SpaceX founder Elon Musk, speaking on August 15th, said that its massive Starship rocket should be ready for flight within the next few weeks. The major challenge, despite the obvious technical and engineering work in hand, comes from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and gaining its permission to actually launch the rocket. The complete Starship […]
A report from India financial services company ICRA forecasts that local consumers will increasingly adopt use of satellite communications despite the “quite expensive” costs. India, however, is starting from a low base (estimated at less than 300,000) in current usage of satellite communications. The report blames a “restricted” operating environment, vague licencing policies and uncertainty […]
Reports suggest that SpaceX will resume launching its Starlink low Earth orbiting satellites in August. It last launched a batch of its own satellites at the end of May. Two launches will take place; one from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and one from SpaceX’s own launch facility in Florida. The Vandenberg launch […]
SpaceX has asked the FCC for permission to install two (normally) ground-based Starlink user terminals aboard a maritime vessel. The application says the request is “experimental” and would run September 1st until October 31st. The full request says: “[to] operate two mobile ground-based Starlink user terminals aboard a maritime vessel while embarked in US territorial […]
Elon Musk’s Space Exploration rocket company has received another major endorsement. NASA is awarding it a $178 million (€151.1m) launch contract to send a mission – the Europa Clipper – to one of Jupiter’s moons. The news will not affect SpaceX’s imminent start of its Starlink broadband-by-satellite service, but it shows that NASA believes that […]
A report from aerospace engineer Michael Volle says that SpaceX’s Starlink initial ‘broadband by satellite’ low Earth orbiting constellation is almost completely deployed in space. Volle says that the Starlink system has just to fill four remaining orbital planes, commented: “The satellites destined for those planes are currently heading to them. Everything will [have been] […]
Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband by satellite service is planning to use Indian manufacturers to build its customer antenna and user modems and terminal devices. Starlink is expected to launch in India in 2022. “SpaceX is excited to find ways to work together with the Indian industry for manufacturing products for its Starlink devices,” said Matt […]
The value of DTH broadcasting is common knowledge, but there’s an enormous market elsewhere in the satellite industry. The ‘downstream’ segment is covered in a major report from Euroconsult. With the broadcast element,
Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system has been approved for activity in Mexico. Users can access the technology from October 28th and the licence will run for 10 years. Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT) received the Starlink application on April 2nd this year and the licence was granted on May 28th. The system must be operational […]
A Californian motorist was stopped and issued a penalty ticket issued for using a Starlink dish mounted on the car’s front hood. The driver was stopped by California’s Highway Patrol (CHP). The car, a Prius hybrid, had one of SpaceX’s Starlink ‘pizza sized’ dishes along with its connecting cable running across the front window and […]