Inmarsat Q&A: Orchestrating a new multi-orbit broadband constellation
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 20:38
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British satellite operator Inmarsat plans to spend $100 million over the next five years preparing to enter the increasingly competitive low-Earth-orbit market. SpaceNews caught up with Todd McDonell, Inmarsat’s president of global government, to find out what these plans mean for government customers that make up about a third of the company’s revenues.
Starbridge raises $12M in fresh capital for application-focused space startups
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 20:09 Write a comment
Starbridge Venture Capital is set to announce Sept. 8 that it has closed its second fund with $12.1 million in new capital.
UN space office seeks consensus on space traffic management
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 19:39 Write a comment
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs is poised to assist the international community in tackling the challenges posed by an increasingly diverse set of actors launching and operating spacecraft.
SpaceX to increase Starlink antenna production rate
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 19:22 Write a comment
SpaceX plans to introduce a new version of its user terminal for its Starlink system later this year that will be less expensive to produce while also scaling up production.
Launch providers argue against a “magic number” for price to orbit
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 18:34 Write a comment
Companies offering smallsat launch services argue there is no “magic” price per kilogram that allows them to unlock greater demand, with customers willing to trade off price for responsiveness or other capabilities.
DoD a challenging customer for fast-moving satellite broadband industry
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 18:02 Write a comment
Companies that provide low Earth orbit satellite broadband view the U.S. Defense Department as a key customer but are being challenged to make their networks compatible with government ground systems and user terminals.
Kymeta announces successful OneWeb antenna tests
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 17:18 Write a comment
Kymeta said Sept. 7 that it successfully tested its u8 broadband terminal on OneWeb’s low-Earth-orbit constellation, achieving 200 megabits per second (Mbps) downlink speeds ahead of the network’s partial launch this year.
Satellite operators see acquisition opportunities
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 16:06 Write a comment
Companies that operate both geostationary satellites and low Earth orbit constellations say they see opportunities to acquire complementary firms but cautioned that a long-projected consolidation of the industry isn’t likely in the near future.
Inflight call with Thomas Pesquet
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 15:00 Write a comment
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Thomas Pesquet took part in a discussion with the EU Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton, and the EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius. The inflight call took place during their visit to ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, where they were accompanied by ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher.
Ariane 5 elements for Webb launch reach Europe's Spaceport
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 12:10 Write a comment
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Elements of the Ariane 5 rocket to launch the James Webb Space Telescope arrived safely in French Guiana from Europe on 3 September 2021 NASA's Perseverance rover collects first rock sample
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 08:37 Write a comment
NASA's Perseverance rover has completed the collection of the first sample of Martian rock, a core from Jezero Crater slightly thicker than a pencil. Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California received data that confirmed the historic milestone.
The core is now enclosed in an airtight titanium sample tube, making it available for retrieval in the f NASA begins air taxi flight testing with Joby
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 08:37 Write a comment
NASA began flight testing Monday with Joby Aviation's all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft as part of the agency's Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Campaign. This testing runs through Friday, Sept.10, at Joby's Electric Flight Base located near Big Sur, California. This is the first time NASA will test an eVTOL aircraft as part of the campaign. In the future, eVTOL airc Protective equipment against radiation to be tested on Nauka Module on ISS in 2023
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 08:37 Write a comment
New equipment that will help protect people from radiation during interplanetary flights will be tested on the Russian Nauka multipurpose laboratory module at the International Space Station, the head of the nuclear planetology department at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Igor Mitrofanov, said.
"We are wrapping up the construction of a design and developme NASA confirms Perseverance Mars rover got its first piece of rock
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 08:37 Write a comment
NASA confirmed Monday that its Perseverance Mars rover succeeded in collecting its first rock sample for scientists to pore over when a future mission eventually brings it back to Earth.
"I've got it!" the space agency tweeted, alongside a photograph of a rock core slightly thicker than a pencil inside a sample tube.
The sample was collected on September 1, but NASA was initially unsure Astronomers explain origin of elusive ultradiffuse galaxies
Tuesday, 07 September 2021 08:37 Write a comment
As their name suggests, ultradiffuse galaxies, or UDGs, are dwarf galaxies whose stars are spread out over a vast region, resulting in extremely low surface brightness, making them very difficult to detect. Several questions about UDGs remain unanswered: How did these dwarfs end up so extended? Are their dark matter halos - the halos of invisible matter surrounding the galaxies - special?