The European Commission (EC), in a press briefing, confirmed that its planned IRIS² satellite connectivity project has selected ‘SpaceRise’ which currently comprises operators SES and Eutelsat and is the only bidding consortium. The EC said that the project is on track and a contract can now be signed on or before March 24th. Certain further […]
Investment bank BNPP, in a major examination of three key satellite operators and their share prices, says SES, Eutelsat and Telesat have remained under pressure – with only Telesat making some modest headway because of its progress with its Lightspeed low Earth orbit constellation. In a self-examination of what it got right (and wrong) in […]
In a joint venture, Forsway and Cloudpoint have announced a collaboration to establish Xtend Solutions FZCO a new provider of low-cost content streaming solutions aimed at providing robust internet connectivity to serve geographies with unreliable or no service. Xtend Solutions’ new offering harnesses Forsway’s satellite technology and ground equipment and Cloudpoint’s extensive expertise in delivering […]
The John Deere brand is known to every farmer on the planet and is one of the largest suppliers of tractors and sophisticated farming equipment. The company has selected SpaceX’s Starlink in order to expand its existing connections for farmers – and their equipment. The agreement sees Deere & Company link with SpaceX to provide […]
BT is looking to offer Starlink’s satellite kit as a gap-filler solution for its hard-to-reach rural customers. Investment bank BNPP, quoting TS2 Space, says that with Starlink’s existing network of about 5,000 satellites, the Elon Musk-backed business could provide BT with the technology to enhance mobile signals and broadband access in hard-to-reach locations. “The collaboration […]
Spain’s Sateliot already has a pair of demonstration satellites in orbit and designed to test space-based connectivity for specialist communications, monitoring, tracking and Internet of Things devices. It is looking to raise €30 million in a Series B round in order to add 64 satellites. On January 10th Sateliot said it holds firm orders worth […]
Not everything in the space industry’s garden is in perfect shape. Space company Momentus once valued at over $1 billion, is running out of money and does not have a financial lifeline. On January 12th it postponed its next mission. Momentus was established emerged with seed funding in November 2018 and was created to o […]
Elon Musk addressed an ‘all hands’ staff Town Hall meeting at the SpaceX Starship site in south Texas on January 12th. He said that the “three Rs: Reliability, Reusable Rockets” were key to SpaceX’s success. Other news also emerged. Some mundane, others perhaps more important. The mundane was that there will be new restaurant, café […]
Josef Ansbacher, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) director general, in its annual press briefing, said it is looking for ideas for missions and system concepts to help us reach our goal of long-term orbital sustainability. The new programme looks forward to 2050 and ESA is upping its budget by 10 per cent this year. However, […]
The launch of Europe’s scientific and commercial satellites has in general been handled by rockets from Arianespace. Currently, the company’s latest rocket, Ariane 6, is very late with its readiness and its first (non-test) flight will not happen – at best – until next winter. The delay has prompted a very direct criticism by the […]