LeoSat

Maxar finishes $291M property sale • Panasonic Avionics signs Eutelsat capacity contract
Maxar Technologies completed a $291 million property sale in Palo Alto, California.

LeoSat, absent investors, shuts down
Mark Rigolle, CEO of LeoSat, told SpaceNews Nov. 13 that the company laid off all 13 employees — himself included — in August after its earlier investors decided not to fund the company any longer.

Inflection point within the year for megaconstellations?
An inflection point is coming in the next six to twelve months for the multibillion dollar satellite megaconstellations, when it will become apparent which ones are likely to succeed and which ones “will take a pause or exit,” Chris Baugh, Northern Sky Research president, said Oct. 9 at the Satellite Innovation 2019 conference.

LeoSat, facing ITU deadline, restarts manufacturing competition, changes funding strategy
LeoSat hasn’t ruled out hiring Thales Alenia Space to build its scaled-down constellation, Rigolle said, but the company also wants to gauge bids from other manufacturers as it sets out in search of new funding sources sooner than anticipated.

Sky Perfect JSAT, challenged by TV business, hedges bets on HAPS, 5G, HTS and smallsats
JSAT has lost more than half a million satellite television subscribers since 2013, when that business reached 3.83 million subscribers — the highest level in JSAT’s history.

Megaconstellation ventures cautious about deployment milestones
Companies planning large constellations of broadband satellites want regulators to be careful not to undercut their business plans by introducing strict deployment milestones for keeping their full spectrum rights.

FIRST UP Satcom | Telesat inks first LEO customer, LeoSat gains customer agreement
OmniAccess, a maritime connectivity provider who demonstrated service with Telesat's prototype satellite, signed a “major, multiyear contract” for broadband service from the constellation.

FIRST UP Satcom | LeoSat optimistic on regulatory progress • Russia plans IoT constellation • SSTL starts lunar comms mission
LeoSat CEO Mark Rigolle said the FCC's approval “will help us getting landing rights in other countries."

FCC approves SpaceX, Telesat, LeoSat and Kepler internet constellations
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted Nov. 15 to approve four proposed satellite constellations, authorizing nearly 8,000 small telecom satellites to serve U.S. entities from low Earth orbit.

LeoSat and partners put satellites on a diet
LeoSat’s strategic partners, Spanish satellite operator Hispasat and Sky Perfect Jsat of Japan, are helping the constellation developer update its satellite design.