Canadian ground antenna builder C-Com, after a rough 2020, heads to the US equity markets

Canadian ground antenna builder C-Com, after a rough 2020, heads to the US equity markets

Apr 9, 2021

PARIS — Satellite ground antenna builder C-Com Satellite Systems of Canada began trading on the U.S. OTCQB Venture Market on April 6 in search of a wider investor pool and increased liquidity compared to what’s available in Canada.
The company, already traded on the Toronto Venture Stock Exchange, is looking to rebound from a disappointing 2020, when revenue dropped 53% after a large decline in its Asian business that C-Com attributed to the Covid pandemic and the declines in the oil and gas sector . . .
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Satellite lasercom builder Mynaric, its 2020 revenue scuttled by German government’s China export ban, plans U.S. IPO

Satellite lasercom builder Mynaric, its 2020 revenue scuttled by German government’s China export ban, plans U.S. IPO

Apr 9, 2021

UPDATE April 9: This story was updated to include additional comment from Mynaric.
PARIS — German laser communications terminal manufacturer Mynaric AG, which is pinning much of its near-term market prospects on the U.S. Defense Department, plans to ask shareholders for a capital raise to fund a public stock offering in the United States.
Mynaric, which is still a startup with little revenue, already trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange but wants to ride the wave of interest in space-based technologies among U.S. investors . . .
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Are micro-launchers condemned to get bigger or fail? It looks that way, says Arianespace

Are micro-launchers condemned to get bigger or fail? It looks that way, says Arianespace

Apr 5, 2021

PARIS — What’s a micro launch vehicle? It’s a medium-lift rocket that hasn’t yet been mugged by market realities that force it to become larger.
That’s the opinion of launch-service provider Arianespace Chief Executive  Stephane Israel, whose company has to confront the issue starting right now.
Arianespace is the sole operator at Europe’s Guiana Space Center spaceport, situated on French territory on the northeast coast of South America. The center is now trying to attract one or more micro . . .
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Relativity Space, Rocket Lab, Astra: 3 well-funded smallsat launchers with different ideas on the market

Relativity Space, Rocket Lab, Astra: 3 well-funded smallsat launchers with different ideas on the market

Apr 2, 2021

PARIS — Three cash-rich U.S. small-satellite launch providers look at the same market and see different things, starting with the basics, like demand.
“We’ll begin monthly launch operations in the fours quarter of this year and our objective is to begin daily space operations by 2025,” said Chris Kemp, founder and chief executive of Astra, about to go public in a SPAC deal with Holicity Inc. that values the company at $2.1 billion: https://bit.ly/3jajgco

Inmarsat v Netherlands government C-band GMDSS frequency dispute heads to court May 11

Inmarsat v Netherlands government C-band GMDSS frequency dispute heads to court May 11

Apr 2, 2021

PARIS — A Dutch tribunal has scheduled a May 11 hearing on Inmarsat’s protest of a Dutch government decision to force satellite fleet operator Inmarsat to stop using C-band spectrum from a site in the northern Netherlands that provides global maritime distress and safety service (GMDSS) to the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Inmarsat on March 26 served a writ on the government after months of negotiations failed to unblock the situation. The Netherlands’s National Frequency Plan calls for an auction of the C-band spectrum, with September 2022 . . .
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SES: Whistleblower testimony will prove our case that Intelsat violated C-band proceeds deal

SES: Whistleblower testimony will prove our case that Intelsat violated C-band proceeds deal

Apr 1, 2021

PARIS — SES said it has secured whistleblower testimony from an unnamed former Intelsat manager that will back SES”s claim that Intelsat management colluded to cheat SES out of $450 million in C-band relocation proceeds.
Raising the temperature of its complaint, SES asked Intelsat’s bankruptcy court to stop approval of a planned Intelsat reorganization, saying the plan cannot move forward given the threat that the post-Chapter 11 Intelsat would need to pay SES between $450 million and $1.8 billion.
SES argues . . .
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DLR in La La Land: German Aerospace Center puts showmanship ahead of engineering in launcher evaluation

DLR in La La Land: German Aerospace Center puts showmanship ahead of engineering in launcher evaluation

Apr 1, 2021

PARIS — The German government on April 1 began reviewing proposals from three startup launch service providers competing for $13 million in German government funding and, importantly, German support for a co-funded development program with the 22-nation European Space Agency (ESA).
The three companies, HyImpulse Technologies, Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), each received 500,000 euros in government Phase 1 support in mid-2020 as part of a Phase 1 small-launcher support effort.
Phase 2 will select . . .
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