Opinion

Welcome to the 40th Anniversary Edition of Via Satellite where we celebrate an absolutely remarkable 40 years. It is hard to believe this magazine started in 1986 and 40 years […]

Viasat celebrates its 40-year anniversary in 2026, alongside Via Satellite. The enormous changes in the last four decades begat enormous opportunity, and fortunately Viasat has been able to convert opportunities […]

Happy 40th Birthday to Via Satellite! In 2025, ~4,500 satellites were launched into space globally – a greater than twenty times increase compared to an average, annual launch cadence 40 […]

In 1977, the Ariane development program was progressing smoothly, with the goal set at the beginning of 1973 to execute the first qualification flight during 1979. The initial qualification program […]

When Mark asked me to contribute to Via Satellite’s 40th anniversary edition, I was honored. I also had an uncomfortable realization: I’ve been working in wireless communications for roughly as […]

When I first entered the commercial space industry in 2012, we spent a lot of time explaining why small satellites mattered and the concept of disruptive innovation: a technology that […]

Forty years is a long time in any industry. In the satellite sector, it is almost a lifetime. When Via Satellite began chronicling this industry four decades ago, satellite was […]

When humans set their sights on the Moon more than a half-century ago, no one could have predicted how far government would take that vision — or how much farther […]

The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies recently upended the space policy community with a stark warning: the U.S. Space Force must prepare for an “in-person” lunar conflict with China. The […]

For decades, satellite data has played a critical role in helping governments, emergency responders, and infrastructure operators understand the impact of disasters. Whether assessing the damage caused by a wildfire, […]

SpaceX  has identified a massive total addressable market (TAM) for Starlink Mobile … but many people have expressed doubts.  Let’s look at the technical issues that matter. A detailed analysis […]

There is a familiar point in almost every spacecraft program when somebody finally asks where the heat is supposed to go. By then, the structure is complete, the electronics have […]

For decades, military space was the business of a few select nations. Reconnaissance and secure communications rested on a handful of exquisite, school-bus-sized satellites that had exquisite capabilities but likewise […]

Welcome to the annual Via Smallsat edition — where Via Satellite rebrands to focus on the smallsat industry. We are thrilled to present the third group of Rising Stars, a […]

Orbital data centers are now taking shape enough to have brand names. SpaceX has put Starmind on the map, with Elon Musk describing it as an AI satellite megaconstellation that […]

For many years Europe organized space around clear distinctions. Civil programs were separated from defense. Commercial companies served institutional customers. Governments developed sovereign capabilities while industry provided technology and services. […]

What do people actually do on satellite networks? And, for non-government applications, does it even matter? As thousands of new satellites are launched into orbit, much of the conversation has […]

The European Commission’s proposal to re-authorize the 2 GHz Mobile Satellite Services band beyond 2027 comes at a time when satellite connectivity is increasingly shaped by geopolitical considerations as much […]

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury, carrying out airstrikes against Iran alongside cyber and electronic operations. This unfolded amid renewed tensions in negotiations over […]

A network only proves its worth at the moment it is needed. For enterprises managing fleets, utilities, industrial sites and remote assets, that moment is increasingly every moment. As operations […]

According to the 2023 Space Sector Skills Survey by the Space Skills Alliance, 52 percent of space organizations in the U.K. have skills gaps in their current workforce. For 72 […]

Satellite Earth Observation (EO) is increasingly recognized as a strategic instrument for meeting Europe’s defense needs and for ensuring the green and digital transitions. From monitoring droughts and forest fires […]

Once in a while, a pair of simultaneous events offers us a warning about the future, if we are able to open our eyes and see the lessons of the […]

AI is entering a different phase in Earth Observation. What began as experimentation on curated datasets is now moving into operational use, where models are expected to keep working across […]

We’re closing out this edition of Via Satellite in the days after SATShow Week, before we head to Space Symposium. One of my biggest takeaways from SATELLITE x GovMilSpace is […]

In the logic of national security, an offset strategy is the decisive move: a technological or organizational advantage that neutralizes an adversary’s numerical or geographic strength. The nuclear deterrent of […]

The satellite communications market has evolved rapidly over the past four years. As SpaceX’s Starlink has racked up not just hundreds, but even thousands of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites […]

In contested and denied environments, beyond-line-of-sight connectivity is often the only remaining link for command and control, mission execution, and safety-of-life communications. For U.S. military platforms operating at the tactical […]

“The Space Force was established … in recognition of one key fact: space is a warfighting domain,” Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, recently testified. He added that […]

This year is already off to a bold start, shaping up to be one of the most interesting ones of the current decade. We have already seen a slew of […]