Tim Farrar of TMA Associates, a commentator on the satellite industry, has raised concerns about the “optical crosslinks” or laser beams that operate between satellites. Optical crosslinks between satellites can drastically increase the constellation’s capability to transmit data to ground stations with reduced latency and increased total throughput. Satellites no longer have to wait to […]

According to a report from specialist IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the global satellite IoT communications market is growing at a steady pace. The global satellite IoT subscriber base grew to surpass 4.5 million in 2022. The number of satellite IoT subscribers is forecast increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39.6 per […]

SpaceX is being sued by the US Department of Justice with allegations that the rocket company has been biased in its hiring of staff. The civil lawsuit alleges that SpaceX has deliberately not hired former refugees and asylum seekers. SpaceX “routinely discouraged asylees and refugees from applying and refused to hire or consider them, because […]

An August 22nd launch by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket marked the 100th launch of Starlink satellites. The launch also broke many other records. The Vandenberg Space Force Station launch completed SpaceX’s 218th landing of one of the Falcon 9 boosters and the 114th consecutive landing. However, perhaps the most impressive achievement is that the […]

Sweden-based Ovzon, which has a growing mobile broadband satellite business, has been awarded a 12-month service renewal contract from Airbus Defence and Space for the third consecutive year to deliver Ovzon SATCOM-as-a-Service to the UK Government. Ovzon also stated that trading has been something of a “bumpy ride” these past months. It reported poor H1 […]

A set of preliminary accounts for SpaceX shows that “soaring revenues” helped Elon Musk’s rocket and broadband company to a modest profit in Q1 2023, according to the WSJ. The report says SpaceX achieved $55 million (€50.6m) in profits on $1.5 billion of revenues in Q1. Over the previous two years, SpaceX has invested huge […]

SpaceX wants to start supplying connectivity for a ‘direct-to-handset’ cellular service. The trouble is that Globalstar is already licensed by the FCC for its iPhone service for Apple and its permission is near-exclusive. The SpaceX applications to the FCC started back in September last year and asked for a modification to its existing operating licence […]

Subject to the usual weather considerations, SpaceX has a busy few days ahead with its Starlink broadband satellites, as well as a launch for SES of two of its much-needed O3b/mPOWER craft. On August 16th at 8.14pm Florida-time it is planning to place a batch of 22 Starlink satellites (Mission 6-10) from Space Launch complex […]

SpaceX carried out a flawless rocket launch and successful landing on its Falcon 9 booster and in the process placed 22 Starlink V-2 ‘mini’ broadband satellites into their transfer orbit on August 11th from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch meant that SpaceX had orbited a total of 51 satellites last week (and […]

Europe’s giant Ariane 6, already much delayed, is to be further postponed into 2024 says the European Space Agency (ESA). The delay, perhaps as long as six more months, comes amid considerable criticism of ESA, and the rocket’s other build and launch contractors. One recent comment described the ESA and its partners in the project […]