Opinion

Additive Manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, has already begun revolutionizing various manufacturing sectors, and aerospace is inline to see a similar transformation in the coming years. The technology has been around for around two decades now, but the escalation of developments in recent years has been impressive. Only a decade ago, it was exclusively used...

Since Intelsat’s bankruptcy filing in May 2020, the company has portrayed its bankruptcy and restructuring as a triumphant march to continued and greater success, with an “Intelsat Onward” website and a tone of positivity. The latest development in the operator’s bankruptcy proceedings came in mid-February, when Intelsat announced that it had filed a plan of...

Government space budgets grew 10 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, demonstrating the highest yearly budget growth since 2009, according to Euroconsult’s Government Space Programs 2020 report, published in December 2020. Global government space budgets totaled $82.5 billion in 2020, and COVID-19 had no visible effect in 2020 as the pandemic occurred with budgets already in...

Over recent years we’ve seen some impressive advancements across the satcoms industry with boundaries pushed further than we once thought possible. It was recently reported that SpaceX’s satellite broadband service Starlink, is now being tested in the United Kingdom after it was issued an Earth station network license in November. This license permits Starlink to sell satellite...

The past year will be known as a year of strife and great difficulty for the maritime satellite communication market, as a number of key applications have been greatly affected by the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.  In Valour Consultancy’s H1 2020 Maritime Connectivity report, we highlighted how the trade sanctions between the United States...

The era of Ajit Pai’s Federal Communications Commission chairmanship has come to an end, and with it, perhaps, the Blitzkrieg approach to regulatory engineering. Pai was determined to establish the foundation of a nationwide 5G rollout stratagem in his first term. The mission was clear – beat China while playing by free market rules, educate...

As we (thankfully) close the books on 2020 and look forward to a hopeful restart in 2021, NSR’s analyst team was asked to provide their top predictions for the space industry in 2021. The prognostications below cut across all segments of the industry, but all have one theme in common: post COVID-19, space is poised...

As the long-awaited U.S. C-band spectrum auction is finally under way, the revenue growth outlook for the global satellite industry is improving heading into 2021, particularly for the European-listed operators. With industry revenue growth under pressure since 2015, with the exception of the fixed broadband (mainly in North America) and aviation (pre-COVID-19) satellite segments, Credit...

As the satellite industry aims to serve every connectivity need from global 5G networks to mission critical communications, the ever-present threat of a cyber attack is an integral consideration of engineering design both in space and on the ground.  The growth of the satellite industry is requiring increasingly more bandwidth and capacity to operate new...

On December 23, shortly before the holidays, I received a press release that headlined: “European space and digital players to study build of EU’s satellite-based connectivity system.” As part of this 7 million euro ($8.5 million) deal, the European Commission is asking Airbus, Arianespace, Eutelsat, Hispasat, OHB, Orange, SES, Telespazio, and Thales Alenia Space to...