Satcoms

Airbus Defense and Space Inc. has been awarded a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a satellite bus in support of the Blackjack program.

Sky and Space Global Ltd. (SAS), the Australian Stock Exchange-listed narrowband satellite communications company, announced on 21 January 2019 that it has signed a Reseller Memorandum of Understanding with Global Telesat SL and a Trial Service Agreement with Telespazio Brasil S/A.

Inmarsat, the world leader in global mobile satellite communications, announced today that its award-winning GX Aviation inflight broadband solution is now available to passengers onboard Indonesian low-cost airline Citilink’s first aircraft.

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) views space warfare as an important component of its concept of war, and is developing a range of capabilities and tactics to carry out space operations, as well as bolstering its organizational and command and control capacity to enable such operations, according to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report China Military Power: Modernizing a Force to Fight and Win, published in January 2019.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), one of Japan’s largest shipping companies, is to increase the roll-out of Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress Service, across the remainder of its owned and managed fleet. This underlines the confidence placed in the high-speed satellite service by major shipping lines and reinforces the scope of the digital transformation sweeping the industry.

Konnect Africa, an initiative of the satellite operator Eutelsat (Euronext: ETL) dedicated to satellite broadband on the African continent, today announces the launch of its Internet access offers in Côte d'Ivoire.

Boeing announced Thursday its investment in Isotropic Systems Ltd., a London-based startup pioneering next-generation solutions to better connect people and enterprises around the globe.

Alba Orbital Limited, a Glasgow based pioneer of miniaturized satellites, announced on 15 January 2019 the sale of the first two Unicorn-2 PocketQube spacecraft platforms to U.S.-based stealth mode startup, Stara Space. Stara plan to use these two satellites as a proof of concept for an eventual constellation to service other space users with high speed real-time data connection, storage, and computation

Days after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani defiantly declared that Tehran will launch several satellites using indigenous launch vehicles over "the coming weeks," Iran followed through on its promise by attempting to launch its Payam-e Amirabir-1 Earth observation microsatellite on 15 January 2019, using a Simorgh satellite launch vehicle. The launch ended in failure when the third stage of the Simorgh SLV failed to put the satellite into its intended orbit.

Thaicom Public Company Limited (Stock Exchange of Thailand: THCOM), a leading Asian satellite operator and provider of integrated satellite end-to-end solutions, today announced that True Visions Group Co., Ltd. one of Asia’s leading pay TV providers, signed a long-term transponder capacity contract for continuing its pay TV service to audiences in Thailand.