An insurance company can take care of cover on hundreds if not thousands of homes or vehicles, or just a rocket launch or two. With the value of a large satellite, plus its launch costs, plus its post-separation first year in orbit – which mostly covers the majority of likely problems – topping $250 million, […]
Amazon has confirmed that it wants to launch 3236 satellites into space. Its ‘Project Kuiper’ has already received plenty of speculation, but now the Jeff Bezos-backed business has formally asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to approve the scheme, and to permit frequencies to be used. Amazon used a July 4th filing to the FCC […]
Intelsat, one of the main members of the C-Band Alliance, saw an 8.3 percent jump in its share price on July 5th following the FCC’s chairman Ajit Pai specifically referring to the upcoming C-band decision. Industry observers expect a decision towards the end of September. The Chairman’s comments, made in a speech in Argentina, weren’t […]
Israel’s space start-up NSL Comm, which has raised US$16 million since 2015, is seeking to launch a fleet of Low Orbiting satellites to beam broadcasts and broadband to consumers. Its debut satellite NSL-Sat1 was launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket early on Friday morning. The nano-satellite’s key special feature is that it has a novel […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is again winning launch contracts. July 3rd saw an order from Inmarsat and Space Norway for SpaceX’s sixth launch contract of the year to date. Launch is expected in 2022. The contract covers two satellites to be built by Northrop-Grumman using their GeoStar-3 version craft. Each satellite weighs some 2000 kgs. They […]
The C-Band Alliance submitted a 39-page and extremely detailed ‘Public Notice’ filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on July 3rd that comprehensively argues its case for a ‘market-based approach’ for its proposed restructuring of C-band over the US for 5G. The filing also focuses on the rights – or otherwise – of C-band Earth […]
Ottawa-based Telesat has a couple of test Low Earth orbiting satellites working in space as precursors to the deployment of a full constellation. But if these, and other proposed mega-constellations, are to succeed then there has to be a lower-cost antenna system capable of picking up the craft’s signals. The airline industry in particular is […]
US cable giant Charter Communications, which is 23 per cent backed by Liberty Media and now owns Time-Warner Cable amongst other key assets, has proposed a new variation on how the C-Band Alliance’s spectrum should be re-allocated. Charter, which serves around 25 million viewers across 48 US states, has linked with two trade organisations, the […]
Thales Alenia Space confirmed July 1st that it had secured an order to build ‘Satria’, a large satellite capable of delivering 150 Gb/s of capacity. The order comes from Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN) and is scheduled to launch during 2022. Once operational, Satria is expected to beam internet connectivity to 149,000 public buildings around the […]
Rural areas across Colombia will benefit from free community Wi-Fi zones delivered via high-speed satellite-enabled broadband network, courtesy of SES. The deal has been struck with the Colombian Ministry of Telecommunications (Mintic) which selected local services provider INRED to install, operate and maintain 1,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in rural areas around the country as part of […]