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MDA Space is joining Starlab Space, the joint venture between Voyager Space, Airbus, and Mitsubishi Corporation, to contribute to building the Starlab commercial space station. MDA Space is now a strategic partner and an equity owner in Starlab Space, the company announced Wednesday.  Financial terms of the equity deal were not disclosed.  Starlab Space is...

SES is launching Open Orbits, an open architecture network to pool capacity from regional satellite operators for a worldwide in-flight connectivity (IFC) service for airlines.  The interoperable Ka-band platform will combine capacity from SES’s multi-orbit fleet, along with NEO Space Group (NSG), a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF); AeroSat Link (ASL), a...

Japan Airlines selected Intelsat to provide in-flight connectivity on more than 20 upcoming Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The aircraft will have multi-orbit service using Intelsat’s new electronically steered array (ESA) antenna. The service will operate on Intelsat’s family of Geostationary (GEO) satellites and partner Eutelsat OneWeb’s constellation of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. In March,...

Hughes Network Systems shared two updates on its in-flight connectivity business on Tuesday, announcing a new Hughes-built electronically steerable antenna (ESA) and an agreement to join the Airbus HBCplus program.  Hughes debuted its own ESA terminal designed for aviation at Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) in Hamburg, Germany. The company said it is optimized for the...

MDA Space selected Tesat to provide the optical communication terminals (OCT) for Telesat’s Lightspeed Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation.  Tesat announced Tuesday that MDA Space selected its SCOT80 optical communications terminal (OCT) for the company’s Aurora software-defined product line, including its anchor customer, Lightspeed. MDA Space placed an order for 792 terminals. Financial terms of the...

Japanese satellite operator Sky Perfect JSAT ordered a software-defined satellite from Thales Alenia Space, JSAT-31. Based on the Space INSPIRE platform, JSAT-31 will have the largest capacity in the history of SKY Perfect JSAT satellites. It is expected to launch in 2027. This is JSAT’s first order with Thales. The satellite will operate in both...

Satellite navigation startup TrustPoint has appointed Charles Beames as executive chairman of the company’s board of directors. With this role, Beames will lead the TrustPoint board and work with the company’s executive team.  TrustPoint, which recently won the Startup Space competition at SATELLITE, is developing a fully commercial Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to provide...

Viasat is partnering with Azercosmos to bring its L-band satellite services to Azerbaijan. This will be the first time that Viasat-enabled satellite services are offered in Azerbaijan. Under the proposed arrangement announced May 23, the Azerbaijan state-owned satellite operator, and Viasat will provide connectivity for a range of industrial applications such as tracking and telemetry...

Arabsat is working with ST Engineering iDirect and neXat to deploy managed satellite services.  The satellite operator announced a deal with ST Engineering iDirect on May 22 for expanded market access on Arabsat BADR-7 and 6A broadband managed services. ST Engineering iDirect will help Arabsat expand its coverage to manage connectivity services in countries that...

Amazon is beginning the process to actively deorbit its two Project Kuiper prototype satellites, nearly eight months after the satellites were launched. In an update on May 23, Amazon said it is beginning the final stage of the prototype mission, demonstrating active deorbit.  “The last milestone in our Protoflight mission is deorbiting Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2....