With Intelsat slowly absorbing PanAmSat, SES Global quickly integrating New Skies into its operations, and speculation abounding as to whether or not Loral Skynet will be put up for sale, it looks like the long prophesied consolidation among major commercial satellite fleet operators is finally coming to fruition. No matter which conference one attends or industry journal one reads, the commercial satellite industry seems to be singing only one refrain recently: “bigger is better.” Being a large, global satellite operator has many important advantages. Some of the key advantages include offering truly globe-spanning, hybrid connectivity services to clients, having large in-orbit fleets that permit greater flexibility for backup and contingency planning, allowing greater access to capital and negotiating strength with satellite manufacturers and launch service providers, and achieving economies of scale that smaller, often regional, satellite operators can not match.
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22,123 results found Sort by:Editorial: A New Day for Space Radar
Over the past several years, the Space Radar program has come to symbolize many things, prominently among them the persistent inability of the U.S. military and U.S. intelligence community to agree on a common set of requirements in which both sides see fit to invest.
Chilton Says More Civilians Need To Fill Space Billets
BOSTON — PRIVATE tabstops: The U.S. Air Force’s space acquisition and operations work force needs an infusion of civilian personnel, according to the service’s top uniformed space official.
NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor Stays Silent, Is Feared Lost
BOULDER, Colo. — After several failed attempts to contact the apparently crippled Mars Global Surveyors (MGS) spacecraft, NASA officials were slowly realizing the 10-year mission is likely over. “We may have lost a dear old friend and teacher,” Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Explorations Program at NASA headquarters in Washington, said during a Nov. 21 press briefing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
NASA Auditions Robots for Lunar Exploration Missions
WASHINGTON — Arizona’s famous Meteor Crater is a long way from the Moon. But for a menagerie of intelligent robots hoping to earn supporting roles in NASA’s lunar exploration plans, the massive impact crater west of Flagstaff is center stage.
Cargo Helicopter Inspires NASA Mars Lander Design
WASHINGTON — If NASA’s 2009 Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) reaches the red planet’s surface in one piece, the agency will owe a debt of gratitude to the Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane heavy-lift helicopter.
NASA To Order Replacement TDRS Satellites in 2007
WASHINGTON — NASA is taking preliminary steps toward buying replacements for the constellation of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS) it relies on to communicate with the space shuttle and nearly two dozen other spacecraft in low Earth orbit.
Satellite Delay May Cause Higher Debt Payments for ICO
The recently disclosed delay in the launch of ICO Global’s satellite raises the risk that the company’s debt-servicing payments will increase substantially, ICO said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
OpEd: Hubble Decision a Victory for Reason
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin announced Oct. 31 that the agency would mount a shuttle mission to save and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope, thereby ending a dark episode in the history of the American space agency.
