SpaceX has readied its Falcon 9 rocket for launch on March 18th at about 23:24 ET. SpaceX is expected to launch 53 Starlink craft for Elon Musk’s ever-growing broadband constellation from Cape Canaveral. In the event of bad weather, the timings will slip 24 hours. Starlink reportedly now has some 200,000 active subscribers around the […]
The growing number of either existing or future projects in the satellite communications (and Earth observation) segments are projected to have an overall value of $235.2 billion (€212.7bn) according to a study from Northern Sky Research (NSR). The likes of Elon Musk’s Starlink, the UK/India-backed OneWeb plus other major projects from the likes of Telesat […]
California-based satellite operator Viasat has been suffering from alleged electronic warfare emanating from Russia. Reports suggest that hackers have deliberately disrupted satellite signals to and from Ukraine and in particular using the (formerly Eutelsat-owned) KA-Sat. Reuters, for example, is reporting that the cyber attacks have affected about 10,000 terminals. The attacks started as long ago […]
Supporting the growing use of cutting-edge satellite technology to offer innovative services for people and businesses, is at the heart of UK comms regulator Ofcom’s new proposed space spectrum strategy. The space sector is expanding rapidly, with the number of space launches increasing by almost 60 per cent between 2017 and 2021. Companies such as […]
UK-headquartered OneWeb is, with Arianespace, seeking a new satellite launch provider following Russia’s refusal to honour its contract to send around another 200 satellites into orbit. OneWeb has 428 craft already in orbit but needs a total of 600 to fulfil its target services, plus another 30-50 standing by as back-ups in case of individual […]
Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, says that following on from the 48 Starlink satellites launched on March 9th there have now been 2,282 launched. But this total number is impacted by test-satellites, damaged and other problems as well as craft which have yet to reach their target orbits. The end […]
AST SpaceMobile, the company building a space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, has signed a multi-launch agreement with SpaceX. In addition to the planned summer launch of the BlueWalker 3 test satellite (BW3), the agreement covers the launch of the BlueBird satellites and provides a framework for future launches. “This agreement […]
Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband satellite service continues to be jammed over “conflict areas” according to SpaceX. The problem is forcing Starlink to be “reprioritised to cyber defense & overcoming signal jamming” said Musk in a Tweet. Musk added that a recent software update helped bypass the jamming, saying: “Some Starlink terminals near conflict areas were […]
A launch by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on March 3rd successfully placed an extra 47 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit. The SpaceX booster had previously flown ten times (GPS III-3, Turksat-5A, Transporter 2, and seven Starlink missions) so was well ‘flight proven’. The launch took place from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. […]
London-based broadband satellite operator OneWeb has abandoned its planned Russian launch of 36 extra craft for its mega-constellation. The decision was taken at a OneWeb board meeting held in London. The launch should have taken place from Baikonur in a Russian-controlled portion of Kazakhstan on March 4th. But Russian space agency Roscosmos had demanded that […]