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With dual Ku-/Ka-band aero terminal qualification, Gilat looks to Air Esurfing & China market
PARIS — Satellite broadband hardware and services provider Gilat Satellite Networks said the qualification of its dual Ku-/Ka-band aero terminal is likely to have its most immediate impact in China, where the company is already partnered with local IFC/IFE provider Air Esurfing. Air Esurfing has...
Thales Alenia Space partners with France’s ONERA aerospace lab for HAPS, optical comms, radiation hardening
PARIS — Satellite prime contractor Thales Alenia Space signed a cooperation agreement with French aerospace-research lab ONERA, saying public-private relationships like this that enabled it to best Viasat to win a high-throughput-satellite contract with fleet operator Eutelsat. Under the terms of...
ArianeGroup: Big work force reduction needed given commercial, government market demand
PARIS — The prime contractor for Europe’s Ariane rockets on Nov. 13 outlined why and how it plans to cut its work force by 25% over four years given the transition from Ariane 5 to Ariane 6, a still-depressed heavy-lift commercial satellite market and the inability of European governments to make...
ArianeGroup union ‘flabbergasted’ by planned 25% work-force reduction
PARIS — Government and industry managers of Europe’s new Ariane 6 heavy-lift launcher have never been willing to drop the other shoe, until now. Since Ariane 6 was decided — at a cost of 3 billion euros ($3.6 billion) to participating European Space Agency governments and another 400 million euros...
Cubesat constellation operator Spire offers to launch 20 customer payloads in 12 months for $12 million
PARIS — Cubesat constellation operator Spire, which is trying to develop its satellite-manufacturing know-how into a separate profit center, is offering to launch 20 payloads on 20 satellites in 12 months or less for 10 million euros ($11.6 million). Spire Chief Executive Peter Platzer, offering...
Cubesat builder GomSpace forecasts rapid growth despite cash issues with customer Sky and Space Global
PARIS — Cubesat builder GomSpace reaffirmed its ambitious five-year revenue target but said its nearer-term goals have been upset by the liquidity challenges of its largest customer, Sky and Space Global (SAS). Denmark-based GomSpace said it had slowed work on the SAS constellation starting last...
Rocket-builder Avio, with market and government tailwind, reports increased revenue & EBITDA
PARIS — Launch-vehicle manufacturer Avio SpA reported double-digit increases in revenue, EBITDA and EBIT for the nine months ending Sept. 30 and said its year-end backlog will approach 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion). The company said its Vega-C rocket, a more-powerful version of the Vega vehicle...
EchoStar transfixed by industry M&A options; Hughes division expands in Central, South America
LONDON — EchoStar Corp. has long been poised to use the imagination of its owner, Charlie Ergen, and the cash generated by its Hughes Network Systems division to do something big. Judging from its quarterly financial statements and its statements to investors, it’s still poised: — EchoStar...
NATO gives itself 12 months for $1.2-billion satellite MoU with Britain, France, Italy, US
LONDON — The NATO alliance expects by late 2019 to complete an MoU with Britain, France, Italy and the United States for about 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to provide 15 years of SHF-, UHF- and EHF-band satellite capacity starting in 2020. The purchase is part of an overall NATO package of 1.5...
SpaceX wants regulators to OK lower-orbit, all-Ku-band deployment for 1,584 satellites
LONDON — SpaceX has asked U.S. regulators to allow the company to modify its Starlink satellite broadband constellation to operate a first generation of satellites at lower orbit, using only Ku-band, while developing dual Ku-/Ka-band antennas for future satellites. The company said the new orbital...
British military seeks satellite orbital-slot solution ahead of ITU meeting
LONDON — The British Ministry of Defence, already struggling with how to proceed on its next-generation Skynet 6 satellite constellation, has a near-term challenge in protecting access to orbital slots that it has no intention of maintaining with its own spacecraft. British officials are...
