Satcoms

Plus Ultra Space Outpost (Plus Ultra) and Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) have signed an agreement to launch a demonstrator mission to the Moon, RFA announced. RFA will launch Plus Ultra’s first satellite in 2023 on an RFA ONE launch vehicle. The vehicle uses industrial automation and staged-combustion propulsion, according to the company.

The British LEO operator OneWeb and the Saudi-Arabian megacity project NEOM want to bring high-speed satellite connectivity to Saudi Arabia, the wider Middle East and neighboring East African countries, OneWeb announced. The NEOM Tech & Digital Holding – the first company established as a subsidiary

Imagine if in all of human history no one had yet explored the oceans. Imagine if our first proverbial “toe in the water” was a mere 70 years ago but we had the technology of today with which to explore and exploit it. That’s very much the situation for space – the whole planet is converging on space at the same time. Let that sink in.

First Eutelsat´s Belmer, then Intelsat´s Spengler: the CEO of the satellite operator Intelsat, Stephen Spengler, decided to step down and retire, the company said. “Stephen Spengler has decided to retire as CEO upon the Company’s emergence from its financial restructuring process and the naming of a successor”, Intelsat said. “Until that time, Spengler will continue as CEO and lead Intelsat

The Scottish Space Strategy to achieve a £4 billion share of the global space market for the Scottish economy, was launched at Expo 2020 Dubai yesterday. The Strategy aims to make Scotland an end-to-end space system provider.  Scotland’s space sector is currently specialised in satellite and rocket manufacturing, launch facilities and research and data analysis.

The CEO of Eutelsat, Rodolphe Belmer, will leave the satellite operator at the end of this year and become CEO of the IT firm Atos, the company said yesterday. Belmer will replace 43-year old Elie Girard who suffered a row of setbacks this year that sent the company’s share price down

SpaceLink announced it has chosen OHB Systems as the preferred tenderer for the initial constellation of four high-capacity optical relay satellites after a comprehensive tender process. The parties are currently in advanced contract negotiations about the manufacturing and delivery of the initial constellation.

Planet Labs announced the launch of Pelican, a new line of imagery satellites to upgrade the company’s existing constellation of the 21 SkySat spacecraft. With the new, higher-resolution satellites the company can provide faster and near-real time data to customers, Planet said.

Orbofleet’s report titled ‘Global Non-Geostationary (NGSO) Satellite Communications Market’ has found potential US$300 billion opportunities across multiple market verticals between 2021-2035. The 2021 edition report taps onto the most significant and promising markets that are set to flourish with the growth of satellite broadband connectivity.

South Korean Intellian Technologies signed a US $60M supply deal with satellite fleet operator SES, Intellian announced. The company will equip SES with antennas that are a “mix of products operating on the ground and in the ocean,” said Intellian. The firm will provide Ka-band antennas for SES’s MEO broadband constellation, O3b mPOWER.