News

Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland GmbH, one of the leading private broadcasters in Germany, has renewed its standard definition (SD) distribution agreement with the satellite operator SES, SES announced on 9 January 2020.

Thales Alenia Space (the joint venture between Thales, 67% and Leonardo, 33%) and Thales have signed a contract with The French defense procurement agency Direction générale de l’armement (DGA) to carry out a concept study concerning intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) applications using a StratobusTM type platform to meet French army operational needs.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Defence Agency (EDA) are embarking on new cooperative projects for exploring unknown or potentially hazardous environments: harnessing drones for the monitoring of disaster-stricken regions or toxic spill sites and making use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to navigate across the surface of asteroids or other terra incognita.

Satellogic, the first company to develop a scalable earth observation platform with the ability to remap the entire planet at both high-frequency and high-resolution, has announced the impending launch of two new Earth Observation satellites.

Virgin Galactic has reached the "Weight on Wheels" milestone in the build of its second commercial spaceship. In this milestone, all major structural elements of the vehicle were assembled, and the vehicle deployed its main landing gear and carried its own weight for the first time.

HISPASAT, the Spanish satellite telecommunications operator, has awarded to Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), the construction of the Amazonas Nexus satellite, which will replace and expand the capacities of Amazonas 2 satellite, in orbit at 61º West.

The UAE Space Agency announced its collaboration with the Abu Dhabi-based global innovation hub, Krypto Labs, to launch the UAE NewSpace Innovation Programme, which aims to maximise the growth of space technology start-ups with New Space, the rising private spaceflight industry.

Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall presented his New Year wishes to the press at the agency’s Head Office in Paris Les Halles on 7 January 2020.

The Satcoms Innovation Group (SIG) has appointed Helen Weedon as Managing Director. The appointment marks significant restructuring of the innovation forum. Helen succeeds Martin Coleman who will commence as a member of the group’s advisory board.

Globalstar Europe Satellite Services Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Globalstar Inc. and the leader in satellite messaging and emergency notification technologies, announced on 9 January 2020 that researchers from the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, The University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Utrecht University are using drifter buoys fitted with SPOT Trace satellite trackers to understand the dramatic increase of Sargassum seaweed across the North Atlantic.