ICESat-2 (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite 2), part of NASA's Earth Observing System, is a planned (year of writting: 2012) satellitemission for measuring ice sheet mass elevation, sea ice freeboard as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics. ICESat-2 is a planned follow-on to the ICESat mission. It will be launched in 2016 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California into a near-circular, near-polar orbit with an altitude of approximately 496 km. It is being designed to operate for 3 years, and will carry enough propellant for 7 years.

The ICESat-2 mission is designed to provide elevation data needed to determine ice sheet mass balance as well as vegetation coverage information. It provides topography and vegetation data around the globe, in addition to the polar-specific coverage over the polar regions.

The ICESat-2 project is being managed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The sole instrument is being designed and built by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the bus is being provided by Orbital Sciences Corporation.

ICESat (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite), part of NASA's Earth Observing System, was a satellite mission for measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics.

ICESat was launched 13 January 2003 on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California into a near-circular, near-polar orbit with an altitude of approximately 600 km.

It operated for seven years before being retired in February 2010, after its scientific payload shut down and scientists were unable to restart it.

The ICESat mission was designed to provide elevation data needed to determine ice sheet mass balance as well as cloud property information, especially for stratospheric clouds common over polar areas. It provides topography and vegetation data around the globe, in addition to the polar-specific coverage over the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The satellite was found useful in assessing important forest characteristics, including tree density.

ORBCOMM Inc. is a company that offers machine to machine (M2M) global asset monitoring and messaging services from its constellation of 29 Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) communications satellites orbiting at 775 km.

Like its voice-centric competitors Iridium and Globalstar, it filed for Chapter 11 protection, in September, 2000. ORBCOMM issued a public offering of stock in November 2006. The company sold 9.23 million shares of common stock.

ORBCOMM provides satellite data services. ORBCOMM has control centers in the United States, Brazil, Japan, and Korea, as well as U.S. ground stations in New York, Georgia, Arizona, and Washington State, and international ground stations in Curaçao, Italy, Australia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Argentina, Morocco, Japan, Korea, and Malaysia. Plans for additional ground station locations are under way.

ORBCOMM is offering services for users who send very small amounts of data. To avoid interference, terminals are not permitted to be active more than 1% of the time, and thus they may only execute a 450ms data burst twice every 15 minutes. The latency inherent in Orbcomm’s network design prevents it from supporting certain safety-critical applications.

Orbcomm's direct competition includes Globalstar’s simplex services and L-band leased capacity services such as those offered by SkyBitz. Orbcomm's most significant competitor, however, is Iridium, which offers the lower latency and more capable Iridium SBD service which can send larger data packets with lower latency and a much smaller antenna.

ORBCOMM services are much like email and messages. 

OHB SE is a spaceflight company located in Bremen, northern Germany, 

(OHB stands for "Orbitale Hochtechnologie Bremen" - Orbital High-technology Bremen)

Domiciled in Bremen, OHB SE (ISIN: DE0005936124, Prime Standard) is Germany’s first listed space and technology company. Two business units offer international customers sophisticated solutions and systems.

With over 39 years of experience in high technology together with its integrated skills in the areas of space technology and telematics, OHB Group is ideally positioned as one of the leading independent forces in the European space, aeronautics and telematics industry.

SPACE SYSTEMS

This business unit’s activities encompass satellites, manned spaceflight, exploration and security/reconnaissance technologies. Another focus is developing and implementing payloads, scientific equipment and devices for aeronautics/aerospace, research institutes and industry. Thus, OHB System AG develops, builds, launches and operates low-orbiting and geostationary small satellites for scientific applications, communications and terrestrial observation. 

AEROSPACE

The „Aerospace" corporate division places emphasis on the manufacturing of products for aviation and space travel. In this regard, OHB has positioned itself as a significant equipment provider for aerospace structures for aviation and space travel and, amongst others, is Germany's largest supplier to the Ariane 5 programme and an established manufacturer of sensitive components made of highly heat resistant nickel based alloys and titanium for aircraft engines. 

DIGITAL

The OHB Digital business unit leverages direct space capabilities and ensures the transfer of technology to selected industries.

Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems LLC provides NanoSat and CubeSat space vehicle products and services that target advanced state-of-the-art capabilities for government and commercial customers to support operationally and scientifically relevant missions. 

The BeiDou Navigation System is a project of China to develop an independent satellite navigation system. It may refer to either one or both generations of the Chinese navigation system.

The first BeiDou system, officially called BeiDou Satellite Navigation Experimental System, or known as BeiDou-1, consists of three satellites and offers limited coverage and applications. It has been offering navigation services, mainly for customers in China and neighboring regions, since 2000.

The second generation of the system, known as Compass or BeiDou-2, which will be a global satellite navigation system consisting of 35 satellites, is still under construction as of May 2012. It became operational in China in December 2011, with 10 satellites in use. It is planned to offer services to customers in the Asia-Pacific region by 2012, and to global customers upon its completion in 2020.

The BeiDou Navigation System is sometimes named BDS.

Nauka (Russian: Нау́ка; lit. Science), also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM), (Russian: Многофункциональный лабораторный модуль, or МЛМ), will be a component of the International Space Station (ISS), funded by the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The MLM launch is currently (in Sept. 2012) scheduled for 2014.

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center ( DLR) to construct and maintain an airborne observatory. NASA awarded the contract for the development of the aircraft, operation of the observatory and management of the American part of the project to the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) in 1996.

The DSI (Deutsches SOFIA Institut) manages the German parts of the project which are primarily science and telescope related. SOFIA's telescope saw first light on May 26, 2010. SOFIA is the successor to the Kuiper Airborne Observatory.

SpaceShipOne is a suborbital air-launched spaceplane that completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the US$10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. Its mothership was named "White Knight". Both craft were developed and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's aviation company.

The SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is a suborbital, air-launched space plane, designed for space tourism. It is under development by The Spaceship Company.

SpaceShipTwo is carried to its launch altitude by a mothership, the Scaled Composites White Knight Two, before being launched to fly on into the upper atmosphere, powered by a rocket motor. It then glides back to Earth and performs a conventional runway landing. The spaceship was officially unveiled to the public on Monday, 7 December 2009, at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The aircraft is currently (2012) undergoing flight-testing, having conducted 22 successful gliding flight tests as of August 2012.