E-letter: News Feed

SpaceX successfully launched the NROL-108 mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). On Saturday, Dec. 19, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at 9:00 […]

Lockheed Martin’s surprise announcement Sunday that it has agreed to acquire propulsion systems developer and manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne in a $4.4 billion deal, will lead to better integrated end products […]

Integrasys revealed Dec. 17 that local telecom and satcom provider MSTelcom has successfully deployed a large network across Angola, with connectivity supported by ST Engineering iDirect‘s Evolution platform. Integrasys’ Very […]

Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) has completed its Critical Design Review (CDR) validating its X-SAT Saturn-class bus design to support the Blackjack Program, the company announced Dec. 14. Blackjack is a […]

The new Amazon Web Services (AWS) Aerospace and Satellite Solutions division is on a listening tour with customers as its leaders work to set up the department. Retired Maj. Gen. […]

A successful launch capped off a challenging and eventful year for OneWeb, in which the company went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and emerged under new ownership. Arianespace and its Starsem […]

HawkEye 360 is supporting a commercial Radio Frequency (RF) Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) pilot program for the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the company revealed Wednesday. HawkEye 360 will use its […]

Blue Origin is now able to compete to launch future NASA missions on its New Glenn rocket in development. On Thursday, the agency announced that it has awarded Blue Origin […]

Intellian revealed Monday that the company is finishing production of dedicated, Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite user terminals for OneWeb. Intellian originally partnered with OneWeb in 2019 to build terminals, and […]

In the final Thursday Morning Conversation of 2020, we catch up with Mark Dankberg. This is Dankberg’s second TMC of the year, but some big news has happened since June. […]

The White House released Space Policy Directive-6 (SPD-6) on Wednesday regarding a U.S. national strategy for space nuclear power and propulsion (SNPP), technology that the White House said will be […]

AST SpaceMobile rolled out two major announcements on Wednesday — the company is planning to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), and plans to launch the first […]

OneWeb has selected Hughes to develop and manufacture the ground system technology for its Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation, restarting a prior agreement between the companies. Under the $250 million three-year […]

President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team has spoken with Chief of Space Operations Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, as the incoming Biden administration faces important questions about a future path for military […]

Amazon has completed initial development of the user terminal for Project Kuiper, it’s Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation in development. Amazon announced Wednesday that its prototype design has delivered speeds […]

Arianespace revealed Wednesday that it will launch Eutelsat 10B, Eutelsat’s next generation telecommunications High-Throughput Satellite (HTS). The satellite is scheduled to launch from the Guiana Space Center in 2022 on […]

Synspective has confirmed its first satellite reached its target orbit of Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) after launch on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket on Tuesday. The dedicated Electron mission, dubbed the […]

Iridium Communications has started offering its real-time maritime emergency service, the company announced Tuesday. The service, Iridium Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), commenced operation on Dec. 11th, marking […]

Redwire revealed Tuesday that it acquired LoadPath, a developer of payload adapters, deployable structures, and thermal products for the space industry. This is the fifth acquisition Redwire has made this […]

Momentus has a contract for its second customer on its hosted payload service, and will host a payload from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), called SSPD-1 at the end […]

Virgin Galactic shares dropped 17% on Monday after a test flight over the weekend failed to reach space when the vehicle’s rocket motors did not ignite.  The Dec. 12 test […]

SES has signed an agreement with Pivotel to build a new satellite ground station at the Pivotel teleport in Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia. This ground station, announced Monday, will […]

The U.S. Army has given Orbcomm a single-award, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract worth up to $45.6 million for its Next Generation Tag (NGT) program. The multi-year NGT contract […]

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched SiriusXM‘s latest satellite over the weekend. On Sunday, Dec. 13, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida […]

The satellite business has developed a bandwidth obsession.  Really, it’s nothing to apologize for. After decades as one of the most capacity-constrained communications technologies, the industry has lately been enjoying […]

In a new feature, we round up and put into context the most recent news involving the major satellite operators. The week of Dec. 7 was a relatively quiet one […]

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket launched the NROL-44 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on Dec. 10. The Delta IV Heavy took off from Space […]

Skylo is partnering with BSNL, India’s government-owned telecommunications provider, to deploy a satellite-based Internet of Things (IoT) network in India, the company revealed Dec. 10. This news comes after Skylo […]

L3Harris announced Dec. 9 it has received a $57 million order from the U.S. Army to continue delivering its Falcon IV AN/PRC-163 two-channel handheld radios. This is the company’s third […]

On the heels of opening a new U.S. office and joining Telesat’s team for a U.S. defense contract, Mynaric is looking to make its laser terminals mainstream on megaconstellations and […]