Subscribe to Space Intel Report
Subscribe now for the most in-depth coverage of the space industry delivered to your inbox.
Veteran New Space VC, aka the Luxembourg government, backs IoT startup OQ Technology
PARIS – The Luxembourg government, which has facilitated and financed more startup space projects –both near-term commercial and Hail Mary-type call-me-in-a-decade-type ventures — than governments 10 times its size, on Sept. 17 announced it had found another: IoT constellation startup OQ...
Case study: Aer Lingus on merits of connected electronic flight bags and cockpits
PARIS — Electronic flight bags have already proved their value in reducing on-board paperwork and digitizing aircraft manuals and navigation charts. When connected via data link to the flight management system, they can do even more. But what about a broadband satellite link to the ground during...
Compare & contrast: Commercial satellite radar startups Capella Space and Iceye
PARIS — Capella Space of the United States and Iceye of Finland are venture-capital-funded startups building constellations of radar satellites for government and commercial customers worldwide — assuming there are enough of them to close a business plan. It’s risky, and while both companies have...
Not just Galileo: UK lists satellite/space programs that could be affected by ‘No Deal’ Brexit
PARIS — The British government has asked the European Commission to clarify whether UK organizations with high-bandwidth access EU Copernicus Earth observation satellite data will be cut off from the service in the event of a “No Deal” Brexit. It was one of several still-undetermined consequences...
Airline IFC case study: Air China assesses costs and benefits
PARIS — When does a major airline take the plunge into in-flight connectivity? What economic benefits should it expect? Are they immediately measurable? Zhihang Chi, vice president and general manager of Air China, which operates some 400 aircraft — mainly Airbus wide- and narrow bodies, to 106...
SSL President Zamarian: We’ll protect our customers no matter what – even if we have to shut down Palo Alto plant
PARIS — When Dario Zamarian left private-equity investment company Blackstone Group to become president of satellite builder SSL in 2017 he thought he would be helping diversify a company away from large, commercial, geostationary-orbit telecommunications satellites. He knew he arrived at what was...
Telesat: First review of Maxar/Thales v Airbus bids for LEO program in a few weeks
PARIS — Telesat expects to select a prime contractor for its multibillion-dollar LEO broadband constellation by mid-2019 from competing bids by Airbus Defense and Space on the one hand and a joint bid of Maxar Technologies’ SSL and MDA with Thales Alenia Space, said Erwin Hudson, vice president of...
OneWeb, treading water awaiting debt financing, now a source of industry concern
PARIS — Startup broadband mega-constellation operator OneWeb’s recent change of CEO and its continued lack of debt financing is feeding concerns among industry officials of the consequences for the commercial space sector if the multibillion-dollar constellation is seriously delayed, downsized or...
Viasat selects ULA Atlas 5 to launch one of three Viasat-3 satellites
PARIS — Viasat Inc. selected United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch a Viasat-3 broadband satellite into geostationary orbit sometime between 2020 and 2022 aboard a ULA Atlas 5 in its 551 configuration, the vehicle’s largest variant, Viasat and ULA announced Sept. 10. It was ULA’s first commercial...
French CLS, with government backing and Thales Alenia Space as contractor, plans IoT constellation
PARIS — CLS, a company known for its Argos satellite-tracking business for animal migrations, has given itself until the end of the year to raise upwards of 120 million euros to build its own constellation of narrowband satellites for a much broader Internet of Things (IoT) market. Toulouse,...
France to add cameras to next milsatcom satellites in move to space-based space surveillance
PARIS — France’s defense minister on Sept. 7 said France’s next-generation geostationary-orbit military telecommunications satellites would carry small cameras to better identify and track unfriendly visits by other nations’ spacecraft. Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said the decision is a...
