Government/Military

A new $1.3 million (1 million British pounds) MOD investment will be funding the development of a new generation of British deployable satellite antennas. The ‘wrapped rib’ antenna aims to be lighter, less complex and more cost-competitive than those currently available commercially. The antenna will be exclusively developed in the U.K. by Oxford Space Systems (OSS). In...

The C-band situation in the United States is once again under the microscope. Respected satellite equity analyst Giles Thorne of Jefferies has released a new report titled “The Orbiter: All Eyes on the Ivory Tower” which examines the situation as we head into 2019. The satellite industry through the C-Band Alliance (CBA), a combination of the...

Luokung Technology, a Chinese graphics data processing technology company, is strategically cooperating with the National Engineering Research Center for Remote Sensing Applications (the Engineering Center), which is China’s national-level center of scientific research and development, technological innovation, and industrialization in the area of remote sensing application. The two parties jointly established a national-level Spatial-Temporal Data...

Rocket Lab revealed that its first mission of 2019 will be a dedicated launch of a 150kg satellite for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA’s Radio Frequency Risk Reduction Deployment Demonstration (R3D2) mission is scheduled for launch in late February and intends to space-qualify a prototype reflect array antenna to improve radio communications...

An increasing number of states are developing plans for setting-up spaceports, with suborbital flights and small satellites taking the center stage. In Europe, Portugal has been taking relevant steps, as it approved its Space Strategy 2030 on March 12, 2018. The country also approved the Space Act at the Council of Ministers, is setting up...

The U.K. is the global hub for the satellite and space insurance industry. There are, however, significant issues related to Brexit which may threaten the U.K.’s current position, and which may lead to members of the insurance industry having to undertake expensive restructuring. Layer on issues caused by U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR),...

In the middle of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) ambitious Space Month initiative in November, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sat down for an interview with Via Satellite to discuss a regulatory agenda that he believes will cultivate innovation in space. “Some might say that nine space-related items on the agenda for a monthly meeting...

The European Space Agency (ESA) signed a one-year contract with ArianeGroup to study and prepare for a mission to go to the Moon with the aim of mining regolith. Regolith is an ore from which it is possible to extract water and oxygen, which could enable an independent human presence on the Moon to be...

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), denoted NROL-71, lifted off from Vandenberg Air Base in California on Jan. 19 at 11:10 a.m. local time. The mission is in support of U.S. national defense. The mission launched aboard a Delta IV Heavy, comprised of...

With the support of specialists from Istar, the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) successfully completed the installation and commissioning of five central stations. These stations use UHP equipment to provide via-satellite communication using the Express-AM series spacecraft. This will help enable RSCC to use the capacity of its satellites more efficiently and expand the capabilities...