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High-flying OHB stock tumbles despite reaffirmation of 2017 revenue, profit goal
DARBY, Montana — Satellite and rocket-component manufacturer OHB SE of Germany, which has attracted investors this year with the promise — and recent confirmation — of 804.5 million euros ($918 million) in new orders, on Aug. 10 said it’s targeting new satellite business from the German...
EchoStar/Hughes defends ViaSat, dismisses 5G threat to satellite consumer broadband
Takeaways from EchoStar’s Aug. 9 conference call: — Order of 500 Gbps Jupiter 3 satellite confirms confidence in consumer broadband. — Take-up of Gen5 service on Jupiter 2, and of Brazilian broadband service, both helped drive the Jupiter 3 decision. — Co. gives detailed assessment of why 5G is...
ViaSat consumer broadband subscribers down 10% year on year; waiting for ViaSat-2
LOGAN, Utah — Satellite commercial and government satellite broadband hardware and service provider ViaSat Inc. on Aug. 8 reported further subscriber losses for its U.S. consumer broadband service but said per-subscriber revenue growth offset the decline. For the first time, the company said its...
SpaceX Formosat-5 launch shows ongoing launch-market inefficiencies
LOGAN, Utah — The scheduled Aug. 24 launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a single 475-kilogram satellite into a 720-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit is a spectacular waste of rocket capacity that casts an unflattering light on the lack of flexibility of the launch-services and...
NASA to smallsat/cubesat community: Great potential, needs work
LOGAN, Utah — A NASA effort to combine the low-cost/high-speed benefits of the commercial cubesat/smallsat industry with the reliability requirements of high-value missions illustrates how far the cubesat industry still needs to go, according to a NASA official leading the effort. Michael Johnson,...
Interview: Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo
PARIS — Europe’s Vega small-satellite launcher, which recently conducted its 10th successful launch in 10 attempts, does not have the history of India’s PSLV or Russia’s Soyuz in launching small satellites. But Vega’s prime contractor, Avio SpA, thinks its moment is coming as small-satellite...
Inmarsat says its 5th GX satellite beats ViaSat-3 on bandwidth economics
PONTE VEDRA, Florida — Mobile satellite services provider Inmarsat on Aug. 3 said its recently ordered fifth Global Xpress Ka-band satellite offers the bandwidth economics of ViaSat Inc.’s terabit-per-second ViaSat-3 for a total cost of $200 million including launch. Under construction by Thales...
Interview: Opher Doron, general manager, IAI space division
PONTE VEDRA, Florida — The Aug. 1 launch by Europe’s Vega rocket of two satellites — one a high-resolution optical satellite for the Italian Defense Ministry, the other a French-Israeli environmental-science spacecraft — offers a once-in-a-generation showcase for IAI, the prime contractors for...
Interview: SkyVision CEO Ori Watermann
PARIS — Will SkyVision be a carnivore in the jungle of satellite service providers or one of those disappearing in a consolidating market? Time will tell. UK-based SkyVision, created in 2000, was purchased in 2016 by Spadina House AG, which previously had purchased Signalhorn, a managed...
Intelsat firm on capex despite debt, and on aero Ku-band despite Ka- growth
LONDON — Satellite fleet operator Intelsat on July 27 said it is proceeding with a 10% annual increase in satellite capacity between 2017 and 2019 despite debt-service obligations that consume 40% of its gross revenue. The company also swatted away concerns that its decision not to deploy Ka-band...
Latest funding round values SpaceX at $21.2 billion, up 76% since 2015
LONDON — Launch-service provider SpaceX’s most recent Series H round of funding raised $351 million and valued the company at $21.2 billion — a 76% increase from the previous Series G funding in January 2015, which totaled $1 billion and valued SpaceX at $12 billion. SpaceX stock...
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