NASA has selected London-based satellite operator Inmarsat as a delivery partner for its Communications Services Project (CSP). Under the Funded Space Act Agreement (FSAA), NASA will partner with Inmarsat to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of providing commercial satellite communications (satcom) capabilities as a service for future spacecraft users in near-Earth orbit. Inmarsat’s government division […]

The images of a destroyed Antonov aircraft (registered number An-225), and one of the planet’s very largest aircraft, went around the world showing it destroyed in a hanger at an airfield near Kyiv. Its loss will have an immediate impact on the delivery of some urgently needed satellites. AN-225, dubbed Mriya (Dream) was blown to […]

ViaSat is currently testing its next satellite – its first ViaSat-3 craft, and part of a three-satellite geostationary broadband constellation. It is due to launch later this summer and should supply 1TB/second of throughput. It will launch on a SpaceX rocket. ViaSat is also in the process of acquiring Inmarsat and ViaSat’s executive chairman, Mark […]

London-based Inmarsat, itself in the process of being acquired by Viasat of California, turned a 2020 loss of $182.9 million (€166.4m) into a profit for last year of $17.7 million. The profit might seem modest but coming out of the Covid pandemic with many of its core client connectivity services being badly hit, it is […]

California-based Viasat’s chairman Mark Dankberg, speaking at the Washington Satellite 2022, told delegates that the satellite industry should expect more attempts to compromise networks. Viasat’s European KA-SAT was hit by a deliberate cyber-attack on February 24th. “There will be worse cyber attacks than that if we’re not really vigilant,” Dankberg warned. He said that Viasat […]

Monterosa has raised £3.5m (€4.2m) of growth capital to accelerate development of its real-time engagement (RTE) platform and drive the company’s expansion into new global markets. The funding was led by 24Haymarket and included existing investor ACF Investors, plus a trio of new investors including Jeremy Darroch, former CEO and Executive Chair at Sky, Chris […]

A report from the FBI and the USA’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency says more attempts similar to the recent hacking of Viasat’s KA-SAT communications satellite are likely. The report says that the current problems surrounding Russia means that satellite operators and service companies must examine their critical infrastructure and review and implement much stronger […]

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is facing some urgent requests to authorise delays for satellite operators and their launch plans. The reasons are mostly caused by the pandemic and the impact of staff shortages at assorted satellite builders and their suppliers of components. The ITU has to decide whether to approve some extreme delays from […]

Pandemic-related issues, plus general supply side component difficulties, have severely delayed the launch of a Viasat satellite designed to operate over Europe and the MENA regions. Viasat-3/EMEA had been originally planned to launch on an early flight of an Ariane 6 rocket around the middle of 2022 and as part of a trio of Generation […]