AST SpaceMobile has confirmed that each of their five BlueBird satellites launched by SpaceX in September have successfully unfurled their massive solar and transmission arrays. Each satellite carries 64 sq metres of array. AST is building follow-on satellites which are even larger in size and has ambitions to become a global connectivity supplier of satellite-to-cellular […]

Qatar Airways has taken the future of in-flight connectivity to greater heights by operating the world’s first Starlink-equipped Boeing 777 aircraft from Doha to London on October 22nd. Passengers can now stay entertained and connected throughout their journey, streaming their content and live sports, enjoying online gaming, or working seamlessly at 35,000 feet – all […]

Ben Longmier, Senior Director, satellite engineering at SpaceX (and a co-founder of Swarm Technologies), confirmed on October 21st that SpaceX’s New Zealand cellular partner, One NZ. had sent its first text message via the Starlink system. “[We are] planning to turn on commercial service in New Zealand soon, once Starlink receives FCC commercial authority shortly,” […]

Eutelsat Group has announced the successful launch and deployment of 20 satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO), further strengthening the OneWeb constellation. The satellites were launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 which lifted off at 10:13 pm PT (local) on October 19th from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. […]

A report from analysts at Quilty Space says that SpaceX has filed with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and requesting permission to modify Starlink’s architecture and establish what it calls SpaceX V3. The filing refers to SpaceX’s plans for a 30,000-satellite constellation (specifically, 29,988 satellites), of which the FCC has already authorised an initial […]

The next SpaceX launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California will be the Eutelsat OneWeb Flight 20 mission. This launch was originally scheduled for late-September. It is now expected to happen on October 20th subject to the usual weather limitations. The 20 OneWeb low Earth orbit satellites are ‘in orbit spares’ for the OneWeb […]

History was made the moment the SpaceX ‘mechazilla’ mechanical arms grabbed the returning Super Heavy Starship booster. Even Elon Musk hadn’t wholly expected this level of success for his rocket programme. The Starship’s upper stage continued on its orbital flight to a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean and sufficiently on target for the landing […]

Thaicom, the Asian satellite and space tech company, has announced that its subsidiary, Space Tech Innovation Limited (STI), has signed an agreement with SpaceX for the launch of Thaicom-10, Thaicom’s upcoming, next generation, software-defined, high throughput satellite (SD-HTS). Thaicom-10 satellite, built by Airbus Defence and Space SAS (France), will provide over 120 gigabits per second […]

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told Texas legislators this week that it will pass 4 million customers for Starlink. That is up from 3 million since the end of May. She was speaking while testifying before a state House Appropriations Committee meeting. Starlink has been rolling out to new markets on a near-weekly basis, and there […]

The Federal Communications Commissioners (FCC) are due to meet and vote on September 26th to potentially free up extra bandwidth for satellite communications. FCC chair Jessice Rosenworcel has written saying that freeing up 1,300 MHz in the 17 GHz band (17.3-17.8 GHz) for high-throughput satellite communications would “facilitate the deployment of high-speed broadband and other […]