Satcoms

OneWeb, the global communications company, whose goal is to connect everyone everywhere, has announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), the largest financial hub in Central Asia, to accelerate broadband connectivity in Kazakhstan. The MoU marks the start of a partnership focused …

Israel’s leading satellite network manufacturer and provider Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, is believed to be in advanced discussions with a large, yet unnamed, multinational company that is interested in acquiring the Israeli firm, according to a report on Israeli tech news …

The second satellite in the European Data Relay System (EDRS) has reached its intended orbit and completed its in-orbit tests. Dubbed the “SpaceDataHighway” by its commercial operator Airbus, EDRS uses innovative laser technology to enable Earth-observation satellites to deliver their information to users on the ground in near real-time, accelerating …

Egypt’s commercial satellite communications operator NileSat has selected U.S. commercial space launch company SpaceX to launch its NileSat-301 communications satellite in 2022. The two companies signed a contract for the launch on 21 January 2020 in Cairo, the capital city of Egypt. European satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space won the …

Skylo, maker of the world’s most affordable and ubiquitous network that connects any machine or sensor, has announced that the company has emerged from stealth with U.S.$116 million in total funding. The company previously raised U.S.$13 million in a Series A round that was co-led by DCM and Innovation Endeavors, …

Eutelsat KONNECT satellite has been launched on 16 January on board an European Ariane 5 rocket. The satellite will provide broadband internet services to Africa. For this new generation of European telecommunications satellites, RUAG Space produced mechanisms that point the satellite’s electrical engines. The electric propulsion is necessary to bring …

By Valerie Vlasenko The third edition of the Finnish Satellite Workshop kicked off on 20-22 January 2020 in Espoo. The major event for the space industry and science in Finland saw a gathering of nearly 800 professionals and covered the most important topics for the Nordic space scene.  “Our initial …

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and the European Space Policy Institute, we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and briefs. This is ESPI Briefs No. 36: ‘European RTD Policy, Competitiveness and Space’, originally published in November 2019. 1. A successful European RTD framework … Research and technological development …

The President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, met with senior executives from French aerospace company Thales Group in Switzerland on 20 January 2020 in order to discuss several areas of interest in high technology, according to various reports in the Armenian press. The meeting was the second between President Sarkissian and …

A Deutsche Bank research note written ahead of SES’s 2019 earnings report due on 26 February 2020 is raising the possibility that SES and its smaller rival Eutelsat could merge sometime in 2020, according to a 14 January 2020 report in online television industry publication Advanced Television. In the research …