US spaceflight company Astra Space, which is developing high-powered rockets, has defaulted on its bank obligations. Astra Space disclosed in an SEC securities filing late on November 3rd that it defaulted on a recent debt agreement and may not be able to raise needed cash. It has reportedly barely $10 million in cash in its […]
As the song goes, the road may be long and there have certainly been a few twists and turns, but this week global satellite operator Iridium is celebrating 25 years of activity. The first connections to its orbital fleet took place on November 1st 1998 and then further satellite commercial connections took place on November […]
The latest batch of O3b satellites, called mPOWER, are all malfunctioning. The problem is in the power supply of the four in orbit and two others due to be launched on November 12th. Manufacturers Boeing is having to supply two additional satellites to compensate SES for the problems. SES temporary CEO, Ruy Pinto, admitted to […]
Two years ago Boeing received a licence from the FCC for a satellite broadband mega-constellation of 147 low Earth orbiting satellites. It has now cancelled its scheme. Boeing’s initial scheme – formally proposed in 2017 – was for a V-band constellation of 132 satellites operating ln Low-Earth Orbit and 15 non-Geostationary orbiting craft to supply […]
Australian telco Telstra signed a mobile service agreement with SpaceX’s Starlink back in July 20233. A report from analysts at Northern Sky Research (NSR) says the partnership aims to offer voice-only and voice plus Starlink enabled broadband packages to rural customers in hard-to-reach Australian locations. NSR says that Starlink already has 120,000 customers “signed” for […]
Satellite builder Terran Orbital has won a modest $4.7 million (€4.5m) contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) for an “in-orbit servicing mission”. The news is extremely timely as Terran is holding a Town Hall virtual meeting today (October 26th) for shareholders, some of whom have expressed displeasure with the CEO and Board of Directors […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) is using an image of a giant spaceship, more like a massive cruiseliner than a space vehicle, as a teaser for its VLEO (Very Low Earth Orbit) scheme. ESA DG Josef Aschbacher says that ESA wants to “Unleash the potential of Very Low Earth Orbits: [and] calls for innovative missions, […]
The Swedish owners of Ovzon-3 must be breathing a strong sigh of relief at the news that their much-delayed Ovzon-3 satellite will launch in December. The problem for Ovzon is that if the satellite doesn’t launch by December 31st it could find its frequency rights to occupy 59.7 degrees East slot cancelled for failing to […]
Josef Aschbacher, Director General at the European Space Agency (ESA), says that planned pre-launch testing schedule for the new Ariane 6 rocket has been amended in order to “optimise” the timetable. Aschbacher said: “In order to optimise the #Ariane6 testing schedule, the test sequence has been inverted. This allows us to anticipate the launch rehearsal […]
Investment bank BNP Paribas has carried out a detailed examination of the prospects for Universal Music Group (UMG). The bank has upgraded UMG to ‘Neutral’ as far as its investment advice is concerned and has given a Target Price for its shares of €23 (currently trading at about €24.70). Its results are due on October […]