The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has criticised Elon Musk’s SpaceX over a test launch of a giant Starship rocket (Flight SN8) on December 9th 2020. The FAA says SpaceX ignored two warnings that its official issued software had shown up and that SpaceX was under formal investigation over how it responded to the FAA warning […]
California-based broadband satellite operator has confirmed that it is seeking Indian licences for its geostationary services. India’s Economic Times quotes a Viasat spokesperson saying: “We have filed applications with the Indian government and relevant agencies, seeking authority to use two of our Ka-band ViaSat-3 satellites – currently under construction – to serve India, and we […]
SpaceX is reportedly in talks with several airlines about them utilising its Starlink broadband satellite system on their aircraft. Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s VP of Starlink and commercial sales, told a panel at the Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit on June 9th that Starlink was in talks with several airlines and had carried out “some” demonstrations. Starlink […]
SpaceX launched a satellite into its transfer orbit on June 6th for US pay-radio broadcaster SiriusXM. The launch, SpaceX’s 18th so far this year, placed the 7500 lbs SiriusXM SXM-8 satellite into a transfer orbit with a lift-off just after midnight at 12.26am EDT (4.26 UTC) from Cape Canaveral. The success follows on from an […]
In 2020, Elon Musk’s SpaceX organisation bought two retired oil rigs and started transforming one of them into its first floating spaceport. In July 2020, Lone Star Mineral Development LLC, a subsidiary of SpaceX, bought two semi-submersible drilling rigs from Valaris plc for a reported $3.5 million each. Deimos and Phobos (named after two of […]
Germany says it is prepared to help its citizens living in rural areas to access better Internet services with subsidies. The government’s Transport Ministry says it will subsidise the purchase of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite dishes and similar providers of wireless Internet connections with grants to households worth €500, business daily Handelsblatt reported. The €500 on […]
A slew of objectors is grumbling to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system. We have reported on Viasat’s complaints, but SES, Hughes Network and others are also arguing for the FCC to either suspend or modify its April 27th permission for SpaceX/Starlink to alter their orbital plans. Some of the […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX make a textbook Cape Canaveral launch of another 52 Starlink satellites (plus two ‘rideshare’ paying craft) into orbit on May 15th. And, as ever, more records were broken. This time, for Starlink 27, it was the third launch in as many weeks. It was the eighth use of the first stage Falcon […]
SpaceX will launch 52 Starlink satellites this weekend on May 15th. The normal batch of 60 is being amended because SpaceX has a couple of paying guest craft on board for the launch. Starlink has also confirmed that it is now taking orders from clients in France. Spain is also targeted with Starlink having registered […]
A May 9th launch from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 40 saw Elon Musk’s SpaceX break another record: the 10th flight of a single Falcon 9 booster rocket. The launch, officially dubbed Flight 26, was the 14th mission this year and another record in that it was the second Starlink launch in a single week, not […]