SpaceX conducted another textbook launch during the early hours of February 12th from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch (officially Mission 5-4) broke a number of records, not least the shortest-time ever (5 days) between launches from the same pad. The mission was SpaceX’s 10th launch of the year, a pace of one launch […]
Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, told delegates at a Federal Aviation Administration conference in Washington DC, that the Starlink broadband satellite “will make money” in 2023. She added that SpaceX’s Falcon launch rocket and Dragon space station spacecraft, and other unspecified work, already makes money for SpaceX. Starlink enjoyed a positive subscriber count during the […]
Viasat says its first ‘next-generation’ ViaSat-3 satellite will launch on around April 8th on a SpaceX rocket. Chairman Mark Dankberg told shareholders: “The ViaSat-3 system is intended to enable a substantial leap in space and ground technology – designed to deliver far more bandwidth per unit of capital, over very large coverage areas, with dynamic […]
Elon Musk’s Starlink is well on its way to completing its first tier of 4,000 low Earth orbiting satellites. Recent data shows that 3,875 craft have been launched (including some Gen-2 versions), although not all reached orbit. Nevertheless, a report from Tim Farrar of TMF Associates suggests that Musk’s SpaceX is targeting a new business […]
Low-cost airline ZIPAIR has selected SpaceX’s Starlink to bring higher-speed and lower-latency Internet to all passengers in-flight as the first Asian airline, suggesting that Starlink’s satellite technology will revolutionise the flying experience, providing ZIPAIR passengers with seamless connectivity and enabling an in-flight Internet connection as good as or better than they are used to at […]
Elon Musk’s team of engineers at SpaceX are maintaining an impressive launch cadence. On January 31st they successfully launched 49 Starlink satellites which, says Musk, will mostly help provide connectivity over higher latitudes. On February 2nd the team in Florida will launch 53 more Starlinks. The February 2nd launch (officially Launch 5-3) will deliver 53 […]
SpaceX is scheduled to launch 49 of its Starlink broadband satellites today (January 31st) from Vandenburg Space Force Base, California. Launch is scheduled for 16.15 GMT. The launch was postponed from January 30th. SpaceX, via Twitter, confirmed that the weather in California was “looking good” for launch. It will be the seventh launch and landing […]
SpaceX launched 56 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit on January 26th. The cargo was the heaviest-ever payload and totalled 17.4 metric tonnes. The Falcon 9 booster was on its 9th mission for SpaceX and the launch, delayed for 10 minutes at 09.22am GMT, took place from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Barely 9 minutes later the booster […]
The space and satellite insurance sector enjoyed their third successive year of profits following losses in 2018 and 2019. The profits were impressive, with $579 million (€534m) in premiums paid and helping offset losses and claims of $294 million. However, the industry is not tapping into the fast-growing Low Earth orbiting market as the likes […]
SpaceX launched 51 Starlink broadband satellites (Mission 2-4) from the California Vandenberg Space Force Base on January 19th. The launch had been delayed since November for technical and weather-related reasons as well as other launches taking place in Florida. The launch was a ‘first’ for an all-new booster for the Falcon 9 rocket. The booster […]