SpaceX has launched 51 of its Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The launch happened at 11.55 pm (3.55am UTC on September 14th). The Version 1.5 satellites were launched into Polar orbits and have laser inter-satellite links. The Falcon 9 booster supporting this mission previously launched Telstar 18 Vantage, Iridium-8, and seven […]
It seems SpaceX’s Starlink service is gearing up to meet its outstanding demand and widen distribution of its broadband by satellite service. At last week’s Satellite 2021 show in Washington, SpaceX’s CFO Bret Johnsen told delegates that the company is currently losing money on each and every Starlink system it supplies and in particular on […]
September 8th saw Amazon fire off another salvo to the FCC with a list of complaints about SpaceX and also citing a WSJ comment that Elon Musk wages a “war on regulators” and that Musk allegedly breaks the rules and endangers people. The Amazon letter to the FCC (and from its subsidiary Kuiper Systems) is […]
Abu Dhabi-based Yahsat used the Satellite 2021 show in Washington DC to announce that they have selected SpaceX to launch its upcoming mobile connectivity and broadband Thuraya 4-NGS satellite. The satellite will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the second half of 2023. The craft is being built by Airbus. Yahsat says […]
Bret Johnsen, SpaceX’s CFO & President of Strategic Acquisitions, told delegates to Satellite 2021 in Washington DC that they could still be looking at acquisition possibilities. SpaceX is in the process of buying Swarm Technologies, which makes small ‘cube’ and other similar-sized satellites specialising in Internet of Things services. SpaceX started the process back in […]
Elon Musk says his team are busy “figuring out the regulatory approval process” for launching the Starlink broadband service over India. Musk was asked the question on Twitter as to when his service might start in India, and responded a few hours later. India could well be extra important in Starlink’s ambitions given that Bharti-backed […]
Amazon, in a formal letter to the FCC on August 25th, objected to SpaceX’s enhanced plan for almost 30,000 new Starlink satellites and their adjusted orbits. SpaceX, in a letter to the FCC, said – in essence – that Amazon’s complaint is simply a delaying tactic. The company wrote: “The FCC should recognise this delay […]
Elon Musk has reportedly given up on catching his SpaceX rocket fairings with vessels and giant nets and instead is launching two new boats to the fleet specifically to recover fairings by fishing them out of the ocean. The two new ships are named as ‘Bob’ and ‘Doug’ after the first Demo 2 astronauts Bob […]
Amazon, in a formal letter to the FCC last week, has objected to SpaceX enhanced plan for almost 30,000 new Starlink satellites and their adjusted orbits. SpaceX, in two submissions, said it could offer a better service by adjusting the existing planned orbits. Amazon, which is developing its own low Earth orbiting system, Project Kuiper/Kuiper […]
A report from Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, states that 1740 of SpaceX’s broadband satellites have been launched. However, 98 have already re-entered the atmosphere and he says another 50 “are on their way down”. This still means there are some 1600 working satellites in orbit. McDowell talks specifically about […]