E-letter: Briefs

The FCC approved SES’s acquisition of Intelsat on Friday, determining that the combination will create “a more vigorous satellite competitor.” With this approval, the deal is set to close this […]

Varda Space Industries raised a $187 million Series C round to scale the company’s work to build in-space pharmaceutical labs and hypersonic reentry test capabilities.  Varda has completed three launch […]

The European Space Agency (ESA) recently demonstrated the first deep-space optical communication with a European ground segment, communicating with NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment onboard the Psyche mission.  […]

Aeromexico is upgrading to Viasat‘s advanced in-flight connectivity (IFC) solution on its Embraer E190 jets to further integrate its fleet with fast Wi-Fi for customers. Installation is underway. Embraer announced […]

Network Innovations U.S. Government (NIUSG) has deployed a multi-orbit radio frequency (RF) sensing platform, working with Integrasys and AvL Technologies. The platform is designed to deliver processed data at the […]

The United Kingdom is set to join Eutelsat Group’s capital raise with a 90 million euro ($105 million) investment, increasing the capital raise to 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 million)  This […]

President Trump named his Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as the interim leader of NASA after the president withdrew his nomination for Jared Isaacman in June in the midst of a […]

Spire Global is targeting the aviation market with a new analytics service launch. Spire is rolling out Aircraft Exposure Analytics, an aviation solution that enables users to quantify aircraft-level exposure […]

Comtech has hired a new C-suite of leadership for its Satellite and Space Communications (“S&S”) segment as part of the company’s transformation plan. Three new leaders  — Steve Black as […]

MDA Space has reported a digital beam-forming milestone with its technology for the Aurora satellite platform. The Canadian manufacturer reported July 9 using its Ka-band direct radiating array (DRA) to […]

Ground tech startup Northwood Space has tested its first production-ready phased array antenna system. Northwood announced Wednesday that its phased array antenna system called Portal has demonstrated delivering 1 kilowatt […]

Virgin Atlantic is the latest major airline to go down the Starlink route for in-flight connectivity (IFC). Virgin Atlantic will be the first U.K. airline to have IFC provided by […]

Maxar Intelligence on Tuesday said it received $204.7 million in new multi-year contracts from three existing customers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region to boost sovereign defense and intelligence […]

Space TS, an Indian space systems engineering and satellite solutions company, and Synergy Quantum, a company specializing in military-grade post-quantum cybersecurity, have agreed to jointly develop what could be India’s first indigenous quantum-secure […]

Malaysian satellite operator Measat has received authorization to provide satellite services in India through NewSpace India Limited as a local partner.  Measat announced July 8 that it secured authorization from […]

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has named Dr. Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo as the new deputy director, with the departure of Deputy Director Ryan Frigm.  SDA announced Sandhoo’s appointment on July […]

The UK Space Agency is starting a new 75.6 million pound ($103 million) procurement process for an active debris removal mission to remove defunct satellites from orbit. UKSA said in […]

Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC) gave a boost to Boeing‘s confidence last week, as SSC chose the company over Northrop Grumman for a $2.8 billion contract to build the first […]

Globalstar has signed a second launch deal with SpaceX, which will launch part of its constellation upgrade on a Falcon 9 mission. The mission will launch nine satellites and is […]

MDA Space has closed its acquisition of SatixFy Communications to bring SatixFy’s satellite communication chipsets in-house.  SatixFy’s operations and full technology portfolio will be integrated into the Satellite Systems business […]

Lynk Global filed counterclaims against its SPAC sponsor in a dispute over plans to merge and become a public company.  In June, special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Slam Corp filed […]

The Space Development Agency (SDA) on July 1 released the Europa solicitation for prototype space vehicles, seeking proposals for advanced communication protocols, and commercial solutions based on government taskings. The Tranche […]

The threat level risk to the satellite industry remains high. This is the key takeaway from a new threat level assessment from the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space […]

Orbex and Exolaunch are teaming up to provide end-to-end launch services for small satellites in an interesting collaboration between a U.K. and a German space company. Exolaunch will utilize launch […]

Longtime industry leader and former OneWeb CTO Massimiliano Ladovaz is joining SpinLaunch as CEO after the company recently announced plans to pursue a satellite broadband constellation.  SpinLaunch announced the appointment […]

Methane-monitoring satellite MethaneSAT has lost power and communications, the team behind the mission said in an update on Tuesday.  The MethaneSAT mission operations team lost contact with MethaneSAT on June […]

Moog has completed a large manufacturing facility expansion at its headquarters in East Aurora, New York, to support its work on a number of launch vehicle programs.  Moog designs and […]

Vodafone and AST SpaceMobile plan to offer satellite direct-to-device services to mobile network operators in Europe starting in 2026 under a new joint venture between the companies called SatCo. The […]

Skynopy, a French startup, has raised another 15 million euros ($17.57 million) in funding, just over 18 months since the company was created. This investment supports the Skynopy’s ambition to […]

The U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) said on Friday that it has awarded SpaceX a nearly $82 million contract to launch the USSF-178 mission under a National Security Space […]