SES Government Solutions (SES GS) is bringing Planet Labs onto its team for a recently awarded NASA contract to develop and demonstrate near-Earth communication services. NASA awarded SES GS a $28.96 million contract on April 20, along with contracts to Inmarsat Government, Kuiper Government Solutions, SpaceX, Telesat U.S. Services, and Viasat. This Communications Services Project (CSP) will develop high-rate and…

Kepler Communications signed Spire Global as a customer for its high-capacity Ku-band data transmission service, the companies announced Tuesday.  Under the contract, Spire will install Kepler’s physical Ku-band payloads to three initial satellites.  Kepler said its Ku-band terminals will allow Spire satellites to send large amounts of data back down to Earth, using Kepler’s regulatory…

Sky Perfect JSAT and Japanese telco NTT are working together to form a new joint venture, Space Compass Corporation, to establish an integrated space computing network. The joint venture, announced April 26, will take on the challenge of building new infrastructures in space in order to contribute to a sustainable society. Space Compass plans to…

NASA is working with six American satellite communications companies to develop commercial near-Earth space communication services. On Wednesday, the agency awarded $278.5 million in contracts to Inmarsat Government, Kuiper Government Solutions, SES Government Solutions, SpaceX, Telesat U.S. Services, and Viasat. This Communications Services Project (CSP) will develop high-rate and high-capacity two-way communications to replace NASA’s…