The Thuraya XT-DUAL is a satellite mobile phone, a handset that features both GSM and satellite capabilities. It was designed to withstand the harshest of environments and the most extreme conditions to ensure you stay close, however remote the location.

The combination of advanced voice clarity technology and an omni-directional antenna ensures an uninterrupted signal even during non stationary calls, offering users a real ‘walk & talk’ experience. 

Company: Thuraya

Thuraya (Arabic: الثريا‎), from the Arabic name Thurayya meaning Star, is an international mobile satellite services provider that delivers communications solutions in more than 140 countries across Europe, the Middle East, North, Central and East Africa, Asia and Australia. As of July 12,2012, Thuraya extended its reach by partnering with T-Mobile USA to provide roaming services in the United States.

Established in 1997, Thuraya’s satellites enable two-thirds of the globe’s population to communicate in areas unserved by terrestrial networks. The organization provides data and voice satellite communications solutions in remote locations for the energy, media, government, NGO and maritime sectors

They have sold in excess of 600,000 satellite handheld phones since launching in 2001. Thuraya offers a dual mode satellite phone, the Thuraya XT-DUAL, a handset that features both GSM and satellite capabilities. In addition, Thuraya provides the Thuraya IP data modem, a secure and rapidly-deployable satellite broadband solution offering connection speeds up to 444 kbit/s standard IP.

The company is based in the United Arab Emirates and distributes its products and service through authorized service providers. Its shareholders consist of investment companies, Middle Eastern and North African telcos in which Etisalat is a major one.

Launched on August 10, 1992, TOPEX/Poseidon was a joint satellite mission between NASA, the U.S. space agency, and CNES, the French space agency, to map ocean surface topography. The first major oceanographic research vessel to sail into space, TOPEX/Poseidon helped revolutionize oceanography by proving the value of satellite ocean observations.

The satellite operations ended on January 2006.

Jason-1 was launched in 2001 to continue the on-going measurements of sea surface topography.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research organization operated by the United States Air Force Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable aerospace warfighting technologies; planning and executing the Air Force science and technology program; and provide warfighting capabilities to United States air, space, and cyberspace forces. It controls the entire Air Force science and technology research budget.

The Laboratory was formed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio on 31 October 1997 as a consolidation of four Air Force laboratory facilities (Wright, Phillips, Rome, and Armstrong) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under a unified command. The Laboratory is composed of 8 technical directorates, 1 wing, and the Office of Scientific Research. Each technical directorate emphasizes a particular area of research within the AFRL mission which it specializes in performing experiments in conjunction with universities and contractors.

Since the Laboratory's formation in 1997, it has conducted numerous experiments and technical demonstrators in conjunction with NASA, Department of Energy National Laboratories, DARPA, and other research organizations within the Department of Defense. Notable projects include the X-37, X-40, X-53, HTV-3X, YAL-1A, Advanced Tactical Laser, and the Tactical Satellite Program. (source: Wikipedia, Oct. 2012).

The "Orion" Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a planned beyond-low-earth-orbit manned spacecraft that is being built by Lockheed Martin for NASA based on designs and tests already completed as part of the now-cancelled Constellation program, development for which began in 2005 as the Crew Exploration Vehicle.

The MPCV was announced by NASA on 24 May 2011. The MPCV's debut unmanned multi-hour test flight, known as Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), is scheduled for a launch aboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket in 2014. The first manned mission is expected to take place after 2020.

Each Orion spacecraft is projected to carry a crew of four astronauts. The spacecraft was originally designed to be launched by the Ares I launch vehicle. On 11 October 2010, with the cancellation of the Constellation Program, the Ares program ended and development of the original Orion vehicle was renamed as the MPCV, planned to be launched on top of an alternative Space Launch System. 

Eurockot Launch Services GmbH is a commercial spacecraft launch provider. It was founded in 1995.

Eurockot uses an expendable launch vehicle called the Rockot to place satellites into Low-Earth orbit (LEO). Eurockot is jointly owned by EADS Astrium, which holds 51 percent, and by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, which holds 49 percent. Eurockot launches from dedicated launch facilities at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.

Swarm is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission to study the Earth's magnetic field.

The Swarm concept consists of a constellation of three satellites in three different polar orbits between 450 and 550 km altitude.

The launch is currently planned for mid-November 2013; in 2010, ESA awarded the contract to Eurockot.

The Faulkes Telescope Project (FTP) is supported by the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust. It provides access to 1,500 hours of observing time on two 2-metre class telescopes located in Hawaii (Faulkes Telescope North in Hawaii) and Australia (Faulkes Telescope South in Australia). This time is dedicated to education and public outreach, mainly in the UK, but also for smaller, selected projects in Europe and the US.

FTP has operated a UK-wide educational programme since 2004, and currently works with science education projects across Europe and further afield (e.g. USA, Russia, Israel), including many EU-based science, maths and ICT programmes. FTP specialises in providing physics and maths education and outreach via astronomy and space science, utilising the unique access it can provide to research-grade facilities. The basic philosophy is to engage learners in “real science”, making them active participants in a range of astronomical research projects, ranging from observations of the solar system to distant galaxies. Teacher training (both face-to-face and online) is a core component of the FTP educational philosophy, and project staff have been involved in professional development work both in the UK and overseas, with teacher training days being held in Moscow, Santa Barbara, Munich, Lisbon, Paris and several other venues in Portugal and Spain.

FTP operates a broad range of educational programmes, with a strong emphasis on teacher training and engaging students with “real science”. A variety of research projects are currently being run on the FTs, with schools often participating in the role of data gatherers, particularly in long-term monitoring or short-term intensive studies or Target of Opportunity requests for transient objects (e.g. GRBs, supernovae, NEOs or X-ray systems in outburst).

The project also provides extensive educational materials which can be accessed and downloaded free of charge from their educational resources website. These resources include astronomy video tutorials, online astronomy training, paper-based documents for use in the classroom, and pre-packaged data from the telescopes to use with the exercises detailed online.

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) is a non-profit private operating foundation. The network's goal is to build a global network of up to 40 longitudinally spaced robotic telescopes for scientific and educational use. The longitudinal spacing would provide complete latitude coverage in both hemispheres to allow continuous observations of any astronomical object.

The network currently consists of (as of February 2012) two fully operational 2-meter telescopes, Faulkes Telescope North and Faulkes Telescope South. 

Start-1 is a Russian satellite launch vehicle based on the RT-2PM Topol, a Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile developed by Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology.

The Start-1 launch vehicle derives its name from the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) between the United States and the Soviet Union. 

The Start-1 rocket is unique amongst launch vehicles in that its launch platform is mobile, allowing for the Start-1 to potentially launch from anywhere. The Start-1 launches from an unmodified Topol Transporter-Erector-Launcher (TEL). The TEL is a massive fourteen-wheeled vehicle, six of which pivot for steering. The launch vehicle is transported and launched inside a mobile Transport and Launch Carrier (TLC) carried by the TEL. The TLC consists of an air-tight composite cylinder that protects the launch vehicle and payload from variations in temperature and humidity. The TLC lays in the middle of the TEL lengthwise and bisects the driver's cab in two.

A version of the Start-1 rocket, simply called Start, was developed in parallel with the Start-1 program. Start differed from Start-1 by using the second stage of the Start-1 twice, giving it a total of five stages. With the extra stage, payload to LEO was increased to 850 kg.