E-letter: Briefs

On Dec. 31, the U.S. Air Force ended its Launch Services Agreements (LSAs) with Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin and paid out $787.2 million to the companies – $531.7 million to Northrop...

Speedcast gets ready for a new chapter under new CEO Joe Spytek as it prepares to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company announced Monday that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court...

Satellite operator Inmarsat will provide connectivity services to a United Kingdom government initiative, Project HEART, which aims to build the U.K.’s first automated, zero-carbon regional air transportation network by 2025....

SpaceX launched Transporter-1, the first mission in its dedicated smallsat rideshare program on Jan. 24, carrying 143 satellites total — 133 commercial and government spacecraft and 10 Starlink satellites. This...

Alphabet, parent company of Google, is shutting down Loon, its subsidiary dedicated to providing broadband from balloons in the stratosphere. Loon CEO Alastair Westgarth announced the news in a Medium...

Forsway, the Swedish satellite/terrestrial broadband player, is adding a new member to its board of directors. The company announced Jan. 22 that Irdeto Executive Bengt Jonsson will join the board....

U.S. President Joe Biden named Steve Jurczyk to the post of acting NASA administrator on Thursday, replacing the agency’s former administrator Jim Bridenstine. Jurczyk previously served as NASA’s associate administrator,...

Gilat Satellite Networks’ Electronically Steered Antenna (ESA) has been successfully tested over Inmarsat’s Global Xpress (GX) network, the companies announced Thursday. Gilat’s open-architecture antenna has been integrated with Inmarsat’s G-MODMAN...

Eutelsat Communications has signed an agreement with distribution partner InterSat to provide “konnect” broadband service to a network of 170 post offices throughout Côte d’Ivoire. Under the multi-year agreement, “La...

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has signed a deal to work on space-to-ground optical communications with Airbus Defence and Space Netherlands. Optical communication between ground stations and satellites in orbit enables...