Owen D. Kurtin

Since Intelsat’s bankruptcy filing in May 2020, the company has portrayed its bankruptcy and restructuring as a triumphant march to continued and greater success, with an “Intelsat Onward” website and […]

With the stock market reaching new heights, stock options are again in vogue, and may offer a way for satellite and space sector companies to attract and keep valuable employees. […]

This column has previously reported on the in-flux state of the launch service provider sector of the space industry (see “Dollars and Sense,” April 2013), and has covered the progress […]

Intelsat went forward with a long-awaited initial public offering in April dominated by defiant market conditions and challenges arising from the company’s own debt-laden capital structure. The Intelsat IPO went […]

This column has previously discussed the hacking threat to U.S. satellites (see, “A New Threat: Satellite Hacking and China’s Role,” Via Satellite, December 2011). At that time we assessed the […]

Commercial satellite launch services continue in a state of flux, with new and returning market entrants threatening the already-thin margins of the existing players, a new wave of launch failures […]

Satellite life extension continues to hold both revolutionary promise and disruptive menace for the satellite and space industry. The useful lifetime of geosynchronous orbit satellites averages about fifteen years – […]

Satellite technology export controls took a long step forward to rationalization as Congress passed, and President Obama signed into law on January 3, the fiscal year 2013 National Defense Authorization […]

Last month, we discussed the return of industrial M&A in the space sector with the announcement of the acquisition of U.S. satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral (SS/L) by Canadian manufacturer […]

Industrial M&A returned to the space sector over the summer with a vengeance, with the announcement of the acquisition of Palo Alto, California-based satellite manufacturer Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) by Canadian […]

On July 23, earth-imaging provider DigitalGlobe Inc. announced that it agreed to acquire competitor GeoEye Inc. for approximately $900 million. GeoEye’s principal shareholder, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, agreed […]

In columns during the last four years, we have looked at the effects of the recession on the satellite and space sector. We decried bailouts of the financial services and […]

The May flight of the SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) marked a milestone in human spaceflight: the first mission by a […]

In April, we reported on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) suspension of the conditional waiver of license conditions it had granted in 2011 to ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) operator LightSquared […]

The “Jumpstart Our Business Startups” (JOBS) Act, enacted on April 5, 2012, is the first significant liberalization of the U.S. capital markets regulatory regime since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 […]

At SATELLITE 2012, one of the most frequently discussed subtexts to more familiar topics was the blurring of the lines between fixed and mobile satellite service (FSS and MSS). In […]

In September, we reviewed the controversy between LightSquared, the satellite operator planning to deploy a 4G-LTE (Long Term Evolution-a preliminary 4G standard) Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) wholesale telecommunications network, and […]

The useful lifetime of geosynchronous orbit satellites averages about 15 years, a limit primarily imposed by the exhaustion of propellant aboard. The propellant is needed for “station-keeping” — maintaining the […]

We usually discuss satellite technology in politically neutral terms, recognizing its achievements in communications, media, navigation, mapping and other fields, while at best tacitly acknowledging that the same capabilities can […]

The dangers inherent for access to space, as well as the security of crew members already there in the period between the retirement of the space shuttle and the arrival […]

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a U.S. Congressional Commission charged with monitoring the trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (China) […]

Last month, we reviewed the fiscal, economic and political factors in both the Eurozone and the United States underlying “the new normal,” an emerging era of low growth, low interest […]

The summer’s volatile capital markets, fueled by fears of contagion in larger Eurozone member states and a double-dip recession in the United States, may have more of an impact on […]

LightSquared, the L-band satellite operator planning to deploy a 4G-LTE (Long Term Evolution-a preliminary 4G standard) Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) telecommunications network, has run into controversy since the milestone launch […]

Personal computers and local area networks are on the road to becoming basic display and input/output devices and services, with principal data storage and computer processing power housed in a […]

On April 12, 1961, Russian Yuri Gagarin made the first human flight into space. His Vostok spacecraft completed one earth orbit, and was followed in May 1961 by the suborbital […]

The U.S. Space Shuttle program will come to a close this year, a little more than 30 years after its inaugural flight, with the last flight scheduled for late June. […]

Is it really still ancillary terrestrial component (ATC), or should we call it ancillary satellite component? With the U.S. Federal Communications’ Commission’s grant of a waiver in January to MSS […]

In February, we looked ahead to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) effort to enact rules to ensure unblocked, non-discriminatory access to the Internet, a regulatory scheme known as Net […]

On Dec. 1 Julius Genachowski, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, announced that the FCC would pursue enactment of rules to ensure “Net Neutrality — unblocked, non-discriminatory access to […]