Sir Richard Branson managed to handle a reverse take-over of his Virgin Galactic space tourism business by a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) and a stock market listing in October 2019. Now he is reportedly trying a similar scheme with Virgin Orbit. Branson is looking for another SPAC, this time targeting NextGeneration Acquisition II, which […]
Yves Feltes, the former and well-known head of corporate communications at satellite operator Société Européenne des Satellites (SES), has died. Feltes looked after media and corporate relations for SES from 1990 to 2015, some 25 years of absolute professionalism in handling the press during a period when SES was on an unprecedented expansion growth trajectory. […]
Abu Dhabi-based satellite operator Al Yah says that Airbus has wrapped the initial Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for the company’s upcoming Thuraya 4-NGS. Thuraya 4-NGS will have an L-band ecosystem with the upgrade of Thuraya’s space and ground and user (products and solutions) segments. Complemented by a 5G-ready core network, Yahsat’s newest satellite system will […]
Quilty Analytics has conducted its first examination of prospects for Israel-based Gilat Satellite Networks. The report is overall positive and says Gilat’s growth is returning and recovering from the Covid-related downturn. Gilat is today one the world’s largest suppliers of ground equipment for the cellular backhaul, in-flight connectivity (IFC), and broadband markets. Over the past […]
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic ‘spaceship’ VSS Unity achieved a speed of Mach 3 after being released from the mothership, VMS Eve, and reached space at an altitude of 55.45 miles (89 kms) before gliding smoothly to a runway landing at Spaceport America in New Mexico back on May 22nd. The Unity craft carried a […]
The risk of satellites bumping into each other is already very real. Now China is joining the low Earth orbit ‘space race’ and planning to launch around 20,000 new craft into orbit. Add this 20,000 to the near-40,000 planned by Elon Musk, another 3300 from Jeff Bezos, around 800 from the UK-backed OneWeb plus dozens […]
Intelsat and SES, the two largest operators of C-band frequencies over the US, have completed Phase 1 of their clearance of spectrum by the important June 1st deadline. It means that the two, plus Eutelsat and Telesat of Canada, can qualify for the FCC’s initial end-of-year pay-out of some $2 billion in so-called incentive payments. […]
Imagine this a year or two from now: Elon Musk has 20,000-30,000 of his Starlink satellites in orbit. And the Chinese have launched the bulk of their 13,000 Guowang LEOs. Canada’s Telesat has 300 in orbit, while OneWeb has placed its initial 650 craft and is beginning to launch second-generation satellites. Meanwhile, an as yet […]
A slew of objectors is grumbling to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system. We have reported on Viasat’s complaints, but SES, Hughes Network and others are also arguing for the FCC to either suspend or modify its April 27th permission for SpaceX/Starlink to alter their orbital plans. Some of the […]
Canada’s Innovation, Science & Economic Development (ISED) ministry has set out its proposals on how it will auction off satellite C-band frequencies in an 87-page document. Telesat, the current user of most of the C-band spectrum, had hoped to auction the spectrum itself in order to part-fund its expensive ‘Lightspeed’ Low Earth orbiting fleet of […]