Operating satellites at orbital heights of less than 300 kms is seen as a solution to reduce the cost of satellite launching and making affordable performance. Thales Alenia Space and the Belgian team of the UK’s QinetiQ are backing the development of so-called ‘skimsats’. The pair are working with the European Space Agency (ESA) and […]
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 […]
Inmarsat has linked with the European Space Agency (ESA) with a contract to take its Iris air traffic modernisation programme global and drive the future of uncrewed aviation airspace integration in Europe. Iris has been developed in a public-private partnership launched by ESA. The service enables high bandwidth satellite-based datalink communications between air traffic controllers […]
The European Commission (EC) has paused making a decision on creating a rival mega-constellation of broadband satellites until later this year. The EC is looking to create a European rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink as well as other systems from Jeff Bezos (Kuiper), Canada’s Telesat (Lightspeed) and similar proposals from China and other satellite operators […]
The European Union (EU) has published an 80-page document which proposes a Public-Private partnership satellite communications system. The scheme is budgeted at €6 billion (€5.2bn) and would give Europe a secure and independent satellite constellation. The proposals have two prime objectives: 1/ to ensure governmental users access to a secure communication system for the protection […]
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) director general Josef Aschbacher has asked its 22-members to stump up an initial €750 million to fund a European low-Earth orbiting satellite constellation in order to secure broadband connectivity. The proposal, which will be discussed officially at ESA’s ministerial conference later this year, would be part of a wider budget […]
Arianespace’s much-needed new Ariane 6 rocket will be available for launches in 2022. Arianespace’s CEO Stéphane Israël, speaking at the Euroconsult World Satellite Business Week in Paris, told delegates that the giant rocket would make its full test flight in the second-half of 2022. He was not specific as to when. However, there would be […]
Avanti Communications, a provider of high throughput satellite capacity across EMEA, has announced the launch of INSTANT5G, a new research project endorsed by the European Space Agency, UK Space Agency and the Romanian Space Agency. The 5G via INtegrated Satellite and TerrestriAl CommuNicaTion (INSTANT5G) project aims to extend 5G coverage for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) […]
A OneWeb satellite (numbered SL41) orbiting at about 1200 kms, has failed because of a software problem and the satellite operator is looking to de-orbit the craft and is considering how best to remove it from orbit. The satellite is the only one of the 358 OneWeb craft to have failed, which is itself an […]
Isotropic Systems, a developer of transformational broadband terminal technologies, has joined the consortium led by CGI, which has been selected by the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the UK Space Agency, and the European Space Agency (ESA), to develop a demonstration of a hybrid satellite communications and terrestrial network for use on […]