World Satellite Business Week 2017
Bandwidth requirements to keep driving future satellite developments
The requirement for higher and higher bandwidth will remain the major driver shaping future satellite infrastructure and services in the next five years, according to Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO of Viasat.
Virgin Orbit still expects to fly twice a month in 2020 despite delayed test campaign
Virgin Orbit, before being spun off from human spaceflight-focused Virgin Galactic in March, had set out to complete around three test flights of LauncherOne, before ramping up for commercial operations.
OneWeb Satellites to keep Toulouse factory open for other customers
The OneWeb-Airbus joint venture tasked with building 900 satellites for OneWeb plans to keep its first production line in France running to build satellites for other operators.
Arianespace wins contracts for O3b and SES-17 satellites
Satellite operator SES has selected Arianespace to launch a fifth set of O3b satellites as well as a large geostationary orbit communications satellite, the companies announced Sept. 12.
Blue Origin enlarges New Glenn’s payload fairing, preparing to debut upgraded New Shepard
Blue Origin will likely launch the third iteration of its New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle by year’s end, paving the way for a human-rated version and ironing out the reusability plan for the orbital New Glenn rocket.
Inmarsat picks MHI’s H2-A to launch its first sixth-gen satellite
Global satellite fleet operator Inmarsat said Sept. 12 that it has chosen Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to launch Inmarsat-6 F1 in 2020 aboard an H-2A rocket.
FinSpace winner LeoLabs working with Planet to show how commercial data helps satellite operators avoid collisions
For six months, Planet has been sharing with LeoLabs the conjunction warnings it receives from U.S. Strategic Command’s Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base. LeoLabs uses the data to provide Planet with additional information on debris threatening its satellites.
ILS Proton launches Hispasat satellite
The launch is Proton’s third overall this year, preceded by an ILS launch of EchoStar-21 in June and a Russian government launch of the Blagovest-11L satellite in August.
Eumetsat launching two, possibly three Metop-SG satellites with Arianespace
Arianespace is contracted to launch Metop-SG A1 and Metop-SG B1, two replacement polar satellites, between 2021 and 2023.
SES building a 10-terabit O3b ‘mPower’ constellation
Fleet operator SES placed a seven-satellite order with Boeing Satellite Systems International to build a second generation of O3b satellites that will have more than triple the capacity of ViaSat’s future ViaSat-3 constellation.
Europe’s GOVSATCOM demonstrator contract awarded to Airbus
Airbus has been tapped by the European Space Agency to build a demonstrator system that would enable dynamic sharing of government satellite capabilities between European Union member states.
SSL signs Azur Space as second solar cell supplier
Azur Space, which began selling multi-junction solar cells in the U.S. two years ago, is now SSL’s second supplier for solar cells, joining anchor supplier SolAero, a dominant player in the U.S. spacecraft solar power market.
Q&A | Thales’ Jeff Goodman on making the jump from inflight entertainment to connectivity
Not so long ago, satellite operators treated inflight connectivity as a niche market — a good way to sell off capacity not already soaked up by more lucrative television broadcast, government and maritime customers.
SpaceNews at World Satellite Business Week in Paris
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