E-letter: Briefs

Containership company Seaspan Corporation has signed a deal with KVH Industries to equip its fleet with OneWeb’s Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) connectivity, Seaspan announced Tuesday. Seaspan is an early adopter of […]

Astranis delivered four satellites to Cape Canaveral ahead of a dedicated SpaceX launch later this month. Astranis announced Tuesday that SpaceX is targeting December 17 for the Falcon 9 mission.  […]

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites are to be manufactured in the UAE under a new joint venture between Space42 and Finnish space startup Iceye. The JV announced Dec. 9 builds […]

constellr will play a key role in Germany’s fight against climate change. It has signed a new contract with the German Space Agency DLR to provide the agency’s community in […]

Space Systems Command (SSC) awarded SES Space & Defense a blanket purchase agreement to deliver multi-orbit, multi-band satellite capabilities to United States European Command (USEUCOM). The purchase agreement announced Monday […]

Hyperspectral imaging startup Pixxel secured $24 million in a Series B extension round, adding new investors M&G Catalyst and Glade Brook Capital Partners. The investment announced Monday brings Pixxel’s total […]

AST SpaceMobile has signed a commercial agreement with its longtime investor Vodafone Group that lasts through 2034. This agreement establishes the framework for Vodafone to offer space-based cellular broadband connectivity […]

Neuraspace has activated its second optical telescope to expand its ability to track satellites over the southern hemisphere. The new telescope in Chile complements an existing telescope installed in Portugal, […]

Muon Space has received a SpaceWERX contract to advance space-based environmental monitoring capabilities. The award, announced Dec. 5, will support Muon Space’s development of a multi-mission, multispectral electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) instrument.  […]

Thaicom has a made a key regulatory breakthrough in India. Its subsidiary Ipstar India has obtained an authorization to provide satellite services with Thaicom satellites in India from the Indian […]

SpaceX completed the first shell of its direct-to-cell constellation this week, after recently receiving approval from the FCC for its service with T-Mobile.  SpaceX launched 20 Starlink satellites on Wednesday […]

Arianespace‘s Vega C rocket returned to flight on Thursday, its first launch after a failure during its second mission two years ago. Vega C launched on December 5 from Europe’s […]

SpaceX launched a new satellite for SiriusXM’s satellite radio business on Thursday morning. The Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite, SXM-9, will deliver SiriusXM’s audio entertainment and information to millions of consumers.  […]

Orbex has made a surprising move as it looks to build a profitable launch business, abandoning the development of the Sutherland Spaceport in Scotland in the process. The Scottish space […]

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated billionaire and commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman to lead NASA as administrator. Isaacman is an entrepreneur and the founder of Shift4 and Draken International, and known […]

Gogo completed its acquisition of Satcom Direct to form a multi-orbit, multi-band, in-flight connectivity (IFC) provider for the business aviation and military/government mobility markets. One analyst noted that the combined […]

Telesat and MDA Space have completed the preliminary design review (PDR) for the Lightspeed Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation, the companies announced Wednesday.  Completing the PDR shows that the constellation design […]

Northrop Grumman has reached a key milestone in a major Arctic satellite mission. It has successfully handed over mission operations of Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) satellites and […]

Orbit Communications Systems has won a new deal from the Israeli Ministry of Defense. It will provide multi-purpose satellite communication terminals (MPTs) for mobile and stationary ground platforms. The deal […]

Saudi Arabia’s Neo Space Group (NSG) is making an acquisition in the Earth observation space, acquiring UP42 from Airbus Defence and Space. Terms of the deal were not disclosed in […]

Theresa Condor has been appointed the new CEO of Spire Global as founder and CEO Peter Platzer transitions to the role of executive chairman.  Condor was part of the company’s […]

Lockheed Martin has selected Tesat optical communication terminals (OCT) for a demonstration on a future GPS III spacecraft. Tesat announced the agreement on Tuesday for its SCOT80 OCTs.  Tesat Managing […]

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and Ovzon have strengthened their partnership as Sweden looks to boost its capabilities in space. They have signed a teaming agreement to broaden and deepen the […]

Open Cosmos won a 35 million euro ($37 million) contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to build three satellites to monitor Earth’s magnetic field in the NanoMagSat mission. The […]

Comtech’s board of directors has elected Kenneth Traub as the executive chairman of the company. In the Nov. 27 announcement, Comtech said that Traub will be the senior executive leading […]

The FCC gave SpaceX approval to operate satellite direct-to-cellular service with T-Mobile in an order released Nov. 26.  This is the FCC’s first instance of approving supplemental coverage from space […]

Slingshot Aerospace on Nov. 25 received a potential $13.3 million contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) to develop the user interface for a new space traffic coordination […]

Kongsberg Satellites Services (KSAT) will play a key role in an ambitious lunar project in Australia. It will team up with  Australian company Starsite to build a 20-meter antenna for […]

Airbus has signed a contract with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence to provide the next-generation modems for the nation’s Skynet satellite communications constellation. Airbus is building the Skynet 6A […]

Working together, Deutsche Telekom, Qualcomm, and Skylo completed a trial to send a text message over a Geostationary (GEO) satellite, the companies announced Tuesday. The proof-of-concept was conducted in Greece […]