E-letter: Briefs

Arianespace’s latest launch brings Europe’s Galileo constellation to 38 satellites. On Saturday, December 4, a Soyuz launcher successfully orbited two satellites for Europe’s Galileo constellation. The Soyuz rocket launched from […]

Planet is set to go public this week after its special purpose acquisition company merger (SPAC) has been approved. Shareholders of SPAC dMY Technology Group, Inc. IV approved the business […]

SES Government Solutions has unveiled details of a new platform to serve its U.S. government customers on Monday. The platform, called Hydra, is a Common Operational Picture (COP) platform and […]

AST SpaceMobile has decided to push back the launch of its demonstration satellite BlueWalker 3, the company announced Monday. AST SpaceMobile had raised this possibility during its recent third quarter […]

South Africa and China are developing closer ties in the space industry, and this now extends to satellite navigation. The nations announced Dec. 3 that the South African National Space […]

Intelsat announced in filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday that COO Samer Halawi is leaving the company at the end of the year. This comes a […]

NASA has awarded a combined total of about $415.6 million to Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman to develop commercial space stations in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), the agency announced Dec. […]

SpaceX launched a batch of 48 Starlink satellites on Thursday evening, with two BlackSky satellites along for the ride. The Falcon 9 rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 40 […]

Spire Global has completed its acquisition of exactEarth, it’s first acquisition since going public. ExactEarth provides satellite-AIS data services, which is used to track ships. Spire Global also provides satellite-AIS […]

Rocket Lab unveiled new details on Thursday for its Neutron medium-lift launch vehicle, which is designed to be fully reusable, specifically for constellation deployment.   CEO Peter Beck explained in a […]

Lockheed Martin on Tuesday named Robert Lightfoot as the next head of its $11 billion Space segment, succeeding Rick Ambrose, who will retire March 1, 2022. Lightfoot, currently vice president of […]

Eutelsat has signed another deal with a major telco, this time in Africa. Following up a recent agreement with Deutsche Telecom, Eutelsat has now has signed a service agreement with […]

Telesat has chosen Satixfy for baseband modem equipment for its Lightspeed satellite constellation. The Canadian operator on Wednesday announced a manufacturing agreement for 288 of Satixfy’s Sx3099 landing station modems.  […]

OneWeb is working with Kymeta through a joint development agreement to develop a flat panel antenna for land fixed applications, the companies announced Wednesday. The antenna will be based on […]

Rakuten Mobile is teaming up with the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering to look at the possibilities of using Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to help boost IoT coverage […]

OneWeb has signed a joint development agreement with GDC Advanced Technology to develop an In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) terminal to connect aircraft to OneWeb’s satellite constellation. GDC Advanced Technology is an […]

A group of senators is calling for greater U.S. space leadership after the Russian Anti-Satellite (ASAT) tests earlier this month.  Four senators on the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation […]

Anuvu, formerly known as Global Eagle, has secured a commitment for $50 million of growth capital to support its constellation plans. The company announced Tuesday that Apollo Capital Management LP, […]

Kacific Broadband Satellites expects to significantly bring down the costs of deploying satellite broadband in the markets where it operates with a new modem and terminal. The company announced Nov. […]

Astroscale has achieved a significant financing milestone, completing the largest funding round in its history. The company announced Nov. 25 that it has closed its Series F round with additional […]

Comtech Telecommunications is in a public dispute with shareholder Outerbridge Capital Management ahead of its upcoming fiscal 2021 annual meeting of stockholders this month. On Monday, Comtech issued a presentation […]

The U.S. Space Force and Lockheed Martin completed a system-level Critical Design Review (CDR) of the company’s Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (NGG) Block 0 satellites last […]

Swedish Space Corporation (SCC) has upgraded its Ka-band ground station network to provide global coverage. To do this, the company upgraded its polar and equatorial locations to support Ka-band data […]

More than 50 CEOs and executive leaders from the world’s largest commercial space companies have confirmed to speak at the SATELLITE 2022 Conference and Exhibition, which will take place March […]

A South Korean drone logistics company named Pablo Air successfully demonstrated the world’s first maritime flight with Ground Control System (GCS), unmanned- (UTM) and Air Traffic-Management (ATM) capabilities powered by […]

Inmarsat completed a key maritime connectivity installation in collaboration with un-crewed surface vessel (USV) technology company SEA-KIT International. The U.K. satellite operator said the installation uses virtualized networks that aim […]

European scientists have bounced a long-range message off the Moon, setting a new world record of 730,360 km for the furthest distance a long-range message has ever travelled. The players […]

Viasat‘s in-flight connectivity (IFC) Ka-band service is now ready to commence operation in Chinese airspace, the satellite operator announced Tuesday. Working in cooperation with China Satellite Communications (China Satcom), Viasat […]

Exotrail, a French space company, is teaming up with Luxembourg-based satellite manufacturer OHB LuxSpace to collaborate on a new micro-satellite platform, the companies announced November 22. The two companies will […]

Kacific Broadband Satellites is introducing a new backhaul service targeting ISPs and telcos in Asia and the Pacific, the company announced November 22. The Ka-band mobile backhaul service, called ‘Mobile […]