Chris Forrester is one of the most experienced and highly regarded journalists in the field. His insight and analysis, particularly in the satellite and pay-TV arena, is highly prized. He has written for all the major business journals in the sector as well as several national newspapers.
A Chinese state-owned enterprise has launched the first batch of satellites for a mega-constellation designed to rival US company Space X’s Starlink’s near-global internet network. The launch, led by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), took place at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, one of China’s main satellite and missile launch centres, located in the northern province […]
Would-be satellite constellation operator AST SpaceMobile received FCC approval on August 2nd (after the market had closed) to operate its V-band frequencies from its planned five ‘Block 1’ BlueBird craft. The five satellites are due to arrive at SpaceX’s Florida launch site imminently in readiness for a September launch. AST is planning a full internet […]
SES declared its H1 2024 results on August 1st. At first, the banks’ responses seemed content. For example, Sami Kassab, an analyst at BNP/Paribas talked about “in line” revenue growth (-4 per cent), although admitted that SES Video division did a bit worse. But as the day unfolded, it was clear that the market was […]
Many shareholders of AST SpaceMobile stock are beside themselves with anticipation of a spectacular rise in their holdings. Of course, there is the small challenge of launching the key five satellites that make up the very first portion of what will be a mega-constellation of approaching 90 satellites. The mission is to send and receive […]
“Falcon is baaaaaaaack!!!!!!” was the post from SpaceX’s president and COO Gwynne Shotwell following the triple launch weekend of three Falcon 9 rockets, and achieved just two weeks after a partial failure of a Falcon’s upper stage on July 11th. The weekend (July 27th/28th) certainly saw SpaceX regain its stride, and started to make up […]
A long-running Class Action against certain Intelsat directors and their investment firms and its then chairman (Dave McGlade) alleging inside trading has been dismissed by a US Appeals Court. The Class Action, led by a hedge fund Walleye Opportunities Master Fund, and others, had “failed to adequately show that the insiders learned adverse news about […]
There’s a new – and potentially major – revenue opportunity coming from a couple of satellite operators: SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile are both are planning to supply Direct-to-Device communications to ordinary ‘smart’ phones. An authoritative report from Analysis Mason’s Christopher Baugh outlines their challenges and pitfalls for SpaceX in particular. Analysys Mason has developed dedicated […]
Japan’s Astroscale’s UK subsidiary has received around $15 million (€17.8m) from the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency to de-orbit a dead OneWeb satellite. The funding goes into ELSA-M, or End of Life Services mission, and is scheduled for 2026. The new cash comes on top of an €18 million grant which covered […]
A formal notice from AST SpaceMobile says that it is still targeting an August launch of a batch of its massive ‘Block 1’ BlueBird 5G satellites. News also emerged that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has requested the ITU in Geneva, which regulates satellite frequencies globally, to recognise AST’s satellites (under its USASAT-NGSO-20 filing). The […]
SpaceRISE is the name of the consortium that’s supposed to part-fund the European Union’s planned low Earth orbiting mega-constellation, called IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite). There are widespread reports that the project is on its last legs. There are normally reliable sources saying that Airbus Space and Thales Alenia Space, two […]
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