The US Space Development Agency (SDA) has awarded Northrop Grumman an agreement with a total potential value of approximately $732 million to design and build 38 data transport satellites for military usage. This announcement for what are described as the “Alpha” batch of satellites, follows an August 2023 award to Northrop Grumman of 36 satellites […]
Avanti Communications and YahSat have issues with their orbiting satellites. There are also reports that two so-called Space Tugs are also suffering problems. The insurance industry, already reeling from problems on a Viasat satellite and a major claim on an Inmarsat craft, are expecting significant claims to be made. The problems are reportedly based on […]
Viasat had an impressive Q1 and reported revenue of $780 million (€707.6m) – up 36 per cent on the same period last year. Chairman Mark Dankberg said that the company was working with its antenna supplier (Northrop Grumman) and was looking to remedy the problems with its ViaSat 3 Americas satellite. If its ViaSat 3 […]
Satellite and terrestrial networks operator Intelsat has ordered its second Mission Extension Pod (MEP) from Northrop Grumman Corporation’s SpaceLogistics, which will add life to an Intelsat satellite, providing uninterrupted services to many customers. The new contract represents the fourth deal with SpaceLogistics, following an order for a single MEP in April 2023 and two Mission […]
The two SES satellites needed to complete the company’s C-band replacements will launch on Friday, March 17th, subject to the usual last minute weather considerations, on a SpaceX rocket. The announcement was made at the Washington Satellite 2023 show. Built by Northrop Grumman, SES-18 and SES-19 are set to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. These […]
Astraius, the UK-based, horizontal launch company, has announced two key suppliers for its launch solution. Northrop Grumman has been selected as the first and second stage motor supplier, and Exquadrum will provide the upper-stage motor. Astraius is on-track for first launch in Spring 2024. The announcement received the support of the UK Space Agency at […]
2022 is on track to break all records for rocket launches. Indeed, Elon Musk’s SpaceX alone is responsible for a significant number of these launches; SpaceX added 16 launches spread across its own Starlink craft plus NASA missions as well as commercial launches. But China is matching SpaceX and, as at July 8th, had managed […]
Airbus has won an order for 42 satellite platforms along with their support services. The order comes from Northrop Grumman which will use add its own payloads to the platforms. The ultimate customer is the US Space development Agency. The Airbus/Northrop concept is to use the bulk supply order to provide more power within a […]
Just hours before NASA awarded a massive $2.9 billion contract to restart human flights to the Moon – and back – Elon Musk, in one of his Tweets, told an enquirer that SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite service would be transitioning out of a widespread beta-programme into conventional usage “probably by this summer”. Moreover, Musk answered another […]
A Northrop Grumman Mission Extension Vehicle, MEV-2, successfully docked with Intelsat 10.02 on April 12th. MEV-2, as its name indicates, is the second rescue tug from Northrop Grumman used to make contact with an Intelsat craft and thus extend the mission of the orbiting satellite by around five more years. The rescue was a ‘first’ […]