Opinion

The whole world has been completely disrupted by COVID-19 in the past six months, and unfortunately, the pandemic does not seem to be ending anytime soon. For some countries and regions, however, the level of disruption has been disproportionately severe, leaving many people stranded without reliable access to critical information in this time of crisis....

All industrial revolutions have had their economic successes and the space industry is no exception. At the same time, they have impacted the environment leading to the defining issue of our time — climate change. Contrary to what is often believed, the real danger of rocket engine exhaust is particles, not gases that can affect Earth’s...

I write this in mid-August as the summer slowly starts to wind into fall. It has been a year unlike any other for us all, both personally and professionally. The satellite industry has been key during the pandemic, ensuring connectivity in remote communities, bringing entertainment to millions of people across the world. However, despite the...

Space in China has historically been associated with the state, and for good reason. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has been synonymous with space in China. With CASC being owned by the Chinese government, this has meant that effectively the entirety of the Chinese space industry, up until 2014, was CASC. This...

Over the past decades, the effect of human activities on the environment has been widely acknowledged. Anthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants accelerates global warming and causes changes in the composition of the atmosphere, leading to further environmental issues such as ocean acidification, water and soil pollution, sea level rise, and loss of...

It is fair to say 2020 has been widely chaotic, and that is no different for the space launch industry. The industry is facing a pandemic that affects the global aerospace workforce, a spiral of launch delays and supply chain issues, and a string of launch failures from established and new launch providers alike. One...

Industry analysts from Berenberg Bank and Jefferies put European satellite operator Eutelsat under the microscope this week, issuing reports that largely praised the company for its recent acquisition of BigBlu Broadband, and its efforts to generate strong cash-flow. Sarah Simon, a satellite equity analyst at Berenberg Bank, said she was “impressed” by Eutelsat’s cash-flow generation...

Though it would be a challenge, it was evident that OneWeb’s project was groundbreaking. The company aimed to disrupt the space industry with its large satellite constellation – and that it did. OneWeb set a precedent that large players such as SpaceX, Telesat, and Amazon only followed. From early on in its journey, U.K. regulators,...

Has it ever struck you that the satellite industry does all the work and the mobile industry has all the fun? It is an unfair comparison, of course.  But consider: mobile gets the apps and games, the pictures and videos and social media frenzy.  According to The New York Times, “The Nude Selfie is Now...

The COVID-19 pandemic, together with the international governmental response to contain it, has had an immediate and damaging impact on a wide range of businesses internationally across all sectors, including the satellite and space sector. The numbers of employees affected by the virus directly, in combination with restrictions on people’s movements internationally and locally, has...