Astranis Reveals Higher Capacity GEO Broadband Satellite
Astranis, a satcom startup, unveiled its Omega micro GEO broadband satellite platform yesterday, designed to offer five times the power of its first-generation models.
GEO
Stories about what’s going on in geostationary orbit.
The Future of GEO is Smaller…And More Precise
Makers of small satellites for GEO made up the bulk of newly announced spacecraft in 2023.
Space Force Prefers Northrop Grumman’s Fuel Port
The Space Force chose Northrop’s ($NOC) satellite propellant refueling system as a standard design for future military spacecraft, a decision that could shape the orbital servicing industry.
Impulse Space is Making a Very Big Kick Stage
The man who built the Falcon 9’s Merlin engine is back with a new vehicle that aims to make reaching geostationary orbits cheaper.
Russian Luch 2 Maneuvers in GEO
GEO operators are on high alert after a Russian craft was spotted maneuvering around in orbit, presumably to take a peek at neighboring satellites.
ViaSat-3 Experiences Major Issue During Reflector Deployment
The recently-launched ViaSat-3 Americas satellite has hit a major snag. Viasat ($VSAT) announced yesterday that an “unexpected event” occurred during the deployment of the satellite’s massive reflector that may degrade the performance of the communications satellite, which was supposed to grow the company’s broadband business in the Americas. “We’re disappointed by the recent developments,” said […]
Astranis Notches MicroGEO Success
Astranis, an SF-based GEO broadband startup, has successfully deployed its first satellite in orbit to begin providing capacity over Alaska. “Our MicroGEO satellites will help get millions of people connected to the internet through our commercial customers, and importantly they are a new tool in the toolbox for the U.S. Department of Defense as it […]
Slingshot Doubles Sensing Capabilities
Slingshot Aerospace announced this morning that it will add 80 new sensors by the end of the year, doubling its tracking capabilities and getting closer to its goal of building the most comprehensive space tracking network on the planet. The story so far: CEO Melanie Stricklan founded Slingshot in 2017 to tackle the growing need […]
Airbus to Fly Inmarsat’s Next-Gen Satellite to Florida
Breaking: Whale, Bird Will Skip Across Pond This week, Inmarsat and Airbus announced the kind of complicated logistical operation that you can only see in the space sector. But for this specific mission, neither company is launching anything into space yet. Instead, they’re shipping a next-gen GEO satellite across the Atlantic. Unpacking the announcement Airbus […]
Astranis Taps Doug Abts to Scale Commercial Sales
Doug Abts is joining Astranis’s C-suite as its new chief commercial officer. Abts, a former Navy SEAL and grad of Harvard Business School, comes to Astranis by way of Viasat, where he was GM of the publicly traded company’s in-flight connectivity (IFC) business. Abts grew Viasat’s IFC biz into a “multi-hundred million dollar in annual […]
Q4 2022 News Roundup
Can you believe 2022 is nearly over? It’s been a jam-packed year for the space industry, full of groundbreaking moments in science, turbulence in the markets and world order; substantive policy developments; and historic mission firsts. We’re kicking off our year-end coverage by looking at objects closest in the rear-view mirror. Payload combed through the […]
SiriusXM Orders Two New Satellites from Maxar
TV…Did Not Kill the Radio Star? SiriusXM ($SIRI) announced Tuesday that it has commissioned Maxar ($MAXR) to build SXM-11 and SXM-12, two new geostationary satellites. The deal doubles the number of SiriusXM satellites in the pipeline. Last year, the American broadcaster ordered SXM-9 and -10 from Maxar. As a matter of fact, these two go […]