A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket placed 46 Starlink satellites into one of five orbital shells in SpaceX’s internet constellation on August 12th. SpaceX began launching dedicated missions into one of the network two polar orbit shells last month. SpaceX has previously launched satellites into the other three shells at inclinations of 53 degrees, 53.2 degrees, […]
The FCC has turned down Elon Musk’s SpaceX request for an $886 million (€860m) grant as part of the US government’s massive $20.4 billion rural broadband subsidy scheme. The FCC had previously awarded the sum back in 2020, but that move has now been rejected. In a statement, the FCC said the FCC said that […]
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 […]