Gilat Satellite Networks, a specilaist in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, has reported its results for the third quarter, ended September 30th 2023. Adi Sfadia, Gilat’s CEO, commented: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic events of October 7th in Israel. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack – […]

IRIS2 is the proposed European mega-constellation of multi-orbiting satellites. IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) is planned to be deployed beginning in 2027. It will be a public-private financed scheme. The ‘private’ element comprises a wide-ranging consortium which includes the likes of SES, Airbus Defense & Space, Eutelsat, Hispasat and Thales Alenia […]

As the song goes, the road may be long and there have certainly been a few twists and turns, but this week global satellite operator Iridium is celebrating 25 years of activity. The first connections to its orbital fleet took place on November 1st 1998 and then further satellite commercial connections took place on November […]

SES has received the $2.99 billion (€2.81bn) C-band compensation payment from the FCC. In its Q3 results, issued two days earlier than initially announced, it also stated that its next pair of O3b/mPOWER satellites will be launched in the next few days. Q3 highlights are: Revenue (Year to Date) of €1.494 billion (+0.2 per cent […]

The US Space Development Agency (SDA) has awarded Northrop Grumman an agreement with a total potential value of approximately $732 million to design and build 38 data transport satellites for military usage. This announcement for what are described as the “Alpha” batch of satellites, follows an August 2023 award to Northrop Grumman of 36 satellites […]

SpaceX’s unofficial broadband satellite service to Iran using Starlink must cease, the ITU along with US and Norwegian regulators have ruled. The ITU (and in particular its Radio Regulations Board, RRB) took a decision on October 27th to state that the US and Norway – as the official notifying administrations for Starlink’s frequencies – must […]

EnSilica, a turnkey supplier of mixed signal ASICs and SoCs, has announced it is to supply VITES with a new beamformer chip for satellite user terminals. VITES will use the chip at the heart of its new ViSAT-Ka-band terminal. EnSilica’s beam-forming chip is optimised to enable VITES’s creation of ground-based flat panel user terminals for […]

The European Space Agency (ESA) is using an image of a giant spaceship, more like a massive cruiseliner than a space vehicle, as a teaser for its VLEO (Very Low Earth Orbit) scheme. ESA DG Josef Aschbacher says that ESA wants to “Unleash the potential of Very Low Earth Orbits: [and] calls for innovative missions, […]

The Swedish owners of Ovzon-3 must be breathing a strong sigh of relief at the news that their much-delayed Ovzon-3 satellite will launch in December. The problem for Ovzon is that if the satellite doesn’t launch by December 31st it could find its frequency rights to occupy 59.7 degrees East slot cancelled for failing to […]

Geo-satellites will be resilient, but Starlink is winning the broadband connectivity battle and making 100,000 dishes per month, acording to Dr Tim Farrar, president of TMF Associates. Speaking at the 2023 Milsat Symposium (as part of the Silicon Valley Space Week), Farrar compared and contrasted the position of the well-established geostationary satellite operates such as […]