Elon Musk’s plans for a potential mega-constellation of 42,000 broadband satellites have been called into question. There are already more than 120 Starlink satellites in orbit, and another 60 will be orbited later in December. But there are concerns. Tim Farrar, an analyst at TMF Associates, questions the vague business plans for Musk’s system and […]
Weather permitting, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will orbit a ‘condominium’ satellite this afternoon (December 16th). The Boeing-built satellite is part JCSAT-18 for SkyPerfect JSAT and the other portion is Kacific 1. Timetable for launch from Cape Canaveral is at 19.10 pm Florida-time (0010 GMT December 17th). The rocket itself was test-fired on December 13th […]
French transmission regulator ARCEP (l’Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des Postes) has published and submitted to government its thoughts and recommendations on how the 3.4-3.8 GHz spectrum bands can be restructured for 5G. ARCEP says: “The 3.4-3.8 GHz band is the core band for 5G whose deployment promises to make French businesses more […]
In its latest research, Euroconsult details pricing for traditional C-band, Ku-band and High Throughput Satellite (HTS) capacity broken out by contracts, regions, spectrum bands, and applications. The report shows that as the growth of satellite capacity on orbit slows, pricing levels per megahertz (MHz) for regular capacity and per megabits per second (Mbps) for HTS […]
There wasn’t much ‘white smoke’ from the FCC’s chairman Ajit Pai in his statement on December 10th as regards to the upcoming C-Band auction. But the Senate Commerce Committee met and approved the 5G Spectrum Act which now goes to the Senate for a formal vote. Then to the House and then signed off by […]
OneWeb Satellites, the joint-venture between OneWeb and satellite builder Airbus, is adopting a low-cost magnetic ‘grappling fixture’ solution to potential space debris. Developed by Altius Space Machines, RUAG Space USA and Astroscale, and nicknamed ‘DogTags’, the fixture creates an easy interface that enables safe and reliable capture of satellites by the broadest range of capture […]
On December 10th in Washington DC the chairman of the FCC, Ajit Pai, was due to deliver a speech at the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) and observers were expecting some comments and his latest thoughts on C-Band, and the planned auction of satellite spectrum. Today, December 11th, the US Senate’s Committee on Commerce will […]
Analyst Roger Rusch, CEO at TelAstra, says in a report that the commercial satellite industry is facing 6 different and worrying crises. Rusch suggests that terrestrial growth from fibre and wireless is threatening future growth of the satellite sector, and this is his Crises Number 1. “The wireless and fibre providers are more agile at […]
Would-be mega constellation operator OneWeb is to launch its first major batch of satellites at the end of January. OneWeb will use a Russian Soyuz-2.1 rocket, but managed by Arianespace, to take 34 of its satellites into space from the cosmodrome at Baikonur in Kazakhstan on January 30th subject to last minute weather problems. Russian […]
OneWeb and SpaceX are the two most advanced ‘mega-constellations’ in terms of planning – and launching – broadband satellites. OneWeb’s initial ambitions are modest, at 600 or so satellites. SpaceX has much greater ambitions for its ‘Starlink’ fleet and is talking about a possible 42,000 craft over time. But there is no love lost between […]