Finance

The Space Alliance formed by Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio announced it has officially taken a minority stake in Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries, having received all government approvals for the transaction. This investment is part of an overall fundraising effort of $150 million from several sources which include The Space Alliance and Mitsui & Co., Ltd....

As satellite operators expand their footprints into new verticals and customer bases, the key to long-term sustainability will be integration with the broader telecommunications ecosystem. During the Tuesday opening session at the SATELLITE 2018 Conference & Exhibition, the executive leaders of five of the largest global satellite operators agreed that the future of wireless communications...

The charts are pretty grim when it comes to the share prices of major satellite operators. During a Monday morning discussion between financial analysts at the SATELLITE 2018 Conference & Exhibition, Northern Sky Research (NSR) President Christopher Baugh pointed out that, despite the industry’s massive technological advancements, investors are generally much less bullish on Fixed...

Unrelenting demand for launch availability, particularly from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation operators, is pushing launch providers to diversify and adapt their existing vehicle lineups. As evident during Monday’s closing session at the SATELLITE 2018 Conference & Exhibition, a common thread running through major launch companies’ strategies is the need to accommodate “opportunistic” launches for...

As the panel on “New Launch Options to Orbit Part 1” ensued, moderator, Kendall Russell, assistant editor for Via Satellite, noted the huge growth that the smallsat sector has recently been through. 2017 was an important — and a breakthrough — year for the small satellite sector with more than 200 launched. The potential for...

Rising opportunities in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) have created a lot of excitement in the satellite industry over the past few years. Yet, while the market for residential and commercial broadband continues to soar, concerns surrounding the costs of deploying new technologies threaten to dampen some of the industry’s enthusiasm. That was the general...

Steve Collar feels very comfortable in his new role as head of SES. You can tell he’s eager to get to work and apply his own personal touch to the business. This year’s Startup Space competition featured new business pitches from portable medical services, aquatic life / seafood management companies, launch travel booking companies… And...

SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation has signed an agreement with Blue Origin for the future use of its New Glenn launch vehicle currently under development. The rocket, named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, is planned for a debut launch in 2020 from Florida. Read more at GeekWire>>

SATELLITE 2018 kicked off with a lively panel “SATELLITE 2018: Challenges and Opportunities for an Industry in Transition” where a number of industry figures talked about everything from LEO systems, ground-based services to what the industry must do to stay relevant in the future. One of the major talking points of the panel was the...

Although the space industry has begun to take small satellites more seriously, a panel of experts at the SATELLITE 2018 Conference & Exhibition agreed that this niche of the business is still in its beginning stages. In order for smallsat players to continue their growth trajectories and stay relevant to the broader industry, the focus...