Featured Stories

With the 2023 World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC) behind us it is time to look ahead to WRC-27. And what a road it will be to get there. WRC-23 made progress on many notable achievements including ensuring we have access to the spectrum we need for 5G terrestrial and non-terrestrial services, providing increased flexibility for operators,...

SpaceX launched the first six Starlink satellites with direct to cell capabilities in its first mission of 2024 on Tuesday evening. SpaceX and partner T-Mobile say the service will provide coverage in cellular dead zones in the most remote locations.  The first six direct to cell satellites will first be used to test the service...

A number of anticipated satellite programs finally got off the ground in 2023. Unfortunately, some of those satellites including the first ViaSat-3, and four of the O3b mPOWER satellites, have experienced on-orbit issues, forcing operators to recalibrate their strategies.  In this round-up, we take stock of 2024 and look at some of the top commercial...

The Space Development Agency confirmed it is the customer for Rocket Lab‘s $515 million, 18-satellite contract announced in December. Rocket Lab will build 18 satellites for the SDA’s Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) – Beta variant, marking Rocket Lab’s first award as a defense prime. Rocket Lab disclosed the award in a Dec. 21 filing...

Via Satellite’s executive interviews provide an in-depth look into the biggest stories of the year. Here is a roundup of our best and most popular interviews of 2023 with the leaders who drive the satellite industry forward. This round-up is part of our year-end content series. Check out the 2023 in review podcast, where Via Satellite editors analyze...

The past year saw a number of shakeups in the satellite industry — like the Viasat/Inmarsat merger and Steve Collar leaving SES. Both of those operators are also dealing with in-orbit anomalies on their next-generation satellites. At the same time, Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations like Starlink, Kuiper, and Lightspeed moved forward, and the satellite industry...

At the end of last year, we launched the Satellite Industry’s 2022 Playlist, where we asked a number of executives their most-listened to track of 2022 using streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. It proved a very popular feature, so this year we decided to bring it back and this time we will...

2023 was a year of massive news in the satellite industry. From the Viasat/Inmarsat and Eutelsat/OneWeb mergers, to new leaders at top operators, and major constellation updates from Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and Telesat Lightspeed, Via Satellite had no shortage of things to cover this year.  In this episode of On Orbit, Via Satellite’s editors...

L3Harris has a long history of space heritage, but in the past few years, the company has shifted from a payload provider to prime contractor, winning key contracts with the Space Development Agency. Space Systems sector President Kelle Wendling talks with Via Satellite about how L3Harris is investing in its space capabilities to keep pace...

In November, Avanti Communications made an announcement out of the blue that it would look to pursue a multi-orbit strategy. Avanti operates four Ka-band satellites, and now looks to embark on a new phase to invest in its managed services capabilities. So, why now? What has changed? Via Satellite caught up with Avanti CEO Kyle...