Advanced Television

Airbus

Porsche/VW investing in rocket business

The holding company behind the Porsche/VW car giant is putting cash into Isar Aerospace, a Munich-based company which is developing lower-cost access to space. Other investors in Isar include Airbus, Earlybird Venture Capital, Lakestar, HV Capital and Lombard Odier, according to details in the Financial Times. Porsche SE, with HV Capital and Lombard, has reportedly […]

July 28, 2021By Chris Forrester

Measat-3 continues to drift

Malaysia’s Measat-3, still uncontrollably drifting westward in the geostationary arc, remains under continuous telemetry despite its anomaly. Boeing is investigating what might be the root cause of the problem which occurred on June 21st. Meanwhile, almost all of its broadcast channels and customers have been reassigned capacity on other Measat or third-party satellites. Space monitoring […]

July 19, 2021By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat’s Quantum satellite preps for launch

Eutelsat’s sophisticated Quantum satellite, built by Airbus at Toulouse, is on its way to French Guiana for final integration ahead of a planned launch later in July from Kourou. Eutelsat’s Quantum satellite is a revolutionary step forward for commercial satellites, offering very high customisation and flexibility. It will supply services with unprecedented in-orbit reconfigurability in […]

July 1, 2021By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat 36D satellite selected by Airbus

Eutelsat Communications’ Eutelsat 36D satellite has been selected by Airbus Defence and Space to carry its latest Ultra High Frequency (UHF) payload. Airbus Defence and Space has already received firm pre-commitments on this payload. Operating in the dedicated 225-400MHz frequency band, the payload will address French governmental applications and other allied governmental applications to support […]

June 30, 2021

SES decommissions Astra 2B

SES has moved Astra 2B to a graveyard orbit and well above the standard geo-stationary orbits used by the satellite industry. Launched in September 2000 and was co-located with Astra 2A at 28.2 degrees East, the craft has also served at the core SES hotspot at 19.2 degrees East and 31.5 degrees East over the […]

June 15, 2021By Chris Forrester

Thuraya and Airbus wrap design of Thuraya-4

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 […]

June 11, 2021

European digital consortium formed

The European Commission has selected a consortium of companies and research institutes to study the design of the future European quantum communication network, EuroQCI (quantum communication infrastructure). It will enable ultra-secure communication between critical infrastructures and government institutions across the European Union. The European consortium, led by Airbus, is composed of Leonardo, Orange, PwC France […]

June 1, 2021By Chris Forrester

EU plans for LEO constellation

The European Union wants its own Low Earth orbiting mega-constellation of satellites for its citizens, and separate from the offerings from Elon Musk, OneWeb or Canada’s Lightspeed. The EU invited a consortium of industry suppliers to come up with a fast-track LEO scheme and Dominic Hayes, spectrum manager for the EU’s space programme at the […]

May 25, 2021By Chris Forrester

Yahsat, Hughes update on 6th satellite

Abu Dhabi’s Al Yah Satellite Communications (better known as Yahsat) is building a sixth satellite. The company also owns the Thuraya telecoms satellite system and, with Thuraya, have five satellites in total already operating. According to reports Yahsat is well advanced with its 6th satellite (Thuraya-4) under construction with Airbus. Thuraya-4 is designed to have […]

March 25, 2021

Airbus wins JSAT’s Superbird satellite

SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, the main satellite operator in Japan, has selected Airbus to build Superbird-9, a fully digital in-orbit reconfigurable telecommunications satellite. It is due for launch in 2024. The satellite will be based on Airbus’ standardised OneSat product line. Airbus will provide a turnkey solution, including design and manufacture of the Superbird-9 spacecraft, […]

March 25, 2021By Chris Forrester