The new Donald Trump administration, and a new chair at the FCC (Brendon Carr), is increasingly expected to permit operators such as Starlink and AST SpaceMobile to begin transmitting and receiving calls direct-to-devices and including consumer smartphones. As Armand Musey (partner at consultancy Summit Ridge Group) suggested during the recent 13th Americas Spectrum Management Conference […]
Boca Raton-based satellite builder Terran Orbital, now owned by Lockheed Martin, is facing a Class Action from investors alleging they were misled as the company’s status before the sale. Investors allege that Lockheed originally offered $1 per share for Terran, the final deal price was struck at 25 cents and shareholders are now suing Terran […]
Thales Alenia Space (TAS), much rumoured to be considering merging itself with rivals Airbus Defence & Space, has very publicly stated that it can live quite happily without a merger. At a presentation on November 14th made by CEO Hervé Derrey he explained how he saw 2025 – and beyond – panning out. He said […]
Ligado Networks can proceed with their claim for $39 billion (€36.9bn) in damages and compensation from the US government for what it claims – in essence – is the theft of its L-band spectrum. A US federal judge on November 18th rejected some of Ligado’s minor arguments but has allowed the major portion of the […]
An update from AST SpaceMobile (AST) on November 14th supplied many hard facts as to the satellite operator’s plans. New satellite launches, added to the five already in orbit, will potentially eliminate the planet’s ‘dead spots’ for cellular users. Subsequently, a major bank report has endorsed AST’s prospects as the world’s first global cellular network. […]
AST SpaceMobile (AST) has contracted with Jeff Bezos-backed rocket company Blue Origin, as well as SpaceX, to get its satellites into orbit. Blue Origin will handle up to 45 satellites with options for a further 15. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket can handle 8 satellites per launch. SpaceX, which with its Starlink broadband system, is […]
The world already has a pair of successful low Earth orbiting (LEO) mega-constellations in the form of SpaceX’s Starlink and the Eutelsat/OneWeb fleet. Also on the near-horizon is the Jeff Bezos-backed Amazon Kuiper, Telesat of Canada’s Lightspeed, and direct-to-cellular satellite operations from Globalstar/Apple, AST SpaceMobile Iridium and Lynk. Now it seems the United Arab Emirates […]
SpaceX’s giant 400 ft tall Starship will make a sixth test flight on November 19th, subject to the usual weather and last-minute technical checks. The fifth flight saw the ‘super heavy’ booster stage captured by a pair of ‘chopsticks’ upon its return to Earth at Elon Musk’s Starbase. The next Starship flight test aims to […]
November 7th saw satellite operator SES present its latest set of numbers. By and large the all-important analysts thought they were solid, and there was an initial uptick with share prices jumping from €3.50 to €3.81. But within a few hours that optimism had vanished and SES suffered the ignomany of falling to a 52-week […]
A report in Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper says that Munich-based Rivada Space has not been paying salaries on time this year and has outstanding bills to at least four suppliers. The is said to not be the first time that there have been delays. The newspaper quotes a letter from CEO Declan Ganley, sent on June […]