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spacex

SpaceX makes plea for spectrum efficiency

SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system is calling for regulators not to license rival broadband would-be operators who do not recognise frequency sharing. David Goldman, director of satellite & spectrum policy at SpaceX, quoted by Space Intel Report, was speaking to delegates on a panel discussion organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and Saudi Arabia’s Communications […]

December 15, 2020By Chris Forrester

“No pot of gold” for LEO constellations

SpaceX is well on track to have 1000 satellites in orbit by the end of January 2021. Rival OneWeb is due to add another 36 craft to its existing fleet of 74 satellites on December 17th.  Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has yet to launch any of his Project Kuiper fleet, but observers are expecting launch action […]

December 14, 2020

SpaceX carries SiriusXM satellite into orbit

SpaceX carried its 25th mission of the year into orbit on Sunday December 13th at 17.30pm GMT. The client is pay-radio operator SiriusXM (SXM-7). The original scheduled launch was for Friday December 11th but was scrubbed because of technical issues. The satellite was built for SiriusXM by Maxar Technologies. It is one of two satellites […]

December 14, 2020By Chris Forrester

SpaceX wins $885m for US rural connections

SpaceX has won a portion of the US government’s scheme to provide satellite-based broadband access to rural users. The pay-out, which totals $885.5 million, is part of the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). SpaceX, and other non-terrestrial suppliers, had previously complained that they were being excluded from being considered. In total the FCC has […]

December 9, 2020By Chris Forrester

SpaceX puts another 60 Starlinks into orbit

SpaceX has launched one of its Falcon 9 first stage rockets for a record seventh time. Elon Musk’s team now seems unbeatable in terms of the launch, recovery and reuse of its rocket system. SpaceX continuity announcer, Kate Tyce, simply stated that “for the seventh time, this Falcon has landed” as she described a flawless […]

November 25, 2020By Chris Forrester

China wants to compete with SpaceX

Asia Times is reporting that China wants to dramatically boost the number of satellites in orbit while China Newsweek talks about a new enterprise, China Star Net, which will be formed and based in Shanghai. China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), a state-owned enterprise, outlined its plans to preliminarily finish the construction of the […]

November 23, 2020

Musk targets India for Starlink

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband service is now in beta-test mode over North America and a few other ‘friends and family’ locations overseas. SpaceX is on record as saying that initially Starlink will focus very much on North America and would probably expand its service overseas via local agents and resellers. However, Musk says that […]

November 20, 2020By Chris Forrester

Starlink working on lowering terminal costs

Would-be subscribers outside North America will have to wait some tome for access to SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system. Starlink VP Jonathan Hofeller, speaking at last week’s Euroconsult World Satellite Business Week virtual edition, told attendees that as far as North America was concerned Starlink would stay as a ‘direct to consumer’ business. Starlink is already […]

November 16, 2020

Telesat “confident” of hitting LEO deadlines

Telesat’s SVP of Corporate & Business Development, Michael Schwartz, told attendees to the Euroconsult World Satellite Business Week event, held virtually this year, that the Canadian company would meet the key deadlines to build and launch its Low Earth Orbiting satellite constellation. Earlier this week Telesat confirmed a C$600 million (€387.5m) commitment from the Canadian […]

November 12, 2020By Chris Forrester

Euroconsult: Record amount of smaller launches

Euroconsult’s Alexandre Najjar, a senior consultant with the research firm, speaking at its World Satellite Business Week virtual event, said that between January 1st and November 1st this year it had recorded 1029 smaller satellite launches. Adding in larger craft and the total rose to 1079. This is a record and beat the 2019 total […]

November 12, 2020By Chris Forrester