Advanced Television

Inside Satellite

Chris Forrester

Chris Forrester is one of the most experienced and highly regarded journalists in the field. His insight and analysis, particularly in the satellite and pay-TV arena, is highly prized. He has written for all the major business journals in the sector as well as several national newspapers.

SpaceX’s Shotwell worth $1.2bn

Gwynne Shotwell has been with SpaceX for the past 23 years, and became president and chief operating officer in 2008. She also holds a 0.3 per cent stake in the company. She was SpaceX’s employee number 11 and the shareholding has been largely accumulated through stock compensation awards. Forbes magazine says that her shareholding is […]

April 8, 2025

SpinLaunch’s revolutionary plan for 280 satellites

SpinLaunch has won an order to launch an initial 280 small satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO). The scheme is called Meridian Space and is backed by Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace and valued at €122.5 million. SpinLaunch, headquartered in Long Beach, California, but launches using its own technology from a site in the Mojave Desert. […]

April 7, 2025

Consolidation impacts satellite sector

Consolidation is running through the satellite industry. A year ago it was Eutelsat absorbing OneWeb, Viasat buying Inmarsat and more recently SES making a $3.1 billion (€2.8bn) commitment to acquire rival Intelsat. The SES/Intelsat move is expected to wrap this summer. Consolidation is also affecting smaller satellite businesses. April 1st saw Canada-based MDA announce its […]

April 4, 2025

Project Kuiper plans first satellite launch

The United Launch Alliance (ULA), which is the joint-venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is readying its first rocket launch for the Jeff Bezos-backed Project Kuiper broadband-by-satellite mega-constellation. ULA will loft the first 27 Kuiper satellites, probably on April 9th subject to the usual weather and technical considerations. Amazon confirmed on April 2nd that it […]

April 3, 2025

China’s Thousand Sails satellite plan at Phase 2

While the planet now has global low Earth orbiting coverage from Elon Musk’s Starlink, China is quietly getting on with its own rival scheme, in the shape of its Qianfan (Thousand Sails) satellite constellation project. Genesat (Gesi Aerospace), the project’s main contractor, has signed a contract for the second phase of its satellite manufacturing plant […]

April 1, 2025

European rocket crashes on debut flight

A new European rocket designed to handle small to mid-sized satellites failed on its first ‘demo’ flight from Norway on March 30th. The Spectrum rocket, from Germany-based Isar Aerospace, successfully lifted off from the pad but failed a few seconds later, falling back into the Norwegian bay adjacent to the Andøya Spaceport launch site. A […]

March 31, 2025

Eutelsat eyes Italian satellite contract

Various reports on a proposed $1.5 billion Italian plan for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites talk of the agreement being ‘cancelled’ or ‘paused’ or ‘stalled’. In its place Eutelsat’s CEO has addressed the dilemma and specifically talking up Eutelsat’s ability to fill the Italian gap. Eutelsat CEO Eva Berneke told French parliamentarians that “Starlink ties Italy […]

March 28, 2025

Spain puts €13.8m into Sateliot

Spanish satellite builder Sateliot is in the final stages of a Series B financing round tonraise €70 million, and helped by the Spanish government-backed Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT) which is putting €13.8 million into the business. The funds will be invested in a constellation of over 100 satellites – critical infrastructure designed to […]

March 27, 2025

Rivada claims IRIS2 is “dead in the water”

Declan Ganley, CEO at Rivada Space Networks, told delegates at the recent Satellite 2025 show in Washinton, that in his view the European IRIS2 scheme to build a super-secure satellite constellation is – in effect – “dead in the water”. Ganley was speaking on an expert panel which included Eutelsat’s CEO Eva Berneke. Ganley praised […]

March 25, 2025

Ligado details bankruptcy exit plan

Ligado Networks entered Chapter 11 in January. It has now presented its exit plan to the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. A key portion of the exit scheme is an agreement with AST SpaceMobile for 40 MHz of Ligado’s L-band spectrum, which will enhance AST’s available spectrum over the US and Canada. The actual exit will take […]

March 25, 2025