Author: Owen D. Kurtin

On July 23, earth-imaging provider DigitalGlobe Inc. announced that it agreed to acquire competitor GeoEye Inc. for approximately $900 million. GeoEye’s principal shareholder, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, agreed...

In columns during the last four years, we have looked at the effects of the recession on the satellite and space sector. We decried bailouts of the financial services and...

The May flight of the SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) marked a milestone in human spaceflight: the first mission by a...

In April, we reported on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) suspension of the conditional waiver of license conditions it had granted in 2011 to ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) operator LightSquared...

The “Jumpstart Our Business Startups” (JOBS) Act, enacted on April 5, 2012, is the first significant liberalization of the U.S. capital markets regulatory regime since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002...

At SATELLITE 2012, one of the most frequently discussed subtexts to more familiar topics was the blurring of the lines between fixed and mobile satellite service (FSS and MSS). In...

In September, we reviewed the controversy between LightSquared, the satellite operator planning to deploy a 4G-LTE (Long Term Evolution-a preliminary 4G standard) Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) wholesale telecommunications network, and...

The useful lifetime of geosynchronous orbit satellites averages about 15 years, a limit primarily imposed by the exhaustion of propellant aboard. The propellant is needed for “station-keeping” — maintaining the...

We usually discuss satellite technology in politically neutral terms, recognizing its achievements in communications, media, navigation, mapping and other fields, while at best tacitly acknowledging that the same capabilities can...

The dangers inherent for access to space, as well as the security of crew members already there in the period between the retirement of the space shuttle and the arrival...