SpaceX continues to populate its mega-constellation of orbiting broadband craft continues. Its mission 4-23 Falcon 9 rocket took off on Aigust 27th from Landing Complex 40 from Cape Canaveral, Florida carrying 54 satellites weighing a combined 16 tonnes – the heaviest payload ever launched. Following launch the booster rocket landed flawlessly on to the ‘A […]
SpaceX and US cellular provider T-Mobile will launch a direct-to-phone satellite connection using SpaceX’s second-generation Starlink craft. At an event August 25th (dubbed ‘Coverage: Above & Beyond’) T-Mobile’s CEO and President Mike Sievert and SpaceX’s Elon Musk announced what they described as a breakthrough new plan to bring cell phone connectivity everywhere on the planet. […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is planning its next Starlink launches on August 19th and August 27th. First up is mission 4.27 on August 19th that 3.24pm Florida time from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Then, late on August 27th – although this might slip by 24 hours to August 28th – another batch […]
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket placed 46 Starlink satellites into one of five orbital shells in SpaceX’s internet constellation on August 12th. SpaceX began launching dedicated missions into one of the network two polar orbit shells last month. SpaceX has previously launched satellites into the other three shells at inclinations of 53 degrees, 53.2 degrees, […]
The FCC has turned down Elon Musk’s SpaceX request for an $886 million (€860m) grant as part of the US government’s massive $20.4 billion rural broadband subsidy scheme. The FCC had previously awarded the sum back in 2020, but that move has now been rejected. In a statement, the FCC said the FCC said that […]
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully placed its latest batch of Starlink craft (mission 4-26) into orbit on August 9th at 10.14pm Florida time. The launch happened from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket’s first-stage booster then landed some 9 minutes later onto the floating barge ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ waiting down-range in the […]
Elon Musk-backed SpaceX has raised an additional $250 million (€245.5m) in an equity round during July. The extra cash means that SpaceX has raised some $2 billion this year. CNBC, in a May report, says that the cash then raised puts a value on SpaceX of more than $127 billion. It is also suggested that […]
Hughes Network Systems, a sister company of EchoStar and owned by Charlie Ergen, admits that SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service is now its “biggest competitive threat”. While Hughes says it can supply perfectly adequate services – especially when combined with an upcoming satellite/LTE combination offer to its customers – it now says that its biggest threat […]
Would-be subscribers to Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband service need only pay $99 as a deposit on their home-equipment. US customers have to stump up $599 for the same equipment. Starlink will open up for Nigerian users during August 2022, although Starlink has yet to announce its monthly subscription charges for Nigerian customers. Nigeria’s communication authority […]
SpaceX has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for more spectrum to be allocated to its Starlink system, and in particular the 2 GHz band, which it says is needed to augment its existing mobile satellite services. David Goldman, SpaceX’s senior director of satellite policy, told the FCC in his formal application that SpaceX’s “next-generation […]