It probably doesn’t surprise many but the much promised – although much delayed – debut launch flight of Arianespace’s powerful Ariane 64 has again been delayed to 2026. The delay was hinted at during the Paris World Space Business Week in September. Arianespace confirmed the delay last week and declined to give a launch date […]
Oman’s Civil Aviation Authority (OCAA) has given the go-ahead for extra space launches from its new Etlaq Spaceport. One launch took place in December last year (NASCOM’s suborbital Duqm-1 rocket). The new facility is also open to foreign direct investment. The OCAA says it can fast-track launch approvals in as little as 45 days and […]
RocketLab is the New Zealand and US rocket building company, founded and managed by Sir Peter Beck. Its Electron orbital rocket launches small satellites, and has launched 70 satellites as of August 2025; second only to SpaceX. It is developing its Neutron reusable vehicle which will carry larger payloads. Founded in June 2006, RockletLab has […]
AST SpaceMobile’s first of its second-generation BlueBird satellites is now on its way to the India rocket launch site at India Space Organisation’s Sriharikota/Satis Dhawan facility. The spaceport is located on an island off the east coast of India, surrounded by Pulicat Lake and the Bay of Bengal. The distance of Sriharikota from Chennai is […]
A report from analysts at CreditSights has looked at the prospects for satellite delivered ‘direct-to-device’ (D2D) telephony and broadband. The report says that for the new entrants – the likes of SpaceX’s Starlink, AST SpaceMobile and Amazon’s Kuiper – the promise of D2D is that satellite companies will be able to access a much larger […]
Eutelsat’s shares have rocketed in value over the past 30 days (up 32 per cent to €3.93) although when compared to 6 months ago (€4.50) they still have a way to go. Indeed, when looking at the longer trading picture and at a snapshot of 2022 when they traded at between €10 and €13 it […]
The news that Scotiabank telecoms analyst Andres Coello had downgraded shares in AST SpaceMobile to ‘Sell’ surprised the market. On October 8th came the news that US cellular giant Verizon was firmly confirming it would start offering AST’s cellular service from space. AST’s shares surged 17 per cent as a result. “Through our definitive commercial […]
First, the good news: AST SpaceMobile has opened an $800 million ‘At The Market’ offering of new shares to a cluster of banks. The money is now available as needed by AST and if fully drawn down is equal to about 3 per cent of the shares issued. It means that AST is sitting on […]
EchoStar has met global regulatory conditions, unlocking the S-band sale to SpaceX and paving the way for Starlink’s 20x faster direct-to-device rollout. This is an important move for SpaceX. The S-band frequencies unlock Starlink’s direct-to-device rollout, aiming for a claimed 20x speed boost. The real benefit is S-band’s resistance to rain fade, and which can […]
Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell has told EarthSky that one or two Starlink satellites are falling back to Earth every day. McDowell’s website, Jonathan’s Space Report, is widely regarded as a definitive source on spacecraft that go up … and eventually come down. The lifespan of low-Earth orbit satellites, such as Starlink, is only about five […]