Satellite Companies Hardly Affected by Government Shutdown, Execs Say
The 16-day government shutdown had little impact on satellite-related operations, satellite companies and manufacturers said. Companies like Inmarsat and Intelsat continued providing services to the government and military during the shutdown, their executives said.
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There was no operational impact on Inmarsat during the shutdown, said Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, senior vice president-government strategy & policy. “We've seen no change to the support of the active duty and folks that are in the field supporting operational missions.” Because the government relies on its capabilities for critical communications, “in the event that the government were in a position where they weren’t processing invoices, and weren’t taking care of the business behind the capability, we're not going to be cutting off any service to a warfighter,” she said. “We've experienced throughout the course of this year other challenges with the lack of direction in the budget and the threat of sequestration,” Cowen-Hirsch said.
Intelsat did not really experience any significant impact from the shutdown, said Kay Sears, president of Intelsat General Corp. “Many of our contacts were back in their offices before the shutdown was officially over due to the critical nature of their jobs and what we provide.” Some of Intelsat’s government partners remained in touch with Intelsat, she said. Sears also said Intelsat received adequate communication from various departments and contracting offices about how they were dealing with the shutdown.
Government satellite programs at Orbital Sciences continued uninterrupted, a spokesman said. They were “adequately funded to allow work to continue through the shutdown,” he said. Orbital’s commercial satellite business wasn’t impacted by the shutdown, he added.
Last year, the government bought about 60 percent of U.S.-manufactured satellites, according to data in the State of the Satellite Industry Report updated this month by the Satellite Industry Association (http://bit.ly/19Rqm8y). The U.S. had the largest share of all commercially procured launches, “nearly all from launching U.S. government satellites,” the report said. International Launch Services said there was no negative impact on its launch business operations.
During the shutdown, a Boeing spokeswoman said there were “increasing effects on certain daily operations that involve U.S. government facilities and people.” The company worked with its customers and suppliers to maintain normal operations, she said. The temporary closing of Kennedy Space Center in Florida halted production on Lockheed Martin’s Orion crew vehicle for NASA, a Lockheed spokeswoman said: “However, once Kennedy Space Center reopened, Orion resumed final assembly, integration and testing prior to Exploration Flight Test I in September 2014.” Lockheed was granted an exception for its work on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, allowing the manufacturer to work on it during the congressional stalemate, she added.