Taiwan telco Chungwa Telecom’s European division (which is 35 per cent owned by Taiwan’s government) has filed a six satellite request to build and launch a fleet of low Earth orbiting craft. The coordination filing has been made to the ITU via Germany (Taiwan is not a member of the ITU). However, while the six […]
Helsinki-based satellite builder ReOrbit has linked with Google in a partnership to build a ‘Space Cloud’ which is designed to transport data on orbit but in a highly-secure system. ReOrbit will use Google’s Cloud expertise in data management to build on the growing demand for orbital computing but in a highly secure environment. “Space Cloud […]
Another global mega-constellation of satellites has been approved by the FCC. Logos Space wants to orbit 4,178 satellites into low Earth orbit. The approval is for usage of frequencies in the Ka, Q and V-bands which will work in orbital shells from 870 kms to 925 kms. Logos Space says it will provide “multigigabit connectivity” […]
The recent World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos published a report – Clear Orbit, Secure Future: A Call to Action on Space Debris – produced in partnership with the Centre for Space Futures, the Saudi Space Agency, LeoLabs, and Novaspace. The report makes gloomy reading and while recognising that while we are solidly in the […]
The SmallSat Europe conference at the RAI Congress Centre in Amsterdam heard speaker after speaker express anxiety over the planned European IRIS2 mega-constellation. The project, which will eventually bring together low Earth orbit, mid-Earth and geostationary satellites in a global ring of craft with ultra-secure communications, is looking extremely fragile if the event’s speakers are […]
While the planet now has global low Earth orbiting coverage from Elon Musk’s Starlink, China is quietly getting on with its own rival scheme, in the shape of its Qianfan (Thousand Sails) satellite constellation project. Genesat (Gesi Aerospace), the project’s main contractor, has signed a contract for the second phase of its satellite manufacturing plant […]
The Canadian government has announced a loan of C$2.14 billion (€1.42bn) to satellite operator Telesat to help the company build its broadband satellite constellation in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described as Canada’s largest ever space programme. Trudeau said the Telesat Lightspeed constellation will enable people in the most remote parts of the country, including […]
A Chinese mega-constellation of an eventual 15,000 low Earth orbiting satellites will start launching in a few weeks. The fleet will rival Starlink in size. The project is backed by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (Yuanxin Satellite). The constellation, named G60 Qianfan, will see the first batch of 18 satellites launched around August 5th. Subsequent rocket […]
China successfully launched three test satellites for its expanding broadband Internet technologies on December 30th. The satellite was launched by a Long March-2C carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. These satellites are for the GuoWang national network of 13,000 satellites. However, there is now confirmed news that China […]
Eutelsat OneWeb, part of the Eutelsat Group, the satellite communications company, has confirmed that its low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation has successfully connected to a 5G mobile network, supporting 5G QoS levels for the first time. This milestone brings super-fast mobile phone connectivity to remote and rural areas one step closer. The achievement of […]