Maxar’s Sirius XM Satellite costs rise as Sirius declares SXM-7 a total loss

Maxar’s Sirius XM Satellite costs rise as Sirius declares SXM-7 a total loss

Feb 26, 2021

PARIS — Maxar Technologies reported a 46% increase in Q4 revenue in its Space Infrastructure satellite-building division, led by six new geostationary-orbit communications satellites for fleet operator Intelsat.
But the division barely broke even for the year as it absorbed increased costs associated with two flagship commercial programs: Sirius XM Holdings’s SXM-7 and SXM-8 direct-broadcast radio satellites, and Hughes Network Systems’s Jupiter-3 Ka-band broadband.
Maxar’s issues with Sirius XM are not over. After absorbing . . .
To view the entire article, become a subscriber!

Munich prosecutor dismisses OHB claims vs Airbus in case related to freeze of $1.8-billion EU Galileo contract

Munich prosecutor dismisses OHB claims vs Airbus in case related to freeze of $1.8-billion EU Galileo contract

Feb 26, 2021

PARIS — The Munich Public Prosecutor’s office dismissed, for lack of evidence, an OHB SE criminal action alleging theft of trade secrets that benefited competitor Airbus Defence and Space, a complaint that is related to the freezing of a $1.8 billion European Commission contract for second-generation Galileo satellites.
The prosecutor’s decision, which industry officials said OHB is appealing, is part of a year-long conflict between OHB and one or more of its former employees, whom OHB alleged transferred confidential information to . . .
To view the entire article, become a subscriber!

Loading
EU identifies potential funding for broadband constellation, wants EU-US agreement on protecting critical tech

EU identifies potential funding for broadband constellation, wants EU-US agreement on protecting critical tech

Feb 22, 2021

PARIS — The European Commission identified, for the first time, the potential sources of Commission funding for a proposed constellation of satellites to provide universal broadband access and secure government communications using quantum encryption.
No new monies have been committed beyond the 7.1 million euros ($8.6 million) awarded to a nine-company consortium to come up with a design and a proposed business model, with its first conclusions due in April and a final report due at the end of the year: https://bit . . .
To view the entire article, become a subscriber!

French president proposes single Euro micro-launcher program, backs EU Commission broadband constellation

French president proposes single Euro micro-launcher program, backs EU Commission broadband constellation

Feb 22, 2021

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron, breaking with years of French policy, said Europe needs its own small-satellite launcher but that the competing development programs in multiple European nations should merge into a single program.
Macron did not quite say that the program needed to be under French leadership, but said Europe’s Guiana Space Center, on French territory on the northeast coast of South America, was “a jewel, and the envy of many.”
In Feb. 18 remarks at the headquarters of the French space agency, CNES,

Geospatial imagery/analytics provider BlackSky, with $22M in 2020 revenue, sees SPAC-accelerated path to $546M in 2025

Geospatial imagery/analytics provider BlackSky, with $22M in 2020 revenue, sees SPAC-accelerated path to $546M in 2025

Feb 19, 2021

PARIS— Not all SPACs are alike. That’s the message geospatial imaging and data-analytics provider BlackSky Holdings Inc. wants to pass to investors on its proposed merger with Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp. and eventual listing on the New York Stock Exchange.
The publicly traded BlackSky is expected to have a pro-forma quit value of about $1.5 billion, with $450 million in cash from the transaction — enough to accelerate the company’s satellite-deployment and software development plans.
BlackSky and Osprey . . .
To view the entire article, become a subscriber!

Loading
Smallsat builder AAC Clyde Space, fortified by Hyperion, SpaceQuest acquisitions, forecasts 5X sales increase by 2024

Smallsat builder AAC Clyde Space, fortified by Hyperion, SpaceQuest acquisitions, forecasts 5X sales increase by 2024

Feb 19, 2021

PARIS — Small satellite manufacturer AAC Clyde Space AB of Sweden and Scotland, confident that acquisitions of Dutch and U.S. companies in 2020 will deliver on their promise, told investors to expect a five-fold increase in sales in the next four years.
The company reported sales of 98.4 million Swedish krona ($11.8 million) in 2020, up 48% from 2019, a figure that included late-year results from Hyperion of the Netherlands, which is testing very small laser communications terminals for the smallsat market.

Québec to invest $316M in Telesat equity and loan, plus $40M for MDA, under MoU on Lightspeed constellation work

Québec to invest $316M in Telesat equity and loan, plus $40M for MDA, under MoU on Lightspeed constellation work

Feb 19, 2021

PARIS — The government of Québec will purchase 200 million Canadian dollars ($158 million) of preferred stock in Telesat and provide the same amount in a loan to Telesat as part of an agreement to anchor much of Telesat’s Lightspeed broadband constellation development in the province.
The deal follows a 2019 agreement with the government of Canada valued at $1 billion over 10 years: http://bit.ly/316xpNi
The government’s agreement with Telesat — still only a memorandum of . . .
To view the entire article, become a subscriber!

Loading

SIR on Twitter