E-letter: Briefs

Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems has named retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Christian “Boris” Becker as its new CEO. Tyvak is a Terran Orbital company that manufactures nanosatellite platforms.  Becker most recently […]

Mynaric will supply more than $20 million in laser communication products to SpaceLink under the terms of a new partnership agreement the two companies announced Wednesday. The partnership closes on […]

SATELLITE 2021 is 40 years in the making, and despite the challenges we’ve been presented in the past year, we’re forging ahead. We recently announced that SATELLITE will now take […]

Luxembourg-based satellite company OQ Technology selected Lithuania’s NanoAvionics to build, integrate, and operate a 6U nanosatellite for its upcoming constellation, OQ announced Monday. This is the second satellite that NanoAvionics […]

Eutelsat Communications pushed back the launch of its EUTELSAT QUANTUM satellite to the third quarter of the 2021 calendar year. This is the second time the operator rescheduled the QUANTUM […]

Voyager Space Holdings has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in X.O. Markets and its largest subsidiary Nanoracks, the company announced May 10. The deal was first announced in […]

Red team exercises – or, simulated cyber attack scenarios run by internal IT groups and/or external third parties – can help satellite companies keep pace with constantly evolving cyberattacks, according […]

Geospatial intelligence and global monitoring services BlackSky could be ready to launch the eighth and ninth satellites of its Earth observation constellation on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket as early […]

OneWeb will acquire Texas-based managed satellite communications company TrustComm, under the terms of a definitive agreement announced by the two companies on Monday. The Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation operator said […]

Finnish imagery provider Iceye rolled out new wide-area “Scan” mode imaging capabilities on its Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite constellation Monday. The company is now able to capture 10,000 km² SAR […]

Space solutions provider Redwire successfully delivered the first pair of International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSA) to NASA space station prime contractor Boeing. The solar arrays are now undergoing […]

Mobile satellite and IoT service provider Globalstar reported some small signs of recovery from COVID-19 during its first fiscal quarter of 2021 (Q121), particularly with commercial IoT equipment sales revenues […]

Eutelsat and its partner Facebook Connectivity are expanding the use of the Express Wi-Fi platform to provide broadband services to rural and remote end-users across new regions in Sub-Saharan Africa. […]

Virgin Orbit announced it will launch its next LauncherOne mission carrying payloads for the US Department of Defense, the Royal Netherlands Air Force, and SatRevolution in June. The launch will […]

Hughes Network Systems saw a 3.8% revenue increase in the first quarter of 2021, despite a dip in subscribers. During quarterly reports for parent company EchoStar Corporation, Hughes also provided […]

SpaceX successfully executed a high-altitude flight test of its Starship rocket Wednesday evening, nailing the landing. This was the first successful high-altitude Starship test to date. The prototype SN15 took […]

SES is launching a 100 million euro ($120.5 million) share buyback program after turning in what it viewed as a stronger-than-expected performance in the first fiscal quarter of 2021. The […]

Intelsat turned in its first year-over-year double-digit revenue increase in at least eight years, thanks to contributions from its recently acquired Gogo Commercial Aviation business. The satellite operator’s first fiscal […]

Smallsat launcher in development Firefly Aerospace has closed an oversubscribed $75 million Series A funding round, which values the company at more than $1 billion. The funding round, announced May […]

OneWeb has signed its first commercial services contract with Hughes Network Systems for the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). Hughes is the prime contractor on the project, and will […]

Atlas Space Operations has added four new ground stations in New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Alaska, and a fifth upcoming station that will be commissioned in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to […]

SES has recently announced details of two new deals, one in the United States and one in Germany. SES Government Solutions (SES GS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, has won […]

EchoStarMobile, an EchoStar subsidiary, has reached a deal with Semtech Corporation to test satellite Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity services enabled by the LoRaWAN protocol.  LoRaWAN is a protocol for […]

SpaceX launched another batch of 60 Starlink satellites on Tuesday afternoon. A Falcon 9 rocket took off from Launch pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral Florida […]

Maxar Technologies saw a slight boost in first quarter revenue in 2021 compared to 2020, but posted a net loss of $84 million, including a $28 million charge related to […]

Virgin Orbit took another step toward bringing space launch capabilities to the United Kingdom by contracting AVS Added Value Solutions UK (AVS) to build a ground operating system at the […]

Eutelsat has signed a multi-year deal with Global Eagle for additional Ku-band transponders adding large amounts of capacity for Global Eagle’s aviation customers. Financial terms of the deal were not […]

Vice President Kamala Harris will chair the National Space Council, the White House has announced.   “As I’ve said before: In America, when we shoot for the moon, we plant our […]

Viasat has completed its acquisition of RigNet, making Viasat a vertically-integrated player in the energy sector. The deal was first announced in late December 2020, and was an all-stock transaction […]

Airbus Defence and Space‘s net order intake jumped 13% year-over-year in its 2021 fiscal first quarter to 1.926 billion euros ($2.32 billion), driven by contract wins in space systems and […]