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Satellite operator Intelsat has signed with Northrop Grumman‘s SpaceLogistics to utilize its two Mission Extension Vehicles (MEVs) and service its satellites for at least another four years. The contract agreement, announced Thursday, is itself a life-extension of a six-year-long partnership between the two companies that has showcased how the MEV-1 and MEV-2 vehicles can extend...

NASA set a new optical data transmission distance record using technology from CACI International, the company announced Thursday. CACI said that NASA transmitted optical data over a distance of more than 200 million kilometers – from its Psyche spacecraft in orbit to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The test was part of...

French startup Kinéis is preparing for two Rocket Lab launches starting in June to launch the first 10 satellites of its IoT constellation. Kinéis announced Thursday that two launches are planned between June 17 and July 15, with five satellites on each launch.  Kinéis signed a five-launch deal with Rocket Lab in 2021. At the...

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) on May 21 said it awarded a contract to iDirect Government to prototype the company’s technology to mitigate signal interference by 5G radio frequency spectrum on satellite communications, which suffers due to the overlap. The value of the award was not disclosed. DIU, the Defense Department unit charged with getting commercially-developed...

Yahsat has signed an MoU for a multi-year deal to leverage capacity on Eutelsat Group‘s Konnect satellite across multiple African and Middle East nations. Under the deal announced Wednesday, Yahsat will have exclusive rights to Konnect capacity over Ethiopia, one of the fastest-growing African markets. Yahsat said this deal will support the growth of its...

Satellite technology developer SatixFy Communications will provide its Onyx in-flight connectivity (IFC) terminals to communication solutions integrator SCOTTY Group Austria GmbH under the terms of a new partnership agreement announced Wednesday. SatixFy’s Onyx is an all-in-one, compact satellite communications aero terminal designed for use on small to mid-sized aircraft. The Onyx features SatixFy’s digital beam-forming...

Wireless communication technology companies Rohde & Schwarz (R&S) and Viavi Solutions signed an expansion of their joint wireless lab test solutions partnership. The two companies announced Wednesday that the partnership will include the roll-out of a non-terrestrial network (NTN) digital twin testbed they co-developed, covering Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO)....

U.S. Space Systems Command (SSC) on Monday said it has awarded Starfish Space a $37.5 million contract in which the company’s Otter space vehicle will dock with, and augment maneuvers of, national security space assets in a first of its kind mission. Under the $37.5 million Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) contract, Seattle-based Starfish is required to provide...

Space and Data-as-a-Service satellite company Sidus Space and L3Harris Technologies announced Tuesday that they will continue working together to support the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP) for another year. The DoD Mentor-Protégé Program was designed to foster partnerships between established defense contractors and smaller, emerging businesses, and to help smaller firms expand...

German smart agriculture company BASF Digital Farming GmbH will expand the scope of its existing contract with Planet Labs in order to access more data from Planet’s Crop Biomass Planetary Variable analysis feed. In an announcement published Tuesday, BASF Digital Farming said it will increase its use of Planet’s satellite data products to power its...