Military Space Situational Awareness 2020

SMi Group are proud to announce the 15th annual Military Space Situational Awareness Conference and Exhibition will return to London on the 29th and 30th April 2020.

As space becomes more congested, competitive and contested; the need for …

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.

Hispasat cites inter-satellite links as pivotal for LeoSat investment

Inter-satellite links, a technology that has given some of LeoSat’s would-be investors pause, were actually what convinced Hispasat to invest in the low-Earth-orbit constellation startup last week, according to Hispasat’s CEO.

LeoSat gains Hispasat as second investor, drops demo satellite plans

LeoSat says Spanish satellite operator Hispasat has matched Sky Perfect Jsat’s investment in its low Earth orbit broadband constellation, bringing the company closer to completing its $100 million Series A.

Satcom companies willing to partner with China to gain market access

Multiple satellite communications companies say they are willing to team up with Chinese companies in order to sell into its sizeable but regulatorily challenging market.

Space Force takes Capitol Hill by storm • What is the true cost of space programs? • Space budget deep dive

President Trump's riff on creating a military space force captured the public’s imagination, spawning memes and jokes about starship ninjas gearing up to fight the nation’s wars in space.

BT Global Services:  LEO, HTS boosting perception of satellite communications

Satellites have been the option of last resort for telecommunication companies and their customers in the past decades, according to Renato Goodfellow, head of global satellite at BT Global Services.