Elon Musk was somewhat caught out by talking of significant improvements that had been made to SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket. Then the test rocket, which would have become Flight #10, suffered a spectacular explosion June 19th on its test pad. Experts suggest the damage to the test stand itself possibly looks repairable. There is obviously […]
Eutelsat, as expected, will raise €1.35 billion in fresh capital over the next few months. French daily Le Monde summed up the move with its headline, saying: “The French government is stepping in to rescue Eutelsat”. At the end of the cash restructuring process France will hold 29.9 per cent of the operator’s capital, and […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) has a scheme to build and launch a series of satellites capable of capturing extremely high-resolution imaging satellites to be used for European Union military and government uses. The main problem, which emerged at a session held at the Paris Air Show, is the cost of the scheme. Europe’s ESA […]
Stream, stream, stream; to corrupt the Everly Brothers classic. Nielsen has recorded that, for the first time ever, American viewers ‘tuned in’ for more streamer TV than OTA, cable or DTH put together. As a story it feels simultaneously momentous, but also has ‘small earthquake, not many dead’ vibes. One natural reaction is ‘oh, I […]
Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar share price rocketed 43 per cent on June 13th on news that Donald Trump has intervened with FCC chair Brendan Carr over the dispute between the FCC and EchoStar. June 16th saw EchoStar’s share price (Nasdaq:SATS) finish the day at $25.11 (€21.72). A week ago they were $15.99. In a nutshell, the […]
AST SpaceMobile will pay around $550 million (€474.9m) to Ligado for its L-band spectrum over North America. The news was confirmed late on June 13th. The payment will allow Ligado itself to pay the $535 million it owes to Viasat/Inmarsat. The Viasat payment will then see the end of its objections it has over Ligado’s Chapter […]
Investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, in a report on New Zealand and Long Beach-based Rocket Lab, has raised its price target from $29 to $35. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Andres Sheppard raised the firm’s price target on the NASDAQ index and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares after hosting meetings with management. The firm sees Rocket […]
Eutelsat’s new CEO, Jean-François Fallacher, is “racing” to secure fresh funding in order to save OneWeb according to Bloomberg. The constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites is seeking to challenge Elon Musk’s Starlink and the upcoming Jeff Bezos-backed Project Kuiper LEO system. The industry expects Fallacher to be successful. “After all, why would he have […]
Starlink has enjoyed considerable positive press these last few days, notably winning operating licences in India and South Korea, for example. But pilots flying some of United’s aircraft fleet are not so pleased. United Airlines has had to disable Starlink transmissions for its passengers on some flights because of interference to the aircraft’s normal operating […]
South Korea’s Hanwha Systems is selling its shares in Eutelsat (equal to a 5.4 per cent stake) for a reported €78 million ($85m). Citi Bank says the shares are on offer at just €3, which is some 13.9 per cent below Eutelsat’s current share price. The move makes a 74 per cent loss for Hanwha […]