E-letter: Briefs

Airbus has signed a contract with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence to provide the next-generation modems for the nation’s Skynet satellite communications constellation. Airbus is building the Skynet 6A...

Working together, Deutsche Telekom, Qualcomm, and Skylo completed a trial to send a text message over a Geostationary (GEO) satellite, the companies announced Tuesday. The proof-of-concept was conducted in Greece...

D-Orbit USA has selected Spectrum AMT as its manufacturing partner in the U.S. to support satellite bus design, manufacturing, and business development.  The deal announced Tuesday is with Spectrum Advanced...

NASA awarded SpaceX a contract to launch the agency’s Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s Titan moon on a Falcon Heavy rocket in 2028. The firm-fixed-price contract announced Monday is worth $256.6...

Note — This story was updated on Dec. 9 with more information on the suborbital mission Rocket Lab hit the milestone of launching two missions from two continents in less...

Sky Perfect JSAT is launching a new facility as it looks to be a pioneer in 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) technologies in Japan. It has unveiled its Universal NTN Innovation...

Firefly Aerospace completed environmental testing on its Blue Ghost lunar lander and is now preparing to ship the lander to Cape Canaveral for launch in January. It will launch on...

The U.S. Department of Commerce has finalized agreements with Rocket Lab and BAE Systems Electronic Systems for funding under the CHIPS program for investment in semiconductors used in satellites.  Rocket...

Military forces’ demand for Proliferated Low-Earth Orbit (PLEO) services outstripped what the U.S. Space Force expected, and the service has already divvied out $660 million in communications task orders —...

Blue Origin flew a crew to the edge of space on the New Shepard rocket on Friday in its ninth human spaceflight mission. The civilian astronaut crew included TV host...