Aerospace giant Airbus has relaunched its high-altitude Platform Station business (HAPS) with a new name, Aalto, and is targeting high-altitude surveillance, 5G and direct-to-device connectivity. The company is expected to seek outside investment for the programme which will then be spun-off as a separate business. Zephyr/Aalto, using very high-flying solar-electric drones, will initially be 100 […]
An Arianespace Vega-C rocket exploded shortly after take-off, and lost two satellites. The mission was carrying a pair of satellites for Airbus. They were part of the Pléiades Neo Earth-imaging constellation. The flight took off Tuesday (December 20th) at 10:47 pm local time; 01.47 GMT on December 21st. The first, more powerful stage of the […]
OneWeb, the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, will launch 40 satellites with SpaceX no earlier than December 6th from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:37pm GMT. This launch will be OneWeb’s 15th to-date and its second since resuming its campaign with a successful launch from India in October, putting the company on […]
ArianeGroup has ordered its next batch of rockets with components from Airbus for 14 new Ariane 6 rockets. The contract includes the manufacturing and supply of innovative, large, lightweight structures for the next fourteen Ariane 6 launchers, to be manufactured from now until 2025. The contract will support ArianeGroup’s ramp up to full production rate […]
Airbus has signed a Letter of Intent for its Zephyr HAPS Connectivity Business with Space Compass of Japan for a cooperation agreement to service the Japanese market with mobile connectivity and earth observation services from the stratosphere. The Zephyr system is a very high aircraft (HAPS/High Altitude Platform System) which can stay aloft for months. […]
Airbus and Salam, a Saudi Arabian telecoms company which is part of Abu Dhabi’s Mawarid Media & Communications, have signed a strategic partnership to provide the Airbus ‘Zephyr’ High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) to Saudi Arabia. The Airbus Zephyr comprises an unmanned drone or aerial vehicle,which flies at 21,000m (70,000ft) and can stay aloft for […]
Following on from the slightly delayed but successful launch by SpaceX of Eutelsat’s latest Hotbird satellite (13F) on October 15th, Airbus has also confirmed that Eutelsat’s next-in-line satellite, Hotbird 13G, another of its latest ‘Eurostar Neo’ designs, has been flown to an airstrip at the Kennedy Space Centre from Toulouse in France. SpaceX launched 13F […]
Airbus OneWeb Satellites (AOS), the joint-venture between constellation operator OneWeb and Airbus Defence & Space, have contracted with Astra Space to use and integrate Astra’s spacecraft engines into its Arrow small satellite portfolio. Financial details, nor delivery obligations were revealed. The AOS joint-venture is based near Merritt Island, Florida, very close to the Cape Canaveral […]
Airbus has launched a connectivity services business through the creation of a dedicated HAPS (High Altitude Platform Station) services business based around Zephyr, Airbus’ HAPS technology platform. Airbus says this new business will help enable it to industrialise rapidly and begin serving a substantial total addressable market, providing low-latency connectivity services from the stratosphere for […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) says that its first satellite to be built under its Eurostar ‘Neo’ programme has completed mechanical tests designed to demonstrate its ability to withstand the vibration that occurs during launch. The satellite is being developed by Airbus and will eventually be Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13F when launched but at the moment […]