IoT

Momentus and Kepler announce service agreement
Momentus Space announced an agreement Oct. 20 with Canada’s Kepler Communications to arrange the 2021 launch of two satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare flight and delivery to their desired orbital altitude in the Vigoride in-space transportation vehicle.

Open Cosmos selected to build Spanish smallsat constellation
Spanish startup Sateliot on July 28 selected Open Cosmos to build and operate a constellation of up to 100 small satellites, but stopped short of a firm contract for the full system.

Swarm teams with Momentus to spread out SpaceBees
Swarm Technologies is working with in-space transportation startup Momentus to send its constellation of tiny internet-of-things satellites into different orbital planes.

Australian IoT startup Myriota raises $19 million
Founded in 2015 to commercialize cheap, narrowband signal transmitters developed at the University of South Australia, Myriota has raised $37 million total.

Kinéis raises 100 million euros to build and launch 25 IoT cubesats
French Internet of Things startup Kinéis has raised 100 million euros ($110.5 million) from private and public investors to fund a constellation of 25 cubesats.

Kepler decides to build its 140-satellite cubesat constellation in-house
The company said Jan. 28 it will build its constellation of 140 cubesats in a 5,000-square-foot facility it commissioned late last year at its Toronto headquarters.

Startup Skylo seeks to connect millions of devices, vehicles, vessels via satellite
Startup Skylo emerged from stealth mode Jan. 21 with $116 million in the bank and plans to connect devices by transferring data over existing geostationary communications satellites.

Kepler books SpaceX rideshare for LEO satellites
Kepler Communications on Dec. 11 said it booked 400 kilograms of rideshare capacity with SpaceX in order to launch an unspecified number of its Internet of Things cubesat next year.

Sky and Space Global narrows immediate goal to eight satellites as funding remains elusive
Sky and Space Global, a startup planning a constellation of 200 cubesats for low-data-rate communications, has narrowed its near-term focus to raising enough money for an initial eight satellites.

EchoStar, fresh off Helios Wire acquisition, orders S-band smallsats from Tyvak
EchoStar has ordered two tiny S-band satellites from Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems to jumpstart a low-Earth-orbit constellation using spectrum gained through its October acquisition of IoT startup Helios Wire.

WRC-19 begins • Hiber buys green thrusters • Ariane 6 facility inaugurated in Germany
The 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference began this week in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The satellite industry and the cellular industry are both hoping to gain new spectrum

Eutelsat kickstarts IoT business with GEO Ku-band service
The service, called Eutelsat IoT First, precedes a low-Earth-orbit constellation of 25 smallsats and hosted payloads Eutelsat plans to begin launching next year.

OQ Technology hoping to jump ahead in IoT race through GomSpace cubesat tests
OQ Technology of Luxembourg used GomSpace’s two GOM-X4 cubesats in low Earth orbit to demonstrate waveforms for a future constellation.

Satellites could claim larger share of booming IoT market
Quilty Analytics is “quite bullish" on satellite IoT for incumbents and some new entrants, Partner Justin Cadman said Oct. 9 at the Satellite Innovation 2019 conference.

Kepler books Soyuz for first two service-grade satellites
As it explores changes to its constellation orbit and spacecraft design, Kepler Communications on Oct. 7 said it nonetheless secured launch slots for its first two fully commercial satellites.