS2 Contract
ViaSat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) has been awarded contracts totaling US$25 million for LinkWay?S2 satellite modems to support the U.S. Army, USMC, and other DoD customers.
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IDC Casts Their SuperFlex Net + Grabs Follow-On Contract
International Datacasting Corporation has received a follow-on order from a leading aerospace and defence contractor for the Company’s new DVB-S2 dual tuner integrated receiver and decoder (IRD), the SuperFlex SFX3104-L.
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UAV Pilot Career Path Now Open In U.S.A.F.
From the Air Force Times, bylined by staff writer Michael Hoffman, comes a story headlined "Hundreds of Reaper, Predator pilots needed.
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October 1, 2008
NASA's Crew Ramps Up for Discovery's Sts-129 Mission
NASA has determined the crew for space shuttle Discovery's STS-129 flight whose mission will be to deliver two experiment racks, parts, and two spare gyroscopes to the International Space Station. The mission will feature four spacewalks, and returns Canadian Space Agency astronaut and station crew member Robert Thirsk to Earth. This is slated to be the final space shuttle crew rotation flight to or from the space station.
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SpaceX Is Spot On For SpotBeam Award
To recognize Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) for its recent launch and orbit success, the California Space Authority (CSA) will honor the company with a Space Innovation SpotBeam Award at this year’s SpotBeam Awards Dinner and Ceremony.
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Fire Scout VTUAV Continues Production For U.S. Navy
Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VTUAV) system has moved into the second year of low-rate initial production (LRIP) with a US$32.9 million contract award from the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Systems Command.
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Wavestream BUCs Up TeleCommunication Systems
Wavestream Corporation has received initial orders for its Ku-band and Ka-band Matchbox Block Upconverters (BUCs) from TeleCommunication Systems, Inc.(TCS) (Nasdaq: TSYS).
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U.S. Navy's Single Shot At Satellite Successful Thanks To Sandia Supercomputer
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Red Storm supercomputer, located at its Sandia National Laboratories, helped the U.S. Navy shoot down an errant satellite in February 2008.
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