Manufacturing

Amazon is ramping up production for its satellite broadband constellation Project Kuiper. Satellite manufacturing is now underway at a recently opened full-rate factory in Kirkland, Washington. Amazon is also opening a new logistics facility in Everett, Washington, and starting a new satellite technician certificate program with a local technical college.  Amazon announced the updates on...

Redwire Space is developing a Very Low-Earth Orbit (VLEO) spacecraft platform called Phantom, the company announced Monday. Phantom is being developed at Redwire’s facility in Belgium and is designed to carry out a wide array of intelligence, Earth science, and communications missions. Redwire said it is working with Thales Alenia Space to advance Phantom’s design...

Rocket Lab was awarded a $32 million contract from the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) contract to deliver the Victus Haze Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) mission. Rocket Lab will design, build, launch, and operate a rendezvous proximity operation (RPO) capable spacecraft. The mission was contracted under subsidiary Rocket Lab National Security on April...

Astranis debuted a more powerful Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite on Wednesday, called Omega. The next-gen satellite maintains the smaller form factor of the Astranis MicroGEO compared to traditional GEO satellites, but the company said it can deliver 50+ Gbps of throughput per satellite, about five times the capacity of the first Astranis model. The first...

Sierra Space announced a new line of three satellite buses called Eclipse, designed for Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) missions. Sierra Space announced the line on April 5. The three satellite buses are Eclipse Velocity, Eclipse Horizon, and Eclipse Titan.  Eclipse Velocity is a highly maneuverable small satellite that...

Muon Space wins over $60 million in new customer contracts for the release of the planned Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) Muon Halo 10 smallsat constellation. Muon Halo’s integrated hardware and software stack plans aim to optimize missions and improve LEO smallsat constellation performance. Muon Space announced the release of Muon Halo on April 4. The contracts...

Spire Global set an agreement with Korean company Hancom InSpace to enhance its Sejong-1 satellite and to build and operate two additional satellites, Sejong-2 and Sejong-3. The company said that these satellites will be Korea’s first three-satellite remote sensing image data service constellation. Hancom InSpace is a former spin-off of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute,...

MDA Space unveiled Aurora as the name of its new software-defined satellite product line on March 18. The Aurora product line will adopt several new features designed to improve flexibility and functionality for constellation performance.  Key features of the Aurora product line will include a modular of software-defined satellites with digital payload technologies tailored for...

The demand for satellite connectivity is strong, yet changing needs and evolving technologies have raised questions on how the market will shift: Will operators embrace a multi-orbit strategy? How will business models adapt to shifting demands — and speedier timelines — for rolling out services? A panel of satellite industry experts addressed these and other...

Terran Orbital is getting into the Geostationary Orbit (GEO) market, unveiling the SmallSat GEO on Thursday. Terran Orbital said the SmallSat GEO aims to provide higher network performance in the communication market. The satellite will be adaptable to commercial/customer-provided or Terran Orbital-supplied payloads, up to 300 kilograms It also allows for steerable multi-beam arrays. Terran...