Ottawa-based satellite operator Telesat says it is ramping up its investment in its Lightspeed low Earth orbiting fleet and helped by C$2 billion (€1.3bn) of funds coming from Canadian government and provincial sources. Lightspeed, an initial 156-craft fleet and which could be extended by an extra 100 craft, is costed at C$3.5 billion. Telesat says […]

Telesat of Canada – six years since the company was granted FCC permission to access the US market on the basis that 50 per cent of its 117-satellite constellation would be in orbit – is asking for a further delay of four and a half years. The FCC issued its initial Order permitting Telesat to […]

Lightspeed is the 198 craft broadband-by-satellite scheme from Telesat of Canada. The company has outlined what it sees as the system’s key advantages, not least flying higher than the “congested” lower Earth orbits of rivals. Lightspeed has been in the planning and quotation stage for a couple of years but back in August Telesat confirmed […]

SpaceX has won a 14-launch order from Telesat to place its Lightspeed constellation into low Earth orbit (LEO). Terms were not disclosed, but the multi-launch contract could easily be worth more than $800 million (€746.6m). Each SpaceX rocket will carry up to 18 Telesat Lightspeed satellites to LEO per launch. The launch campaign is scheduled […]

Ottawa-based Telesat’s recent announcement that it had awarded a 198-craft order with fellow Canadian satellite builder MDA caused considerable surprise with the former Prime Contractor and favoured supplier Thales Alenia Space. By any measure, Telesat’s challenges with the Lightspeed constellation over the past few years has been to overcome some major bumps in the road, […]

Comments from satellite builder Thales Group’s chief Executive Patrice Caine suggests that Canada-based Telesat’s potential contract for its $5 billion (€4.5bn) order for a fleet of 198 low Earth orbiting satellites is still very much active. The comments come because Telesat has been slow to confirm any sort of order and has taken some considerable […]

Telesat has used RocketLab to launch its LEO 3 prototype satellite. The craft is a demonstrator for a proposed 200 satellite mega-constellation, called Lightspeed. The LEO 3 demonstration satellite will provide continuity for customer and ecosystem vendor testing campaigns following the decommissioning of Telesat’s Phase 1 LEO satellite. Once deployed to orbit, LEO 3 will […]

The Board of trade body The Global Satellite Operators Association (GSOA) has announced the election of Telesat’s CEO Dan Goldberg as its new Chair. Eva Berneke, CEO of Eutelsat was also elected co-Vice Chair, alongside Ali Al Hashemi, CEO of Yahsat, who was appointed earlier in 2023. Following the recent combination with Global VSAT Forum […]

A report from analysts at Northern Sky Research (NSR) titled The Rise of Constellations reminds NSR clients that the emergence on non-Geostationary satellites is dramatically changing the satellite industry. NSR says: “Starlink, OneWeb & mPower are in their advanced stages, and upcoming constellations such as Kuiper, Telesat and others are deploying or planning to deploy […]

Telesat has announced a contract award to Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) of Toronto, Canada to manufacture a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) demonstration satellite. The demonstration satellite, named LEO 3, will provide continuity for customer and ecosystem vendor testing campaigns following the decommissioning of Telesat’s Phase 1 LEO satellite. Once successfully launched and on-station, LEO 3 […]