The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating a problem suffered by a SpaceX booster which upon landing on the ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ floating recovery vessel on August 28th collapsed and exploded. The FAA has mounted a “mishap” because of the “permanent loss of vehicle”. The Falcon 9 rocket had successfully placed a cargo of […]

Thaicom, the Asian satellite and spacetech company, has announced that its subsidiary IPSTAR India has signed an agreement for satellite capacity with Hughes Communications India (HCI), a provider of broadband satellite and managed network services, for satellite capacity over India on Thaicom’s satellite fleet. Under the agreement, IPSTAR India will provide satellite capacity services to […]

SpaceX’s Starlink broadband by satellite system is offering free connections for emergency calls when smart–phone users are in rural or maritime regions anywhere in the world. Elon Musk, in a post on his X platform, said: “After thinking it through, SpaceX Starlink will provideemergency services access for mobile phones for people in distress for free. […]

Eutelsat’s OneWeb division has a batch of 20 of its broadband satellites enroute in air–conditioned comfort from the Airbus–owned factory in Florida to California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base inreadiness for launch. The 20 satellites are the final group of OneWeb’s Generation 1 craft. They will be used as orbital back–up and as replacements for craft […]

Kenya’s largest telco Safaricom is urging the government to bar SpaceX’s Starlink from operating over the country, or at least to require the Elon Musk–owned business to take on a local partner. Safaricom’s letter to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) said: “Satellite coverage inherently spans multiple territorial borders and in doing so has the […]

India’s giant telcos, each of which has invested in broadband–by–satellite operations, are increasingly frustrated with the bureaucratic delays which are holding back them launching services. According to Deloitte, India’s satellite broadband service market is expected to reach $1.9 billion (€1.7bn) by 2030, growing 36 per cent per year over the next five years. India’s telcos […]

Project Kuiper, Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite broadband network, is expanding its footprint at Kennedy Space Center in Florida as it prepares for a full-scale deployment of its satellite constellation. In 2024, Project Kuiper broke ground on a $120 million (€108m) satellite processing facility, and now the team is investing another $19.5 million to expand […]

NSLComm, an Israel-based company, has asked the FCC for permission to launch its BeetleSat system and to access the US. The scheme calls for 344 small Ka-band satellites in total. The 344 will comprise 264 orbiting at 720 kms and 80 at 810 kms. The satellites are small, weighing just 9 kgs and each capable […]

Scotland’s SaxaVord Spaceport suffered an explosion on August 19th, when Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) conducted a ‘hot fire’ test of its first stage of its rocket. RFA was testing its nine–engine first stage at the Unst, Shetland launch pad when it suffered an anomaly. RFA said no–one was injured in the explosion and the launch […]

AST SpaceMobile has enjoyed a spectacular rise in its share price over the past few days as enthusiasm for its target satellite–to–cellular service despite only having one test satellite in orbit. However, and despite much criticism, SpaceX’s Starlink might well steal AST’s thunder with its own satellite–based connectivity for smartphones. Starlink is basing a portion […]