Technology

Satixfy has formed a strategic partnership with Presto Engineering, a company that specializes in ASIC design and semiconductor engineering and production services. The two companies announced the strategic partnership, April 13. The two companies aim to test and qualify radiation hardened space-grade ASICs for next generation satellite communications. Presto Engineering is providing Satixfy with services to...

Intelsat has ordered a Northrop Grumman Mission Extension Pod (MEP) to service one of its satellites for at least six years beginning in 2026. Intelsat announced the deal on Thursday, but has not identified which of its satellites in Geostationary Orbit (GEO) will get the service.  The MEP is a propulsion augmentation device from Northrop...

Slingshot Aerospace shared plans on Wednesday to expand its Global Sensor Network to increase its daily observations of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) by 100 times.  By the end of  this year, Slingshot plans to deploy more than 80 new optical sensors, which include proprietary telescopes and ultra-wide field of view sensors. This will bring its total...

The U.S. Space Force intends to bolster its satellite communications capacity through the use of electronically-steered phased array antennas for the DoD Satellite Control Network (SCN), and a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) study urges the Department of the Air Force to finish its planned update to the SCN life cycle sustainment plan (LCSP). “SCN...

BridgeComm has demonstrated quantum encryption technology over the company’s optical ground modem, BridgeComm announced April 5.  The company tested both AES-256 and post quantum attack resistant (PQC) Kyber-1024 encryption between its internally developed space terminal modem over a free space optical link to its optical ground modem. BridgeComm reported the trial demonstrated the system can...

Loft Orbital has procured a second batch of 15 satellites from Airbus OneWeb Satellites, for the bus platform based on the OneWeb satellites. Loft Orbital announced the deal April 6, saying that it sold out of the first batch ordered in January 2022.  Loft Orbital has now ordered more than 30 buses from Airbus OneWeb...

Startup Quantum Space introduced its Ranger orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) on Thursday, a new last-mile delivery service to carry payloads to Geostationary and cislunar orbits and beyond.  Calling it a multi-operations vehicle, Quantum Space said Ranger is designed to take spacecraft to their final orbit more quickly and so customers can conserve propellant for operations....

SEA AIR SPACE 2023 — A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule last year is likely to spur demand for commercial deorbiting systems that may help declutter parts of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), Space Development Agency (SDA) Director Derek Tournear said on Apr. 3. Last September, the FCC adopted rules requiring operators of LEO satellites to deorbit their birds...

Satixfy reports that it demonstrated the company’s new antenna with OneWeb Technologies and the Air Force Research Lab. The demonstration was part of the U.S. military program Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI), in partnership with the U.S. Army. Satixfy’s April 4 announcement was light on details, but the company said it demonstrated its...

Two space sustainability companies, LeoLabs and ClearSpace, have signed an MoU to work together toward a sustainable space ecosystem. LeoLabs offers space traffic management software and operates a ground radar network, and ClearSpace is working on active debris removal technology. The companies announced April 3 they plan to work together on leadership to promote space...