Florida Today report that rocket launch company SpaceX will increase the size of its planned facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in the state. A NASA-generated environmental study on the scheme says that the facility will be used to support a much higher launch rate of SpaceX’s Falcon rockets including the recovered stages and payload […]
As expected, Intelsat has confirmed it will raise more than $600 million in fresh funds. Intelsat says that about $230 million (€195m) will take the form of new common shares (with a nominal value of $0.01) and be used as an inter-company loan to a new division, Intelsat Envision Holdings. The shares will be priced […]
Eutelsat says it is using five of its satellites to help distribute capacity equivalent to 5,500 hours of the upcoming FIFA World Cup football tournament taking place in Russia. The transmissions will be in HD. Eutelsat says: “In addition to the regular broadcast capacity booked by Eutelsat’s customers, capacity on five Eutelsat satellites will uplink […]
Charlie Ergen, co-founder of the EchoStar and Dish Network businesses in the US, has offered to buy Inmarsat, the London-based global satellite company. Inmarsat, in a statement after the market had closed on June 8th, said that it had received “a highly preliminary and indicative non-binding proposal from EchoStar Corporation in relation to the potential […]
Hot on the heels of news June 5th that it has won a $20 million arbitration award, Avanti Communications says that it has certain additional funds available to it. The company said back in April that is seeking to raise additional funds of “at least” $50 million, and needs to have in place “$40 million […]
Arianespace’s CEO Alain Charmeau says Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket system is too cheap, and could end up forcing Europe’s highly-prized Ariane rocket system out of business. Arianespace is already designing much lower cost rockets (in particular its Ariane 62 versions due to test fly around 2020-2021). Ariane also uses lower cost Vega (from Italy) and […]
London-based satellite operator Avanti Communications has been awarded $20 million by a London Arbitration Court. Avanti brought its claim in August 2017 against the Ministry of Defence in Indonesia over rental terms for capacity on Avanti’s Artemis satellite. Indonesia had paid a portion of the $30 million sum due, but then delayed paying the balance. […]
Satellite builder Orbital ATK has received approval from the USA’s Federal Trade Commission for a proposed sale to aerospace company Northrop Grumman for $7.8 billion. The new business will now be known as Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. The deal is expected to close after business on June 6th. The EU approved the deal back in […]
Satellite operator SES says that it has conducted a first-of-its-kind survey of the market in Uganda, and says the country is an “open field” for TV growth with 51 per cent of homes yet to switch on to TV. Currently, SES is supplying TV channels to some 2.7 million homes in the country according to […]
While Elon Musk might be having a few challenging problems with his Tesla car company, he seems to have no problems at all with his privately-held SpaceX rocket launch business. SpaceX is currently held 54 per cent by the Elon Musk Trust (but with 78 per cent voting control) but with investment stakes from Google […]