Filtronic, based in Country Durham, UK, has won an order for its highly-specialised radio transmitters and receivers from SpaceX. The order is worth £47.3 million (€54.8m) and the equipment will be used for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband internet system. Filtronic said it expected revenue to rise next year when it starts to ship the products, as […]

SpaceX’s massive Starship finally launched at 18.30pm Texas-time on August 26th in a near-flawless test flight. The flight, dubbed #10, pulled off a successful mission after months of explosive mishaps. SpaceX made clear that the Super Heavy booster performed as intended, making a controlled splashdown in the Gulf minutes after liftoff from South Texas. During […]

AST SpaceMobile needs to get its second-generation satellites into orbit speedily. The first of these craft, weighing some 6500 kgs, is much-delayed in its promised launch date. Now, AST insists that the satellite is ready to leave its Midland, Texas, fabrication facility and will be shipped this August. Then there’s the question of the rocket […]

The EU-backed IRIS2 mega-constellation of super-secure satellites has seen the SpaceRISE consortium, which is managing the project, launch its first contest for the building of the 270-satellite low Earth orbiting (LEO) segment of the scheme. The two competing suppliers are Aerospacelab of Belgium and Airbus Defense & Space of France. The competition (‘competitive dialogue’) will […]

Today (August 26th) could be the day when SpaceX successfully launches its #10 Starship test flight, postponed from August 24th for a technical problem and again on August 25th because of bad weather. But SpaceX president, Gwynne Shotwell, is predicting a rapid increase in Starship’s launch rate predicting around 400 launches over the next four […]

Notwithstanding reports of a further delay to the launch date for AST SpaceMobile’s latest FM1 satellite, the company says it has completed development of the electronics board with its new AST5000 ASIC chip – the cornerstone of the company’s next-generation BlueBird satellites. “After five years of rigorous engineering and production, representing an equivalent of 150+ […]

AST SpaceMobile’s FM1 craft is reportedly not going to be launched as speedily as hoped. According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is responsible for launching the important broadband satellite, it can happen before the end of [India’s] financial year, which is December 31st. There have been numerous reports that ISRO is not […]

The French government has granted Italian launch services provider Avio a ten-year licence to carry out Vega rocket operations from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. Italy had pushed for access for some years, and on July 10th representatives from Italy, Germany, and France met at the European Space Agency headquarters to sign the […]

The move by the UK government to shift the UK Space Agency into its Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) has been described as both good news, and bad, for the UK space sector. The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is an independent government-backed entity, and the core news is that it is being scrapped […]

Starting in 2026, Alaska Airlines guests can enjoy Starlink Wi-Fi with ultra-fast speeds and lower latency – unlocking seamless access to live gaming, real-time messaging and high-quality streaming across multiple devices. Alaska Airlines is set to bring fast, responsive and reliable Wi-Fi to its fleet starting in 2026, with all aircraft – regional, narrowbody and […]