Advanced Television

lightspeed

Lightspeed coordinates with Kuiper

Two upcoming major would-be broadband-by-satellite operators Canada’s Telesat Lightspeed and the Jeff Bezos-backed Project Kuiper say they have successfully agreed to coordinate their planned mega-constellations. Amazon’s Kuiper says it had wrapped frequency and orbital coordination for their constellations, and this is undoubtedly good news for Telesat’s Lightspeed and removes an element of doubt over the […]

September 23, 2022

Telesat: Still no word on Lightspeed budget

Ottawa-based satellite operator Telesat, in supplying its latest results, is still not able to give any news on its planned Lightspeed low Earth orbiting super-constellation and how it is to be financed. Project delays as a result of Covid also mean that Telesat is up against some key ITU and FCC launch obligations being missed. […]

August 8, 2022By Chris Forrester

RealD wins German patent battle

A district court in Düsseldorf, Germany ruled in favour of global visual technology leader, RealD, finding infringement of both asserted patents by the LightSpeed DepthQ CineBright two-beam system, it was announced by RealD. The German court ordered a product recall and awarded injunctions, damages and costs against Lightspeed, and LightSpeed’s directors, for infringing on RealD’s […]

July 21, 2022By Chris Forrester

Telesat applies for UK earth station licence

UK comms regulator Ofcom has received an application from Canadian satellite operator Telesat for an Earth Station Network Licence for its Lightspeed satellite constellation. This application is to allow the deployment of user terminals, which is the equipment used by customers for a variety of different purposes. This can be on the ground, in the […]

June 24, 2022By Colin Mann

Telesat demos LEO over India

Canadian satellite operator Telesat has showcased its potential low Earth orbiting Lightspeed system with a connectivity demonstration over India. Telesat, working with Indian satellite service provider Nelco, used its first LEO test satellite, to provide the demo. The signals went to a routine 85 cm parabolic dish antenna at Nelco’s Teleport outside Mumbai. Round-trip signals […]

May 19, 2022By Chris Forrester

Telesat cuts Lightspeed fleet size

Ottawa-based Telesat has significantly reduced the planned size of its Lightspeed low Earth orbiting constellation. Telesat says of its originally planned 298 craft, it will now orbit just 188 plus 10 in-flight orbiting spares. CEO Dan Goldberg gave an update on current plans and decisions for the constellation as part of the operator’s Q1/2022 financials […]

May 9, 2022By Chris Forrester

Telesat wins NASA space-to-space contract

Telesat Government Solutions, a US-incorporated, wholly owned subsidiary of Canada-based Telesat, has announced a $30.65 million NASA contract to develop and demonstrate RF and Optically linked space-to-space high data rate connectivity. Since NASA plans to decommission its owned and operated Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system in the coming years, the agency’s Consumer Services […]

May 5, 2022By Chris Forrester

Bezos risks all on unproven rockets

Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos has contracted with three rocket launch companies to a 5- year launch timetable to place his 3236 ‘Project Kuiper’ satellites into orbit. Kuiper has until July 30th 2026 to launch at least half of its constellation (1618 satellites) to retain its FCC orbital and frequency permissions. The cargo being carried works […]

April 8, 2022

Telesat approved for US government contracts

Canada-based Telesat has gained formal clearance to deal with US government customers – essentially the US military. Telesat Government Solutions (TGS) is the actual business which has been seeking US work under the businesses new boss Tom Eaton. But the move is a major step in winning contracts for Telesat’s upcoming Lightspeed low Earth orbiting […]

April 5, 2022By Chris Forrester

Cobham SATCOM selects CPI as RF supplier

Cobham SATCOM, a global provider of land and maritime satellite communications solutions to the Government and Enterprise sectors, has announced the selection of Communications & Power Industries (CPI) to provide state-of-the-art Ka-band amplifiers for the gateway tracking antenna systems that Cobham will be supplying for the Telesat Lightspeed Landing Station Terminals. CPI is a global […]

March 22, 2022