E-letter: Briefs

The U.S. Air Force’s commercial investment group, AFVentures has awarded Analytical Space, Inc. (ASI) a $26.4 million contract to develop and launch six satellites and two additional hosted payload network […]

NASA has chosen SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch elements of the Gateway, which will be the first long-term orbit outpost of the Moon. The contract, worth $331.8 million, is […]

Kymeta has released two new versions of its new u8 terminal — the u8 GOV and the u8 GO — in an effort to serve more government, military, and mobile […]

Masood Mahmood’s nine-year tenure as CEO of Yahsat will end in April, the operator confirmed in a surprising announcement on Tuesday. Ali Al Hashemi, current CEO of Thuraya Telecommunications Company […]

The European GNSS Agency (GSA) has selected Eutelsat Communications to develop, integrate, and operate its next-generation EGNOS GEO-4 service. The 15-year contract, announced Tuesday, has a total value of 100 […]

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. received a $235.7 million contract from the U.S. Army, awarded to its Mission-Critical Technologies group. Under the contract, which Comtech announced Tuesday, the company will provide the […]

SpaceX Founder Elon Musk said he will take the company’s Starlink satellite connectivity business public once it is able to predict positive cash flow “reasonably well.” The billionaire space entrepreneur, […]

Lockheed Martin has selected ABL Space Systems to supply a rocket and launch services to launch from the United Kingdom. The deal is part of the UK Pathfinder Launch program, […]

Orbital Sidekick has finalized plans for its Global Hyperspectral Observation Satellite constellation known as GHOSt, which will consist of six 100 kg satellites designed and manufactured by Astro Digital. The […]

GMV is set to open a new office in Brussels as it looks to better support Europe’s initiatives in space, the company announced Monday. The company said opening a new […]

SES CEO Steve Collar has helped his long-time business partner and former O3b Networks colleague John Finney land $40 million in equity and grant funding for his multi-beam broadband terminal […]

SpaceX will launch NASA’s SPHEREx astrophysics mission, the agency announced Feb. 4. The launch contract is worth $98.9 million, including launch service and other mission-related costs. The mission is targeted […]

In this new round-up, Via Satellite looks at recent research reports in the space and telecommunications arena. This installment features a look at space investment activity in 2020, a report […]

ST Engineering iDirect has won a new telecoms contract in India, the company announced Feb. 4. Shaf Broadcast, on behalf of the Indian state-owned telecommunications company, BSNL has decided to work with […]

Israeli networking technology and solutions provider Gilat Satellite Networks will build and deploy mission critical telecom systems for 29 of Peru’s airports under a new multimillion-dollar contract it received from […]

Richard Branson’s California-based satellite launch company, Virgin Orbit, has added two highly respected space industry veterans to its executive leadership team. The company announced Thursday that it hired former ILS […]

SpaceX launched an additional batch of 60 Starlink satellites early on Thursday morning to build up its satellite constellation to deliver low-latency broadband internet service from space. A Falcon 9 […]

Viasat has pushed back the launch of its first ViaSat-3 satellite, and does not expect to launch the satellite until early 2022. CEO Rick Baldridge said during the company’s Third […]

Thales Alenia Space is going to be taking part in a 5G demonstration in Asia, the company announced Thursday. It will partner with South Korean operator KT SAT, subsidiary of […]

L3Harris Technologies is the latest company to join the GPS Innovation Alliance (GPSIA), an industry group that advocates for the promotion, protection and enhancement of GPS in the U.S. and […]

Thales has won a new In-Flight Connectivity (IFC) deal with Qatar Airways, one of the Middle East’s largest airlines. The company announced Tuesday that Qatar Airways will use its AVANT […]

NASA has established a new position of senior climate advisor to work with the Biden administration on climate science objectives. The agency said in a Wednesday announcement that the senior […]

Jeff Bezos, the multi-billionaire founder of Amazon, said he will spend more time with his Blue Origin launch company after he steps down as Amazon’s CEO in the 2021 third […]

SpaceX’s latest test of its Starship rocket came to an explosive ending on Tuesday. The 10 km high-altitude test of Starship Serial Number 9 (SN9) was livestreamed from Boca Chica, […]

Umbra, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery startup, has raised $32 million in equity financing, the company announced Jan. 30. The financing was led by the family office venture fund of […]

Gilat Satellite Networks’ subsidiary Wavestream has won a new amplifier contract in the Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) arena worth over $50 million, the company announced Feb. 1. Wavestream received an award […]

Launch company Astra announced plans to go public on Tuesday through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Under the deal, a merger with Holicity Inc. would make […]

Omnispace, the Washington, D.C. startup that wants to provide 5G connectivity from space, has received $60 million in equity financing from a consortium of investors led by Fortress Investment Group, […]

ABS is partnering with Telemedia, a broadcasting and teleport service provider in South Africa, to improve its service offerings to customers in the Middle East and Africa region (MEA). ABS […]

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has awarded L3Harris Technologies a $121 million contract to build space flight hardware to demonstrate the company’s solution for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space […]