A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully placed its latest batch of Starlink craft (mission 4-26) into orbit on August 9th at 10.14pm Florida time. The launch happened from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket’s first-stage booster then landed some 9 minutes later onto the floating barge ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ waiting down-range in the […]
Elon Musk-backed SpaceX has raised an additional $250 million (€245.5m) in an equity round during July. The extra cash means that SpaceX has raised some $2 billion this year. CNBC, in a May report, says that the cash then raised puts a value on SpaceX of more than $127 billion. It is also suggested that […]
Hughes Network Systems, a sister company of EchoStar and owned by Charlie Ergen, admits that SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service is now its “biggest competitive threat”. While Hughes says it can supply perfectly adequate services – especially when combined with an upcoming satellite/LTE combination offer to its customers – it now says that its biggest threat […]
Would-be subscribers to Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband service need only pay $99 as a deposit on their home-equipment. US customers have to stump up $599 for the same equipment. Starlink will open up for Nigerian users during August 2022, although Starlink has yet to announce its monthly subscription charges for Nigerian customers. Nigeria’s communication authority […]
SpaceX has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for more spectrum to be allocated to its Starlink system, and in particular the 2 GHz band, which it says is needed to augment its existing mobile satellite services. David Goldman, SpaceX’s senior director of satellite policy, told the FCC in his formal application that SpaceX’s “next-generation […]
Northern Sky Research (NSR) has taken a deep dive into the satellite capacity supply industry which is now past the Covid-19 contraction and, in some areas, growing at a rapid pace. In revenue terms, the 2021 level of $12.1 billion (€11.9bn) is forecast to grow to $30 billion in 2031 representing a cumulative opportunity of […]
The East European state of Georgia is the latest country to approve reception rights for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite service. Starlink had reportedly applied for permission to provide services in Georgia as recently as July 8th after meeting regulatory officials at the end of June, Georgia’s National Communications Commission, ComCom, stated. ComCom’s statement was enthusiastic about […]
The European Commission (EC), along with the European Space Agency (ESA), continues to firmly back the establishment of an independent and European-backed low Earth orbiting (LEO) broadband constellation. However, there’s criticism that the proposed €6 billion scheme is unnecessary and that there are plenty of commercial schemes more than capable of filling consumer demand. The […]
SpaceX’s live coverage of its Starlink launches and its landings at sea make spectacular viewing, but the images come at a significant cost. SpaceX’s Starlink contracts with geostationary operators, which provided the return path to SpaceX’s HQ, are hefty deals. “At over $165,000 per month for 25 Mb/s download by 25 Mb/s upload of pre-paid […]
SpaceX managed another textbook launch on July 10th when it placed 46 Starlink craft into orbit on a launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A few minutes later the first stage booster from the Falcon 9 rocket landed onto the Of Course I Still Love You droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean. The […]