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 […]

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 […]

Despite the rise of digital media, television remains the dominant media source for Italians, reaching 94. per cent  of the population in 2024, according to the annual Censis report on the state of Italian media. Interestingly, satellite television viewership, both free-to-air and subscription-based, is experiencing significant growth, now reaching 47.7 per cent of users, an […]

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 […]

Airbus, Thales Alenia and Leonardo, three giants in terms of satellite manufacture, are in “preliminary talks” to merge their operations. Rumours of a potential merger have been reported for some months. The talks would not involve the Airbus aircraft manufacturing business. French newspaper La Tribune reports that the trio are also in discussion with the […]

UK comms regulator Ofcom is consulting on proposed updates to its satellite filings procedures, which are the processes for obtaining internationally recognised orbits and frequency assignments for satellites. Before a satellite can use the radio spectrum and orbits it needs, it requires an associated ‘satellite filing’ to obtain international recognition of these resources through the […]

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 […]

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 […]