Month: April 2018

A space vehicle that could one day be used for manned space travel has flown for the eighth time. In a successful launch, dubbed Mission 8 (M8), the New Shepard from Blue Origin, the company founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, blasted skywards from the firm’s West Texas Launch Site on Sunday. The crew capsule reached...

Speedcast International, a provider of remote communication and IT solutions, has unveiled Speedcast Bandwidth on Demand, a portfolio of new subscription plans for the yachting market for use with Kymeta’s KyWay terminals. This service intends to provide flexibility to yacht owners and captains, giving them short-term, unlimited usage, and quick bandwidth upgrades and downgrades. Speedcast...

French renewable energy solutions provider Vergnet Group has selected Marlink to provide a satellite-based connectivity solution for its hybrid wind farm/power station construction project in Amdjarass, Republic of Chad. Vergnet Group is the EPC provider to its client Agence Developpement Energie Renouvelable (ADER) for the development of the station where Marlink’s Premium Very Small Aperture...

French space agency CNES has chosen the Space Alliance, formed by Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space, to extend the fiber-optic communications system (STFO) at the Guiana Space Center (CSG), Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, to include the new launch complex under construction for Ariane 6 (ELA4). CNES is in charge of the CSG ground segment....

In honor of Jim Bridenstine’s confirmation to the post of NASA Administrator, I present three stories highlighting the importance and capability of satellite imagery to study and better know our planet: 1. “A cloud-free Europe: Stunning mosaic of satellite images reveals a clear view of the continent in incredible detail” They even managed to get...

They say timing is everything and, just as Steve Collar begins his term as CEO of SES, the operator appears ready to turn things around. SES, which announced its first quarter results today, still has a lot of work to do. Overall revenues and profits for the three months ending in March are down from...

Concerned that large, high-value satellites are vulnerable to growing threats from potential enemies, the U.S. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) wants the Department of Defense (DOD) to consider making greater use of smaller spacecraft. The committee’s newly unveiled fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill would require DOD to study the benefits and risks of using...

Iridium Communications has reported financial results for the first quarter of 2018 and affirmed its full-year 2018 and long-range outlook. Net income was $11.5 million, compared to $37.9 million for the first quarter of 2017. This decrease in net income was primarily the result of a $25 million increase in depreciation and amortization expense compared...

Orbcomm has announced that the government of Canada has exercised the option for another year on its contract through Orbcomm’s Canadian partner Maerospace, a global supplier of advanced data analytics and maritime domain awareness solutions. Through its Canadian subsidiary SkyWave, Orbcomm will provide satellite Automatic Identification System (AIS) data used for ship tracking and other maritime...

Year after year, traffic orbiting the Earth is increasing while space debris poses an ever-greater threat for satellites and crews of space vehicles. To combat this problem, the European Space Agency (ESA) is organizing the e.Deorbit mission as part of the “Clean Space” initiative. The e.Deorbit mission has the objective of removing the inactive Envisat satellite, which...