After O3b and OneWeb, Brian Holz starts Mangata Networks. Prime market: MNOs. Capex: Pay as you go

After O3b and OneWeb, Brian Holz starts Mangata Networks. Prime market: MNOs. Capex: Pay as you go

Sep 25, 2020

PARIS — Brian Holz was on the ground floor, alongside Greg Wyler, of the O3b medium-Earth-orbit (MEO) broadband constellation and, again with Wyler, of the OneWeb Global low-Earth-orbit (LEO) project.
That experience earned him a reputation that has helped him get seed financing from Intellectual Ventures for the Holz-designed Mangata Networks constellation of MEO and highly elliptical orbit (HEO) satellites.
Another broadband constellation when at least three networks — SpaceX’s Starlink, post-bankruptcy OneWeb,

OneWeb bankruptcy court OKs additional $235 million in DIP financing for space, ground network

OneWeb bankruptcy court OKs additional $235 million in DIP financing for space, ground network

Sep 25, 2020

PARIS — The court handling OneWeb Global Ltd.’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy approved an additional $235 million in Debtor-in-Possession (DIP) loans to maintain continuity in satellite production and continue work on OneWeb’s ground segment, its eventual user terminals and other expenses.
The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is expected to approve OneWeb’s latest restructuring plan in early October, but regulatory approval of the company’s purchase, by the British government and India’s Bharti Global, could take an additional month . . .
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Geospatial imagery provider UrtheCast, in bankruptcy, gets $1M DIP funding & still sees a future constellation

Geospatial imagery provider UrtheCast, in bankruptcy, gets $1M DIP funding & still sees a future constellation

Sep 18, 2020

PARIS — Geospatial imagery and analytics provider UrtheCast Corp. expects to sell both core and non-core assets as part of its Canadian bankruptcy procedure, equivalent to the U.S. Chapter 11, but is holding on to its long-held ambition of financing its radar and optical satellite constellations.
Vancouver-based UrtheCast filed for what in Canada is called the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) on Sept. 4. Ernst & Young Inc. is the court-approved monitor for the proceedings.
The company reported debt . . .
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HyImpulse conducts motor test, Rocket Factory Augsburg announces customer: German Mini-Launcher race heats up

HyImpulse conducts motor test, Rocket Factory Augsburg announces customer: German Mini-Launcher race heats up

Sep 18, 2020

Jörn Spurmann of Rocket Factory Augsburg. Credit: Luxembourg Space Forum video
PARIS — German smallsat launch vehicle startup HyImpulse Technologies GmbH said the successful test-firing of its hybrid rocket motor gives it an advance in race among three German companies to develop a commercial vehicle with government seed financing.
The company said its 75kN motor is the biggest hybrid rocket engine ever built and tested in Europe.
The results, HyImpulse said in a post-test statement “confirms that the rocket propellants based on Paraffin/LOx achieve . . .
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Round 3 of UK Parliament quest to understand government OneWeb purchase ends with no answers

Round 3 of UK Parliament quest to understand government OneWeb purchase ends with no answers

Sep 17, 2020

PARIS — The British Parliament continued its investigation into the government’s purchase of the bankrupt OneWeb Global Ltd. startup broadband satellite constellation but made no visible progress on assessing the investment’s reasoning or ultimate value.
The Parliament’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee instead used a Sept. 17 hearing on OneWeb to explore general questions of the value of space-sector investment, OneWeb’s eventual role in providing secure positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services and the problems of space traffic management and debris . . .
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Rocket builder Avio: Covid is opening up M&A possibilities; that’s what our share buyback is all about

Rocket builder Avio: Covid is opening up M&A possibilities; that’s what our share buyback is all about

Sep 15, 2020

PARIS — European rocket builder Avio SpA reported an 11% decline in revenue but increased profit for the six months ending June 30 compared to a year ago as the Covid-19 pandemic forced it to delay work with its supply chain and focus on its own, higher-margin activities.
Avio Chief Executive Giulio Ranzo said the company’s forecast for the coming months is highly sensitive to Covid evolutions, which in 2020 shut down Europe’s Guiana Space Center spaceport.
Covid’s effects are also . . .
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BlackSky: A data-analytics platform that just happens to own a satellite manufacturer

BlackSky: A data-analytics platform that just happens to own a satellite manufacturer

Sep 14, 2020

UPDATE Sept. 24: BlackSky said it is under contract with the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit to develop a third-generation BlackSky system that will have a 50-centimeter ground resolution and carry a short-wave-infrared (SWIR) payload. The Gen-3 satellite design has completed a preliminary design review, as part of the contract, for the U.S. Army Tactical GeoInt (TACGEO) program.
BlackSky said all Gen-3 satellites would have 50-centimeter resolution and SWIR and will orbit in the same altitude as the current-generation spacecraft, which have 80- to 100 . . .
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