Author: Carolyn Belle

Ten years ago, our industry began to rethink the utility of the platform that had kicked off the space age, positing that smallsats offered untold commercial and scientific potential. While ideas of how to leverage smallsats emerged in volume, success stories have been few and far between. No matter how compelling their business case, a...

The terms “transformation” and “space industry” are time and again thrown together by industry leaders and picked up by mainstream media. Hardly a day goes by without an innovative technology, smallsat constellation, or funding round lauded as a significant development for the industry at large. Financial community estimates for industry growth range from less than...

Following Boeing’s acquisition of Millennium Space Systems in August, all of the leading prime contractors in the manufacturing sector have made a play in the small satellite market. Lockheed Martin’s investment in Terran Orbital, Airbus’s joint venture with OneWeb, Thales Alenia Space’s partnership with Spaceflight Industries, and SSL’s in-house development, among others, have each committed...

As fiscal year 2017 financials trickled in, it was clear that the impact of a changing market and pricing declines continues to hit the bottom line of commercial satellite operators. Operators are being forced to re-evaluate decisions on multiple levels; from which applications to target, partners to engage, and satellites to order. There are two...

In 2018, the space industry has — with a mélange of excitement and relief — witnessed advances in launch capabilities on both ends of the mass spectrum. Rocket Lab’s dedicated smallsat vehicle Electron and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy conducted successful demo missions in January and February, respectively, paving the way for long-awaited commercial operations to begin...