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Interview: Denis V. Lyskov, director-general, Glavkosmos & chairman, GK Launch Services
PARIS — The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, early this year gave Glavkosmos rights to sell Soyuz rocket launches from Russia’s Baikonur, Plesetsk and Vostochny spaceports. But it’s not quite exclusive: the French-Russian Starsem, some 20 years old, continues to have Soyuz marketing rights as...
Intelsat joins group urging U.S. regulator to delay approval of SpaceX constellation
PARIS —Intelsat has joined a group of current and prospective satellite fleet operators in asking U.S. regulators to withhold approval of SpaceX’s mega-constellation of low-orbiting satellites until it can be analyzed for interference risk. Intelsat’s comment to the U.S. Federal Communications...
DigitalGlobe: US government exercises option, WorldView-4 draws commercial customers
PARIS — Geospatial imagery provider DigitalGlobe on July 20 said it would be spending no more than $600 million to build and launch its WorldView-Legion high-resolution optical Earth observation spacecraft, which recently have been contracted with the satellite-building unit of MDA Corp. of...
U.S. government geospatial imagery buyer re-ups with Planet, reassures DigitalGlobe
PARIS — The incoming U.S. deputy director of national intelligence on July 19 said she would push for greater use of commercial satellite imagery from small-satellite constellations for intelligence purposes but cautioned that quicker revisit time is not a panacea. Susan M. Gordon, who has been...
Launch prices for smallsats on India’s PSLV rocket may be coming down
PARIS — The commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) charged about $28,500 per kilogram to launch 29 cubesats aboard its PSLV rocket on June 23, a price that appears to reflect a drop compared to previous missions. There is no such thing as a “standard” price for launches,...
German Heinrich Hertz satellite shows military reluctance to expand commercial satcom
PARIS — The German government’s decision to contract for a new telecommunications satellite is the latest example of governments’ continued reluctance to outsource satellite telecommunications to the private sector. It will also likely mean reduced purchases of commercial satellite services as the...
SpaceX satellite mega-constellation attracts competitors’ fire
PARIS — SpaceX’s planned constellation of 4,425-satellites for direct-to-home internet delivery has come under fire by competitors who want regulators to reject SpaceX’s request for a waiver of in-service and coverage deadlines. Several competitors are also asking that any decision on the SpaceX...
MDA, DigitalGlobe withdraw, resubmit acquisition documents for US national security review
PARIS — MDA Corp. of Canada and U.S. geospatial services provider DigitalGlobe on July 13 said they had withdrawn and then re-filed documents about their planned merger with the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to give the committee additional time to assess the...
District court dismisses Orbital ATK protest of DARPA satellite-servicing program
Updated with Orbital ATK, DARPA statements on court ruling PARIS — A U.S. District Court dismissed Orbital ATK’s lawsuit against a U.S. government effort to develop an in-orbit robotic servicing vehicle with contractor Space Systems/Loral (SSL), saying the court has no standing to challenge an...
Ruag enters Florida space business ecosystem with OneWeb satellite plant
PARIS — Satellite- and rocket-component manufacturer Ruag Space of Europe continued its Americanization on July 11 with the inauguration of a new facility in Florida in the presence of its anchor customer, startup internet constellation operator OneWeb. The event, at the new Port Canaveral...
Global Eagle now paying cash penalty for financial-reporting delays
PARIS — Aeronautical and maritime satellite service provider Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE) on July 12 announced the first of what could be an expensive series of cash payments to its creditors as a penalty for not filing recent earnings statements. Los Angeles-based GEE said that as of July 11...
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