Elon Musk-backed rocket company SpaceX successfully launched a satellite on May 1st, and a few minutes later saw the rocket’s valuable first stage land precisely onto its landing area at the centre of Musk’s designated Zone 1 concrete pad at Cape Canaveral. The launch, of a classified US ‘spy’ satellite, was flawless although the process […]
Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) has issued two satellite TV broadcasting licences. The recipients are Mediacore and Star Times Satellite. The decision means that both new licence holders will be competing directly with South Africa’s DStv. BOCRA’s CEO Thari Pheko said under the Subscription Management Service licence the broadcasters do not need to be operating […]
SES is beginning to reap the rewards of extra capacity being utilised, and in reporting its Q1 numbers, says it has seen “substantial” growth in its contracted backlog (from €7.6 billion y-o-y to €7.8 billion). Net profit attributable to SES shareholders of €128.4 million (Q1 2016: €115.1 million) represented an increase of 11.5 per cent over the […]
According to report from Russian news site ‘Sputnik’, Russia is to build a new mid-range rocket to directly compete with SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket system. “RSC Energia proposes the development of a new medium-class launch vehicle for launches from Baikonur and Vostochny cosmodromes, as well as from the Sea Launch,” the company’s General Director Vladimir Solntsev […]
Arianespace is firmly getting back to work, and says that a much-delayed launch of a two satellites for ViaSat and Eutelsat, will go ahead on June 1st. The pair had initially been scheduled for launch this week, on April 25th, but the date had slipped because of region-wide strike in French Guiana which shut the […]
Intelsat’s Q1 saw overall revenues of $538.5 million [€493m] (down 2.6 per cent on 2016 y-o-y from $552.6 million) but with considerable shrinkage of its all-important backlog. This latest quarter-year saw backlog (the value of contracts in hand) and which are currently valued at $8.5 billion, reduced from $9.3 billion at the same time last […]
Spacecom is again looking for a buyer. Acquisition talks – and a preliminary agreement – with Beijing Zinwei Technology Group have reportedly “fizzled out”. Beijing Zinwei had agreed to pay Spacecom $285 million in August last year for its Amos fleet of orbiting assets. That deal was damaged when a SpaceX rocket blew up catastrophically […]
YahLive has secured satellite carriage of six new TV channels for the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan to transmit its public channels across Yahlive’s East Beam covering the Middle East and South West Asia. The addition covers six Tajik-language channels covering news and entertainment including Tojikiston, Safina, Bahoriston, Jahonnamo, Sinamo and TV Varzish. Commenting […]
Arianespace has confirmed that normality is returning to its work schedules following the month-long strike in French Guiana. Arianespace says that – weather permitting – it will launch two satellites on May 4th on its Flight 236. The two spacecraft: SGDC for VISIONA Tecnologia Espacial S.A. on behalf of the Brazilian operator Telebras S.A., and […]
India, and its near-1000 TV channels, needs more DTH satellite capacity. The nation’s Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is promising three new satellites will be launched during the first-half of the 2018 financial year (GSAT 11, 17 and 19) according to the Department of Space’s statement to a parliamentary special committee on science. India’s Minister of […]