December 18th saw two SpaceX launches; the first, from California saw the successful launch of an additional 52 Starlink satellites from the Vandenberg Airforce Base, meaning that Elon Musk’s broadband constellation now has some 1880 satellites in orbit, and mostly working. The second, from SpaceX’s traditional launch site in Florida, saw the successful placing of […]
OneWeb is currently building its satellites at a joint-venture facility it owns with Airbus Space & Defense in Florida. It recently emerged that it is planning to build its second-generation satellites in the UK. Airbus has existing UK manufacturing facilities in Portsmouth and Stevenage. OneWeb has now said that it has no plans to close […]
Türksat 5B will be launched on December 19th, subject to the usual weather considerations. The current plan calls for the launch to take place from Florida by SpaceX on one of its Falcon 9 rockets. The satellite, built by Airbus, was shipped to Florida in November and arrived from France on November 29th. Türksat 5B […]
Broadband satellite operator OneWeb, which owns a 50/50 joint venture satellite construction company (with Airbus) in Florida, is to start producing its satellites in the UK. OneWeb said that the move would be worth some $3 billion (€2.6bn) to the UK economy. Chris McLaughlin, OneWeb’s head of government affairs, said that a manufacturing programme would […]
Barely two weeks since the last Starlink launch (on November 12th) a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to place another (approximately) 53 of its broadband-by-satellite craft into orbit on December 1st. With the usual caution of bad weather the launch will take place from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 18.20 pm Florida […]
Turkey says that the upcoming launch of its Turksat 5B communications satellite will increase the nation’s Ka-band capacity fifteen-fold. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu confirmed that the Airbus-built satellite will be placed at the orbital slot of 42 degrees East. SpaceX is looking after the launch from its Cape Canaveral base in Florida. Weather […]
Elon Musk is returning to Florida after a six-month gap to launch another batch of Starlink broadband-by-satellite craft. It is not known precisely how many Starlink satellites will be aboard the Falcon 9 rocket, but it is extimated there will be about 60. The launch will happen on November 12th “no earlier” than 7am EST. […]
Florida-based Freecast has launched its MediaPay billing system. The system will be paired with the company’s SmartGuide to allow SelectTV customers to easily pay for both subscription and pay-per-view video products, and see all charges on a single bill. Freecast has partnered in the payment space and is getting ready to launch the service within […]
Satellite broadband operator OneWeb, flush with $1 billion of insurance cover on its remaining 10 launches, is readying its business plans. The operator already has 322 satellites in orbit out of its full constellation target of 648 craft and the latest batch of 36 satellites are being prepared by Arianespace for launch next month having […]
SpaceX has secured a launch contract for Turksat-6A. It will be launched from Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Turksat-6A is the first satellite to be built domestically in Turkey and once in orbit will be used for commercial as well as governmental uses. The satellite should finish its build by the end of […]