Japan’s Astroscale’s UK subsidiary has received around $15 million (€17.8m) from the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency to de-orbit a dead OneWeb satellite. The funding goes into ELSA-M, or End of Life Services mission, and is scheduled for 2026. The new cash comes on top of an €18 million grant which covered […]
A formal notice from AST SpaceMobile says that it is still targeting an August launch of a batch of its massive ‘Block 1’ BlueBird 5G satellites. News also emerged that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has requested the ITU in Geneva, which regulates satellite frequencies globally, to recognise AST’s satellites (under its USASAT-NGSO-20 filing). The […]
SpaceRISE is the name of the consortium that’s supposed to part-fund the European Union’s planned low Earth orbiting mega-constellation, called IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite). There are widespread reports that the project is on its last legs. There are normally reliable sources saying that Airbus Space and Thales Alenia Space, two […]
Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband-by-satellite system is said to expect to receive a licence to operate over India shortly. India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is currently evaluating the application documents submitted by the Amazon-owned company. Kuiper, once licensed, will join Eutelsat’s OneWeb and Reliance Jio’s satellite partner SES, as well as Elon Musk’s Starlink, in bidding […]
It wasn’t the best of weeks for the rocket launch industry. An Ariane 6 suffered a final stage engine failure which ruined its debut test flight. Then, on Friday July 12, (02.25 UTC), SpaceX lost a key second stage on its Falcon 9 which resulted in its cargo of 20 Starlink satellites in orbits that […]
During Q4, AST SpaceMobile is due to launch five of its massive ‘Block 1 BlueBird’ 5G-ready satellites into orbit. These satellites will deliver 5G signals. In Q1 2025, AST has stated it will start launching its Block 2 BlueBird versions, which it says will be “ten times more powerful” and downloading at least 14 Mb/s […]
At the end of June a European meterological service cancelled the order it had in place with Arianespace for the launch next year of its latest Eumetsat satellite (MTG-S1). Eumetsat will now be launched on a SpaceX rocket. The decision caused consternation and much criticicm from the European Space Agency as well as Arianespace. Indeed, […]
We have a deal, say Paramount and Skydance, and this time it will stick. Shari Redstone got a slightly sweeter price and proved she was no pushover, just in case anyone thought she was. That’s the trouble with being the 2.0 in a dynasty, everyone, and I mean everyone, assumes you only get to run […]
It is all very well for a satellite service to handle conventional calls to and from isolated locations, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) needed to clarify how true emergency calls would be directed. AST, in a filing to the FCC, has explained how 911 calls will be handled and which will almost certainly be […]
AST SpaceMobile’s plans to place five of its ‘Block 1’ satellites into orbit are at an “advanced stage”, according to a Prospectus issued on July 3rd. The Prospectus was presented to the SEC in conjunction with a share transfer of 10.4 million shares from Antares Technologies LLC (a Cisneros-related business). AST is building a constellation […]