Разношерстные новости

[instml]

Казахстан снял мораторий на пуски с Байконура российских МБР

МОСКВА, 7 окт - РИА Новости. Казахстан снял действовавший в течение двух лет мораторий на запуски с космодрома Байконур российских межконтинентальных баллистических ракет (МБР), сообщил, выступая в пятницу на правительственном часе в Госдуме глава Роскосмоса Владимир Поповкин.

"Казахстан снял действовавший в течение двух лет мораторий на запуск с Байконура российских МБР. Теперь после отмены запрета первый запуск МБР будет выполнен в течение ноября", - сказал глава Роскосмоса.

В целом, Поповкин дал положительную оценку взаимоотношениям РФ и Казахстана в космической отрасли, и в частности, в вопросах совместной эксплуатации Байконура.

http://ria.ru/science/20111007/451869973.html

[bavv]

Поповкин отметил, что в настоящее время Россия занимает всего 3% мирового космического рынка в плане предоставления коммерческих услуг. Вместе с тем, РФ продолжает занимать серьезные позиции по оказанию услуг космических запусков (40% от мировых пусков в год).

"всего 3% мирового космического рынка" - т.е. там, где конечный результат можно получить только после выведения в космос, а там "40% от мировых пусков" наших.
Даавно пора бы цену за пуск взвинтить.. соразмерно! Только ценой можно подправить пропорцию! И оно будет справедливо!  Такова ситуация.
Неспроста французы уже запускают ч/з китайцев.
Можно упустить свой рынок..

[instml]

Даавно пора бы цену за пуск взвинтить.. соразмерно!

Чтобы потерять клиентов? Тогда даже американцы начнут коммерцию запускать.

[bavv]

Грузов и пассажиров много, а действующих таксопарков мало..
Рынок продавца (таксистов) нынче! Вот, и нужно воспользоваться по полной, не стесняясь!!
Антимонопольного междунар.косм. ведомства нет пока. )
Грузов меньше становиться не будет, а такси пока мало!
Рентабельность владельцев грузов, думаю, значительно выше, чем у перевозчиков (2 коп/км доставки)). Её-то уровень и нужно брать за основу при определении цены доставки, как пропорциональной части работ/услуг от общего объема. Против одинаковой прибыли от каждой доли в общем объеме затрат сложно будет возражать участникам по кооперации.
А "40% пусков" для ценообразования не деловой показатель.

[Alex_II]

Даавно пора бы цену за пуск взвинтить.. соразмерно! Только ценой можно подправить пропорцию! И оно будет справедливо!  Такова ситуация.
Неспроста французы уже запускают ч/з китайцев.
Можно упустить свой рынок..

Пора - пора... То-то Маск порадуется - будет ему с чем потренироваться... А мы клиентов потеряем - уйдут к китайцам, а может и к индусам отчасти...

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/111007-telesat-broadband-sat-back.html

Telesat Broadband Satellite Back in Service after Glitch[/size]

Fri, 7 October, 2011

By Peter B. de Selding

    PARIS — Satellite fleet operator Telesat on Oct. 7 said its Anik F2 satellite, which delivers service to Canadian and American subscribers including the WildBlue broadband service, returned to service after being shut down most of the previous day.

    Anik F2 had gone into automatic emergency sun acquisition mode Oct. 6 following what Telesat described as "a routine maneuver."

    The maneuver "triggered the satellite to place itself into a safe mode, shutting itself down and pointing itself at the sun to ensure it remained powered," Telesat said. "The software error that led to the anomaly appears to have been caused by a software update that was recently provided by the satellite manufacturer. That particular software update was not re-loaded onto the satellite."

    Anik F2 was launched in July 2004 for what is expected to be a 15-year mission. It is a 702-model spacecraft built by Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems of El Segundo, Calif.

    Boeing spokesman Matthew P. Billingsley said Oct. 7: "The investigation of this technical anomaly is underway, but we believe that the cause of the interruption may be due to a software error.  Boeing is assisting our customer with the investigation."

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EDRS, the future data highway in space



Watch the animation here

Astrium, Europe's leading space company, will partner with the European Space Agency (ESA) to design, deliver and operate the European Data Relay System (EDRS).

The EDRS will be implemented through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between ESA and Astrium. Under the terms of the agreement the partners will jointly finance the EDRS. ESA contract with Astrium amounts to 275 million euros.

The EDRS's two telecommunication payloads in geostationary orbit will enable broadband, bi-directional data relay between Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and an associated ground segment via either of the EDRS payloads.

The EDRS increases the time LEO spacecraft can be in communication with the ground and enables immediate broadband data transfer to the user. It also provides the capability to re-programme LEO Earth observation (EO) satellites in almost real-time.

This ensures the timely acquisition and delivery of imagery following natural disasters, and helps emergency services on the ground to accurately map the affected areas and effectively coordinate response efforts.

Currently, LEO satellites can only be reprogrammed and images can only be received when the satellites pass over a specific geographic location with a dedicated ground station.

The new space data highway will provide Europe with independent, on demand access to EO data from LEO satellites in real-time. It solves the growing problem of "data traffic jams in space" and enables an improved reactivity as well as a more intense and efficient use of EO satellites.

"The EDRS will draw on Astrium's expertise not only in Public-Private Partnerships but also on our unique experience in providing both secure satellite communications and geo-information services," said Eric Beranger, CEO of Astrium Services.

"Along with the EU and ESA, the EDRS has the potential to be utilised by other national space agencies and states as well as commercial users."

EDRS operations will commence with the launch of the first EDRS mission at the end of 2014. The mission will be embarked on board a Eutelsat satellite: EUTELSAT 9B that will be manufactured by Astrium and located at 9E. Astrium will also contract OHB-System, Germany, to build a second EDRS satellite for launch in 2015.

The EDRS payloads of both satellites will be manufactured by TESAT, a 100% subsidiary of Astrium.

The Laser Communication Terminals that transmit data between the EDRS and LEO satellites at up to 1.8 gigabits per second are developed and built by TESAT. This high-end technology has been developed under a contract from the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

The European Union (EU) with its Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme and its Sentinel satellites is intended to be the anchor tenant for the service, with additional capacity on the system marketed by Astrium Services to third-party users.

Astrium Services has been selected after competition by ESA as EDRS Programme Prime due to the division's global expertise in secure satellite communications, its experience as an EO satellite operator and EO service provider as well as its heritage in innovative financing schemes

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/EDRS_the_future_data_highway_in_space_999.html

[ОАЯ]

В Октябре 2010 http://ssco.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/NASA_Satellite%20Servicing_Project_Report_0511.pdf

[ZOOR]

Сибирский государственный аэрокосмический университет имени академика М.Ф. Решетнева

О выполненных мероприятиях в рамках проекта CRIST «Реформирование образования в области космических технологий в Казахстане, России, Украине» за 2010-2011 гг.[/size]

http://www.crist-kru.eu/content-download/presentation/2011-06-03_khai/SibSAU-ISS_RU.pdf

Красивая информативния презенташка о СибГАУ

[bavv]

Удалил не по адресу размещенное

[bavv]

Удалил не по адресу размещенное

[SpaceR]

Эксперты: Ежегодный объем взяток к мире равен 1 трлн долларов[/size]
 . . .

http://www.vz.ru/news/2011/10/25/533086.html

Вообще-то это оффтопик.
Можно бы понять, если бы оно хоть к месту было.  :?

[bavv]

Удалил не по адресу размещенное

[Salo]

http://www.majiroxnews.com/2011/10/29/japan-wins-first-ever-satellite-order-from-vietnam/

Japan wins first ever satellite order from Vietnam[/size]
10/29/2011
 By majiroxnews

TOKYO (majirox news) –"Satellite export" sounds impressive and Japanese newspapers moan about "Japanese infrastructure exports," but there are a lot of things going on. For example, Japanese companies have won an observation satellite order for the first time from the Vietnamese government.

The two environmental observation satellites will be used to monitor damages from flooding and other disasters and survey forest and farmland in day or night. Japan is highly experienced in this field, from its own work and in connection with the NASA and EU space program. Indeed, it is a world leader in geophysical monitoring.

Each satellite will weight about 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds), which is light and compact. As with many other developing nations, the Vietnamese see this as a project which will transfer knowledge to Vietnam's nascent aerospace industry. Nigeria, for example, recently launched two satellites that were built in the UK. However, they were built by Nigerian engineers and mainly from Nigerian designs, working under the direction of more experienced English space scientists. Vietnamese expectations are similar, as one satellite will be built in Japan and the second one will be constructed entirely in Vietnam.

NEC Corp, a Japanese multinational IT company headquartered in Tokyo, will probably build the first orbiter and supervise Vietnam's production of the second. The contractors will be responsible for all features of the project, from developing and launching two radar observations satellites to building a ground facility and training personnel to control the orbiters and analyze data, reported the Nikkei. The satellites may be blasted into space using the Epsilon rocket, which is being developed by IHI Aerospace Co. and others.

However, it is not common in the satellite business for the company that builds the satellite to also arrange launch services in their own country. Vietnam's space program has connections with Russia and the EU's space program as well as links to India. Similar to Vietnam's recent decision to spread out the work of building nuclear reactors among several different suitors of Vietnamese business, Russia and Japan have apparently won bids for some of the planned reactors, it is hardly a foregone conclusion that even with Japanese assistance to build the satellite that there will be a Japanese launch.

One of the reasons why is that satellite launches are highly competitive, the market is crowded with competitors, some even launching their rockets from floating platforms at the equator, and there may be a chance to piggyback a Vietnamese launch with an EU or Russian launch. The first satellite is scheduled to be launched in 2017 and the second in 2020.

In exchange for the order, Japan is providing Vietnam with approximately 50 billion yen ($625 million) in loans, according to the Nikkei. The contract between the two countries will likely include a contract that sets the first tranche of the yen loan at 7.2 billion yen ($90 million). There will no international bidding for the project as the country decided to use Japanese technology, no doubt based on the fact that Japan has the most advanced environmental monitoring space technology of any nation in Asia.

This comes hard on the heels of similar Vietnamese diplomatic and commercial deals with Japan. As well as selecting Japan as possible bidders for two out of 12 nuclear reactors Vietnam has planned and Vietnam recently signed a naval agreement for regular exchanges of officers, joint training and drills in rescue operations.

In short, much of this can be seen in the light of Vietnam taking active steps that while not anti-Chinese, definitely moving further and further from being in the Chinese orbit or even giving the impression of being so. As one of the most successful economies in Southeast Asia, one of the "little tigers," its moves such as contracting with Japan in developing satellites strongly highlight its independence.

The Japanese and Vietnamese governments are expected to sign an agreement on Monday at a summit meeting.

Japan is keen to strengthen its infrastructure exports such as its satellites and similar technologies to Southeast Asian countries.

[bavv]

Удалил не по адресу размещенное

[Salo]

Уважаемый, тема "Разношёрстные новости" находится в разделе "Прикладная космонавтика".
Посему настоятельно прошу Вас не постить в ней всякую хрень не имеющую к данному разделу никакого отношения.
Для этой цели есть НАРОДНАЯ ЛЕНТА НОВОСТЕЙ.

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/contracts/111104-japan-vietnam-deal-radar-sats.html

Fri, 4 November, 2011
Japan, Vietnam Sign Deal for Two Radar Imaging Satellites[/size]
By Paul Kallender-Umezu

    TOKYO — Vietnam will buy a pair of Japanese-designed Earth observing radar satellites under a just-finalized deal representing Japan's first export of a remote sensing satellite system, government officials here said.

    The sale, financed through a Japanese foreign aid package, was sealed in an agreement signed here Oct. 31 by Japan's ambassador to Vietnam, Yasuaki Tanizaki, and Vietnam's minister of planning and investment, Bui Quang Vinh.

    The satellites will be based on Japan's new ASNARO — Advanced Satellite with New System Architecture for Observation — remote sensing platform, whose development was spurred by a shift in government space policy that places more emphasis on practical and commercial applications. The first ASNARO satellite, an optical observation craft, is slated for launch around the end of 2012 on a Russian Dnepr rocket.

    Japan will finance the satellite project through overseas development assistance loans it is providing to Vietnam as part of a broader 92.6 billion yen ($1.2 billion) package that includes the building of a major shipping port, a highway project and efforts to bolster flood-prone Vietnam's ability to respond to natural disasters.

    About half of the total aid package, or 46.4 billion yen, is earmarked for the satellite project, a decade-long undertaking that will see Japan build a ground station and train Vietnamese engineers and ground controllers.

    Japan will provide an initial 7.2 billion yen over the next two years to begin work on the X-band satellites, the first of which will be built in Japan and launched in 2017, according to Nobutaka Takeo, deputy director of the Space Industry Office at the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI), which proposed the project. The second satellite, slated to launch in 2020, will be assembled in Vietnam, he said.

    In addition to funding a joint effort between Vietnam and Japan to establish payload specifications for the satellites, some of the initial money will be used to begin setting up an assembly, integration and test center in Vietnam and to start training Vietnamese technicians, Takeo said.

    While Japan makes extensive loans under its Overseas Development Assistance program to emerging Asian economies, the deal with Vietnam marks the first time Japan has used the program to fund satellites, Takeo said. The deal also marks Japan's first export sale of an Earth observation satellite.

    "It's a major success and good news for Japan. This shows that we have developed mature space technologies that can be used by other countries," Takeo said in a Nov. 2 interview.

    The satellite loan will be coordinated via the Japan International Coordination Agency (JICA), a quasi-governmental body responsible for implementing Japan's overseas aid programs. JICA will provide the loan for the two satellites and related facilities, and help Vietnam develop the capacity to operate and maintain the facilities and equipment, said Yoshio Wada, deputy director general of JICA's Southeast Asia Department.

    "It is the first attempt for JICA to provide assistance for Earth observation satellites," Wada said Nov. 2. "Vietnam has a relatively higher risk of the incidence of natural disasters. Particularly, typhoons and floods are serious problems.

    "Given such circumstances, it is recognized that establishment of a continuous Earth observation satellite system is essential to conduct monitoring, forecasting and impact evaluation of climate change."

    Takeo said the satellites will be based on the ASNARO series of satellites being built by NEC Corp. of Tokyo. The ASNARO program will consist of multiple 500-kilogram-class satellites, some of which will be equipped with optical sensors capable of resolving images smaller than half a meter across, while others will carry radar imagers offering slightly lower resolution.

    Nobuyuki Matsumoto, the official in charge of satellite planning at METI's Space Industry Office, said NEC is scheduled to build three ASNARO satellites for Japan's use. The first is an optical satellite due to launch in December 2012 aboard a Russian Dnepr rocket. An X-band radar satellite similar to those being offered to Vietnam is planned for launch in 2014. An ASNARO satellite carrying a hyperspectral sensor is planned for launch in 2016 or later, Matsumoto said. Of these, the optical and hyperspectral satellites are being funded entirely by the government. The radar satellite is being partially funded by the private sector, Matsumoto said.

    Takeo said METI is in talks with a number of other developing countries around the Asian region about providing ASNARO-based satellites, but he declined to provide further details.

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/111104-itu-fails-dispute-iranian-service.html

Fri, 4 November, 2011
ITU Board Fails To Resolve Dispute over Iranian Service[/size]
By Peter B. de Selding

    PARIS — International regulators on Nov. 4 again failed to resolve a satellite frequency dispute pitting France, Qatar and satellite operator Eutelsat against Iran, Saudi Arabia and operator Arabsat, setting the stage for a likely showdown in January at a global conference of telecom authorities.

    Meeting in Geneva Oct. 31-Nov. 4, the Radio Regulations Board of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) proved powerless to settle an issue that radio frequency experts say could snowball into a threat to the ITU's ability to manage development of the geostationary orbital arc and the broadcast frequencies used there.

    At issue is whether the government of Iran misled the ITU by saying its Zohreh-2 satellite network maintained its regulatory eligibility in past years by being temporarily hosted on U.S.- and French-registered satellites. The service is now being hosted by Arabsat, a major satellite consortium headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, using a satellite located at 26 degrees east longitude.

    U.S. and French officials have denied that Iran used satellites registered in their countries — operated by Intelsat and Eutelsat, respectively — to host Zohreh-2. That being the case, they argue, Zohreh-2 spent more than two years without being in service and thus should be stricken from the ITU's master registry of satellites granted regulatory priority.

    Paris-based Eutelsat's Eurobird 2 satellite, in orbit at 25.5 degrees east, is right next door to the Arabsat Badr spacecraft hosting Iran and has been unable to fulfill its mission because of uncertainty about Iran's frequency rights. Arabsat has said Zohreh-2 has been in service, first on the Badr-6 satellite and, since mid-2010, on Badr-5.

    Eutelsat has also struck an agreement with the government of Qatar to launch a Eurobird 2A satellite into the 25.5 degrees east slot in 2013. Eutelsat and Qatar's Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology, ictQatar, have urged the ITU to reject Iran's claims so that the Eutelsat-Qatar project will be able to operate.

    Iran, which over the years has struggled to establish an Iranian satellite network and thus has lost rights it once had to certain satellite broadcast frequencies, insists that it maintained its Zohreh-2 eligibility on the Intelsat and Eutelsat spacecraft.

    The Radio Regulations Board has reviewed the issue on at least three occasions. At first, invoking an ITU principle that says the word of a sovereign nation describing its own network cannot be challenged, the board sided with Iran. Faced with subsequent statements from the United States and France, the board backed off its endorsement of Zohreh-2 but did not issue a clear judgment, leaving both sides in limbo. The ITU repeatedly has asked France, Iran and Saudi Arabia to resolve their differences among themselves.

    Multiple meetings hosted by the ITU have produced no discernible progress, government and industry officials said.

    At the meeting ending Nov. 4, the Radio Regulations Board floated the idea of a compromise that would divide the disputed frequencies equally: half for Iran and Saudi Arabia, and half for Eutelsat.

    "As a matter of compromise and considering the exceptional situation, the Board suggests that this coordination might be pursued by splitting into two equal parts" the frequencies, the board said in a post-meeting summary.

    The board went so far as to threaten, if vaguely, to banish one or more of the satellite networks involved if no resolution is reached.

    "The Board noted that the analysis provided by the [Radiocommunication Bureau, an ITU body that makes technical analyses] casts doubts as to the continuity of service of some of the satellite networks involved, which may lead to the deletion of the corresponding satellite network filings," the summary states.

    One industry official said that while the board possesses such authority, it would be unprecedented for it to act in this way, especially since it has spent two years looking at the dispute without acting.

    As it has in the past, the board requested that the parties involved meet to work out their differences in December. Absent any progress, it said, it will instruct the director of the Radiocommunication Bureau to report the failure to the World Radiocommunication Conference scheduled for Jan. 23-Feb. 17 in Geneva.

    The conference, which occurs every three or four years, brings together the world's wireless telecommunications regulators to allocate radio frequencies among competing users.

    Satellite operators that spend most of their time competing with Eutelsat — including SES of Luxembourg, which has its own development plans with ictQatar — have backed the Paris operator and said if Iran is allowed to retain its frequencies, the regulatory foundation of the entire satellite telecommunications industry will be shaken.

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/111104-govt-bus-bright-spot-eutelsat.html

Fri, 4 November, 2011
Government Business a Bright Spot for Eutelsat[/size]
By Peter B. de Selding

    PARIS — Satellite fleet operator Eutelsat on Nov. 4 said its division selling satellite capacity to government customers — mainly the U.S. government — in the Middle East and North Africa increased revenue by nearly 26 percent in the three months ending Sept. 30 and was the star performer in an otherwise lackluster quarter.

    Paris-based Eutelsat's Multiusage business, which is mainly civil-government and military business that has grown enormously in the past decade with the U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, increased to 36.2 million euros ($49 million) during the quarter.

    Among the major commercial fleet operators, Eutelsat has been perhaps the biggest benefactor of the military activity in the Middle East and surrounding regions because of the orbital slots at which it has satellites.

    Eutelsat's overall revenue for the three months ending Sept. 30 rose 3.4 percent, to 295.4 million euros, and was held back by a lack of Ku-band satellite capacity. Eutelsat Chief Executive Michel de Rosen, in a Nov. 4 statement, said the company is nonetheless maintaining its forecast of an average 7 percent annual revenue growth between 2011 and 2014.

    EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, will remain above 77 percent of revenue for the period, de Rosen said. Eutelsat reiterated its forecast that for its current fiscal year, which ends June 30, it will report revenue of more than 1.24 billion euros.

    Two satellites recently launched for Eutelsat — the Atlantic Bird 7, to operate at 7 degrees west longitude, and the W3C satellite, to be stationed at 16 degrees east — are healthy but were not launched soon enough to contribute to the quarterly revenue picture.

    Atlantic Bird 7 entered service Oct. 23, and W3C is scheduled to begin commercial operations Nov. 9.

    Eutelsat has five additional satellites being readied for launch by mid-2014 and is counting on this new capacity to spur revenue growth in the coming months and years.

    Eutelsat's core business of selling satellite bandwidth for commercial video applications, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the company's revenue, grew by just 1.4 percent in the three months ending Sept. 30 compared to the same period a year ago, to 198.2 million euros.

    In its Nov. 4 statement, Eutelsat said the sluggish growth rate is due to a lack of in-orbit capacity. This is due in part to a quicker-than-expected takeup of existing bandwidth in the past two years, resulting in higher satellite fill rates and little unoccupied space.

    It is also partly due to the loss, just after launch, of the W3B satellite in October 2010 following a catastrophic leak in its propellant tank. Eutelsat was forced to retain other satellites at the 16 degrees east orbital position instead of freeing them to expand the company's in-orbit capacity.

[Salo]

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/awx/2011/11/04/awx_11_04_2011_p0-390314.xml&headline=USAF%20May%20Cut%20Northrop%20Satellite%20Program&next=10

USAF May Cut Northrop Satellite Program
[/size]
Nov 4, 2011

By Andrea Shalal-Esa/Reuters
WASHINGTON

The U.S. Air Force is considering terminating a multibillion-dollar weather satellite being developed by Northrop Grumman Corp , according to two sources familiar with the plans.

The move comes as the Air Force hunts for ways to trim its budget and help the Pentagon achieve about $489 billion in cuts over the next 10 years.

"Termination is definitely an option," said one of the sources, who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Defense analyst Loren Thompson said the decision would be short-sighted and could have life-or-death consequences if approved, since the military could in the future lack critical information about cloud cover, precipitation, surface conditions, and weather conditions on the battlefield.

"It is a sad commentary about how budget pressures are forcing military services to make dangerous choices," Thompson wrote in a blog for the Lexington Institute.

The Air Force had no immediate comment.

Northrop said the DWSS satellites would provide "accurate weather information (that) is vital to national security and critical for our warfighters to be able perform their missions."

Termination of the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) would mark the culmination of a saga that began nearly two decades ago, when the White House ordered the Pentagon and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to work on a single next-generation weather satellite that could satisfy both civilian and military needs.

Northrop won a contract in August 2002 to build the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System or NPOESS, for the military, weather forecasters and NASA at a cost of about $7 billion.

But the cost doubled amid technical challenges, schedule changes and changing requirements, prompting the White House in February 2010 to cancel the planned joint program and order NOAA and the Pentagon to proceed with separate programs to replace their respective weather satellites on orbit.

The congressional watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office, warned in June 2010 that both agencies faced possible satellite coverage gaps and other risks as a result of the changes, a message it reiterated more urgently in testimony to lawmakers last month.

One former defense official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said military space officials believed that terminating the DWSS satellite program was the lesser of evils, given the need to cut funding somewhere.

Some of the sensors that would have flown on the DWSS satellites could possibly be hosted on commercial or other military satellites, he said.

The Air Force recommendation still needed to be approved by senior Pentagon leaders, but the former official said there was little strong support for the program in those circles. "No one is willing to fall on their sword for this," he added.

Termination will have serious consequences for hundreds of Northrop employees who are building the first DWSS satellite at the company's facility in Redondo Beach, California.

The first of the DWSS satellites was slated to be launched in 2018, with a system readiness review—initially planned next month—now due to be done in March 2012.

Thompson said China began orbiting state-of-the-art weather satellites in 2010 that will collect precise readings about regional weather conditions, while the U.S. military was relying on satellites built in the 1960s that transmitted black and white images and were unable to detect many vital variations in weather conditions.

"Without the Defense Weather Satellite System, there's a high probability that someday soon gaps will start appearing in the military's ability to monitor local weather conditions," Thompson wrote.