Featured Stories

Iridium Communications continued its multi-year growth streak in 2023, reporting record revenue for the year of $790.7 million, up 10% from the year-ago period. The satellite operator reported full year financial results on Feb. 15.  Total revenue included $584.5 million of service revenue and $206.2 million of revenue related to equipment sales and engineering and...

The White House confirmed on Thursday that Russia is developing an anti-satellite (ASAT) capability, although it is not an active capability. This disclosure came after Congressman Mike Turner called for the White House to declassify information about a “serious national security threat.”  Turner, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), released...

Finnish hyperspectral startup Kuva Space is working to break into the U.S. market, recently hiring former Iceye US CEO Jerry Welsh to lead the company’s expansion in the U.S. The company plans to launch two hyperspectral satellites this year and establish a constellation of 100 satellites by 2030. For Welsh, this role represents a tough, but...

Space sustainability is becoming an undisputed necessity. However, not everyone agrees yet on the how, nor does everyone believe in the viability of a commercial market for space safety, security and sustainability – the 3S’s of space. Despite Morgan Stanley, and others, estimating that the revenue generated by the space situational awareness (SSA) market alone...

BlackSky Technology shared more details this week about a recent $50 million deal to supply subscription imagery and analytics to the Indonesian Ministry of Defense (MoD). In this deal, the Indonesian MoD will integrate BlackSky’s software and hardware capabilities into a sovereign capability.  BlackSky received a contract from Thales Alenia Space supporting the MoD to...

It’s not every day that the FCC proposes an entirely new rule section to address an emerging technology. But it may be a signal of the technology’s potential when it does. Such is the case for ISAM — or in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing. On Jan. 25, 2024, the Commission released a draft Notice of...

Sponsored By: The launch of JUPITER™ 3 on July 28, 2023, from Kennedy Space Center marked the beginning of a new era of connectivity. The largest commercial communications satellite ever built doubles the capacity of the Hughes JUPITER fleet and promises to redefine the way we connect. Designed to meet customer needs, JUPITER 3 provides faster speeds,...

Viasat plans to initiate service soon with the first ViaSat-3 satellite, which has just a fraction of its planned capacity due to an issue with an antenna on board. The operator announced in its Feb. 6 quarterly results that it plans to start commercial in-flight connectivity service on the satellite in the quarter of its...

Intelsat recently completed a flight test to the Arctic Circle to demonstrate in-flight connectivity (IFC) service at extreme northern latitudes, using Eutelsat OneWeb’s network.   In mid-December, Intelsat flew its test aircraft, a CRJ-700 regional jet equipped with an electronically steered array (ESA) antenna, during two flights — from Seattle, Washington, to Anchorage, Alaska; and from...

In this episode, On Orbit interviews Sonali Mohapatra, who works in quantum innovation at the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) in the U.K. Sonali breaks down quantum technology and shares some of the future use cases that relate to the space industry. Read more about the quantum use cases for space in Sonali’s cover story...