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’ […]
Paris-based Eutelsat says it has won a contract to add a EGNOS payload onto an upcoming Hotbird satellite (13G) which will be launched in H1/2022. The contract comes from the European GNSS Agency and has a value of €100 million spread over the 15-year life of the satellite. Eutelsat says €85 million of the contract […]
Intelsat has brought its latest satellite, Galaxy-30, into service. The satellite is now providing Intelsat customers in North America with high-performance television-distribution services. In 2020 Intelsat announced plans to procure, build and launch seven C-band satellites over the next few years. Earlier this year, it announced a contract for two software-defined satellites that are scheduled […]
London-based Inmarsat says it is going to dramatically expand its existing Global Xpress (GX) fleet with extra satellites. In total, Inmarsat will see seven new satellites delivered over the next 3 years. Inmarsat GX network currently includes five geostationary satellites, with four built by Boeing. Its GX5 satellite, built by ThalesAleniaSpace, was brought into commercial […]
Commercial geostationary satellites are staying in orbit longer than ever, and well beyond their original design lives. A study from Roger Rusch, president of research firm TelAstra, In essence, Rusch says that while ten years ago in 2009 there were an average of 15 per cent of satellites with extended lives in orbit, today the […]
Northrop Grumman has delivered two satellites to the Arianespace launch site in French Guiana. The two craft, a Galaxy 30 satellite as well as a second Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-2, aka as a ‘Space Tug’) will be launched later in July on an Ariane 5 rocket. Galaxy 30 is one of Intelsat’s third-generation satellites and […]
As reported on June 16th, Luxembourg-based SES has ordered up four new satellites from US manufacturers to replace the C-band capacity it is giving up as part of the FCC’s accelerated C-band clearance plan. Northrop Grumman and the Boeing Company to manufacture and assemble the C-band only satellites in Dulles, Virginia and in Los Angeles, […]
The C-band replacement satellite orders for US coverage are being confirmed. Intelsat has ordered up at least six satellites. Four are to come from Maxar Technologies and will be built at Maxar’s Palo Alto plant (the former Space Systems/Loral facility). Two others will be supplied by Northrop Grumman. There will also be an additional seventh […]
The US satellite industry is about to get a few billions-worth of order for new craft. The new satellites will provide the fresh bandwidth to replace the C-band frequencies being given up as a result of the FCC’s push for 5G adoption in the US. Maxar Technologies has already said it has received a “multi-satellite” […]