E-letter: Briefs

AST SpaceMobile shared a look into the company’s satellite manufacturing plant in Midland, Texas in a video released Wednesday. National Geographic documentary host Jason Silva toured the facility with CEO […]

Hughes Network Systems has taken a major step forward to advance its broadband ambitions in India, forming a joint venture with Bharti Airtel (Airtel) to provide satellite broadband services in […]

Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RI&S) on Tuesday announced two new executive appointments within the business segment, naming Kristin Robertson as president of the Space & C2 business unit and Brad […]

SpaceBridge has connected 39 airports for Colombia’s civil aviation authority Aerocivil Colombia under a partnership that began in 2015. Many Colombian airports are located in regions that are outside the […]

Comtech Telecommunications has completed its previously announced leadership transition, with Michael Porcelain taking the helm as CEO.  Porcelain succeeds longtime Comtech CEO Fred Kornberg, who has been with the company […]

Ligado Networks and Nokia have reached a commercial agreement to work together on private networks for enterprise customers. They plan to offer enterprise customers the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud private […]

The U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) has chosen ViaLite to supply an L-band Radio Frequency (RF) over fiber solution, ViaLite announced Jan. 4. ViaLite will deliver a solution for […]

Satellite hardware company Ovzon has secured a $9.8 million contract for 14 months of Satcom as a Service (SaaS) for the Italian Fire and Rescue Service. The service will equip […]

Spanish smallsat launcher in development PLD Space has closed a $28 million oversubscribed Series B funding round, the company announced at the end of 2021. Arcano Partners, Aciturri, and the […]

Earth observation company Satellogic is building a satellite manufacturing facility in the Netherlands. The new 57,000 square foot facility, announced Dec. 28, will be located in Berkel en Rodenrijs, near […]

Relativity Space has hired its first vice president of Software Engineering, bringing on Scott Van Vliet, former Microsoft corporate vice president for the role. The company said this is a […]

Gilat Satellite Networks will serve as a network baseband vendor for a company it described as “one of the largest satellite service providers in Eurasia.”  Under the deal announced Dec. […]

Virgin Orbit is set to go public after shareholders of NextGen Acquisition Corp. II approved the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger on Dec. 28.  This is the culmination of […]

OneWeb closed out 2021 with its 12th satellite launch on Monday, Dec. 27. Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate launched 36 satellites for OneWeb on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur […]

After spending 25 years in development, NASA and its partner organizations — the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) — finally sent the James Webb Space […]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) launched the first of two satellites in Inmarsat’s Inmarsat-6 fleet (I-6 F1) on Wednesday. This satellite marks the start of a refresh of Inmarsat’s L-band network.  […]

The U.S. Navy’s Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) has awarded Viasat two new contracts to support personal communications at Navy bases in Guam and Poland. Viasat has a continued relationship […]

Maxar Technologies has signed contract extensions with three long-standing international defense and intelligence customers, including its second commitment for WorldView Legion capacity. The three agreements total more than $100 million, […]

SpaceX capped off 2021 with a Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station early Tuesday morning. This marked SpaceX’s final launch of 2021 — a year in which the […]

Benchmark Space Systems has integrated its non-toxic chemical propulsion system with Spaceflight’s orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) ahead of the SpaceX Transporter 3 rideshare mission.  Spaceflight is the first to use […]

Maxar Technologies won a $9.3 million U.S. Department of Defense contract on Monday that will see the company design and deliver two robotic arms to support in-space assembly and servicing […]

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) issued a contract to space-based laser communication technology company Mynaric to design a new optical communications terminal under phase zero of the […]

Honeywell, SES, and Hughes have demonstrated multi-network, multi-orbit high-speed airborne connectivity for military customers. The companies announced on Monday that airborne demonstrations used Honeywell’s JetWave MCX terminal with a Hughes […]

Eutelsat Communications has appointed Eva Berneke as the company’s next CEO. Berneke will be the first woman to take the role. Eutelsat announced Dec. 19 that Berneke will assume her […]

Blue Origin Vice President of Global Sales Clay Mowry is leaving Jeff Bezos’ launch company to take a chief revenue officer (CRO) position at Denver-based space exploration company Voyager Space. […]

President Biden on Dec. 15 nominated Booz Allen Hamilton executive Frank Calvelli, who served as principal deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from 2012 to 2020, as the assistant secretary […]

Spire Global will host a Kepler Communications test of its in-space communication network on a Spire satellite, the companies announced Dec. 16. Kepler is developing an in-space network called AETHER […]

SES has agreed to provide satellite-based trunking services to Integra Multisolutions (IMS) in Colombia to connect underserved communities. SES announced Dec. 15 that the new service will begin on the […]

ExxonMobil is working with Scepter to deploy satellite technology to detect methane emissions. The companies announced a plan on Dec. 13 to design a satellite network, and for Scepter to […]

Intelsat’s bankruptcy court has approved the satellite operator’s plan or reorganization, which will bring the company out of bankruptcy with less than half of its debt. This is the final […]