Weekly GEOINT Community News

Peraton Awarded Contract To Provide Satellite Communications To AFRICOM, PredaSAR Completes $25 Million Seed Financing Round, Parsons and ALS Establish Strategic Space Partnership, and More

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Peraton Awarded Contract To Provide Satellite Communications To AFRICOM

Peraton has been awarded a $218.6 million contract to provide commercial satellite communications services for the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). The U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) issued the contract in coordination with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). Known as CTC0307, the contract is a first-of-its-kind task order under the Future Commercial SATCOM Acquisition (FCSA) program. Peraton will provide mission partners, operating in the AFRICOM area of responsibility, with rapid acquisition of commercial satellite services to meet enduring and emerging requirements. Peraton will also provide communications services leveraging satellites and emerging technologies from across multiple satellite fleet operators. The services will be supported by Peraton’s 24×7 Network Operations Center (NOC), and by a dedicated team of satellite service engineers and professionals.

PredaSAR Completes $25 Million Seed Financing Round

PredaSAR successfully completed a $25 million seed financing round, funded by a diverse network of global institutional investors, including Miami-based lead investor, Rokk3r Fuel. According to Jeff Ransdell, founding partner and managing director of Rokk3r Fuel, PredaSAR’s vision and business model align exactly with Rokk3r Fuel’s intent to support entrepreneurs with groundbreaking ideas propelled by exponential technologies that have the potential to change the world. PredaSAR’s pending constellation will feature constant image capture to end users, resulting in the most powerful small-satellite SAR system ever delivered.

Parsons and ALS Establish Strategic Space Partnership

Parsons and Adaptive Launch Solutions (ALS) established a strategic partnership for launch and space system engineering, operations, and integration opportunities with the U.S. government and commercial customers. Parsons and ALS are both in the U.S. Space Force Launch Manifest Systems Integrator (LMSI) program, with Parsons serving as the prime contractor. The Parsons and ALS team successfully completed the first launch as part of the LMSI program in August 2019. The second launch is scheduled for March 2020.

HawkEye 360 Transfers Satellite Model to National Air and Space Museum

HawkEye 360 announced that a model of its Pathfinder satellite has been transferred to the Smithsonian’s permanent collection and will be displayed in a future gallery at the National Air and Space Museum, one year after HawkEye 360’s Pathfinder satellites were formally commissioned into service to geolocate RF signals. The Pathfinder satellite is scheduled to go on display when the National Air and Space Museum’s renovation is completed, slated for 2025.

DataStax Accelerates Apache Cassandra Growth and Innovation

DataStax announced the acquisition of The Last Pickle, an Apache Cassandra consulting and services company, for an undisclosed amount. The Last Pickle is critical in improving and advancing Cassandra, one of the fastest growing NoSQL databases. Their products help enterprises and users run mission-critical Cassandra-based applications. Most recently, The Last Pickle released popular open source tools, such as Cassandra Medusa and Cassandra Reaper.

Peer Intel

PredaSAR named Air Force Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Roger W. Teague as chief executive officer, effective March 2. Maj. Gen. Teague was commissioned in 1986 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy. His career included a broad range of assignments primarily acquiring, operating, and supporting space systems. Among his important assignments, he commanded the 4th Space Operations Squadron, where he led his unit during launch, test, and operational activation of three Milstar communications satellites.

Accenture appointed Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Tom Lounibos to Lead Accenture Ventures, as managing director. The company also named former entrepreneur, technology executive and investment banker Jake Kaldenbaugh as managing director, overseeing the venture arm’s global investment strategy.

Featured Image: Model of a HawkEye 360 Pathfinder Satellites | Photo Credit: HawkEye360

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