Region

2020 promises to be a big year in space, but not only for the well-known events you keep on hearing about, such as the expected crewed launches from U.S. soil on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and Boeing’s Starliner. In the background, thousands of new space entrepreneurs are executing on business plans that take advantage of the tremendous decrease of the costs of accessing space and operating in it. Many of these entrepreneurs have important milestones in 2020.

Virgin Orbit, the California-based small satellite launch company, has signed an agreement with ImageSat International (ISI), a global leader in space-based intelligence solutions, to develop an end-to-end responsive space service offering focused on national security customers.

SpaceX has launched a Falcon 9 satellite launch vehicle carrying its fourth batch of 60 Starlink satellites. The launch took place at 9:06 a.m. local time on Wednesday, 29 January 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. and Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. jointly announced on 29 January 2020 that Comtech has agreed to acquire Gilat in a cash and stock transaction for $10.25 per Gilat ordinary share of which 70% will be paid in cash and 30% in Comtech common stock, resulting in an enterprise value of approximately $532.5 million.

Kepler Communications, a Canadian satellite telecommunications company, is to begin production in its newly commissioned satellite manufacturing facility in Toronto, Canada.

OneWeb, the global communications company whose goal is to connect everyone everywhere, announces a new distributor partnership with Pacific Dataport Inc. (PDI), a company founded by Microcom – the leading supplier of satellite communication systems in Alaska.

British-headquartered satellite communications company OneWeb is courting the Republic of Georgia with the aim of establishing a ground station in the country and providing its satellite services to bridge the digital divide in the South Caucasus, according to a report from the Azerbaijani Trend News Agency.

Russia is willing to assist the Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan in developing its second satellite and in the selection, training, and launch of the first Turkmen astronaut, according to Yuri Baturin – vice president of the Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Cosmonauts, politician, and a former cosmonaut – during a visit to the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on 25 January 2020.

OneWeb, the global communications company, whose goal is to connect everyone everywhere, announces the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bring high-speed, low-latency internet coverage to Georgia with JSC Silknet, a leading convergent Georgian telecommunications company.

Iran is believed to be preparing to launch two satellites from its Imam Khomeini Satellite Launch Centre over the coming days, according to numerous reports in Iranian and international news media.