August 3, 2020 – Comtech Telecommunications Corp. reported that its pending acquisition of UHP Networks Inc. (“UHP”) continues to progress through the regulatory approval process. As previously announced, Comtech has entered into an agreement to acquire UHP, a provider of innovative and disruptive satellite ground station technology, for an aggregate purchase price of $38.0 million,…

July 27, 2020 – Optus has extended its longstanding partnership with media company Foxtel, with an extension for the provision of satellite services until 2031. Optus Satellite owns and operates Australia and New Zealands largest fleet of spacecraft with five satellites currently in geostationary orbit that service our broadcast, corporate, and government customers. The contract…

July 23, 2020 – Comtech Telecommunications Corp. announced that during its fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, its Tempe, Arizona-based subsidiary, Comtech EF Data Corp., which is part of Comtech’s Commercial Solutions segment, received $1.3 million in orders for advanced satellite modems, WAN optimization and redundancy switches. The equipment will be utilized to support cellular LTE…

July 22, 2020 – Kacific Broadband Satellites Group (Kacific) has signed a five-year agreement with the Government of Tuvalu to provide the Pacific Island nation with high-speed broadband internet connectivity via satellite. The bandwidth, supplied by Kacific’s high-throughput satellite Kacific1, will connect agencies, businesses, and communities across Tuvalu’s nine islands with high-quality internet. Under the…

July 9, 2020 – At 20:11 on the evening of July 9, APSTAR-6D satellite took off on the CZ-3B/E rocket at Xichang Satellite Launch Center. After half hour flight, APSTAR-6D separated from the rocket’s 3rd stage, completed the first deployment of the solar array, and entered into transfer orbit. In the following days, the satellite…

July 13, 2020 – COMSAT, the global satellite connectivity solutions provider, is extending the life of Inmarsat’s existing satellites through the leasing of an additional antenna at COMSAT’s Santa Paula, CA. Teleport. The newly leased 12.8m antenna is transmitting and receiving in both C-band and L-band frequencies, bolstering capacity for the Tracking, Telemetry and Command…

July 14, 2020 – The Australian Space Agency (the Agency) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have been in close cooperation on JAXA’s asteroid sample-return mission, ‘Hayabusa2’. The sample capsule is planned to land in Woomera, South Australia and the Agency and JAXA are working towards the planned safe re-entry and recovery of the…

July 16, 2020 – The EDRS-C satellite, the second node of Airbus’ SpaceDataHighway constellation, completed its commissioning tests on 15th July 2020 and is now ready to start operational services. Following its successful launch in August 2019 and manoeuvring to its geostationary orbital slot at 31 degrees east, in-orbit testing has been executed and laser…

July 20, 2020 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) successfully delivered the Emirates Mars Mission’s (EMM) HOPE spacecraft developed by the UAE Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) into orbit via the H-IIA launch vehicle F42. The launch vehicle trajectory was executed as planned, and at about 57 minutes after liftoff, separation of the HOPE spacecraft…

July 8, 2020 – The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the selection of Airbus Defence and Space for major Copernicus environment missions. Copernicus is the biggest provider of Earth observation data in the world – and while the EU is at the helm of this environmental monitoring programme, ESA develops, builds and launches the…

July 8, 2020 – Viasat Inc., a global communications company, has announced it has removed internet speed limits delivered to the aircraft across all of its business aviation Ka-band service plans. Additionally, the company has doubled its minimum committed internet speed to the aircraft for the same Ka-band service plans. The move, an industry-first, demonstrates…

July 8, 2020 – BBC Studios (BBCS) and its subsidiary UKTV have selected SES to manage the playout and distribution of over 50 linear channels, and their associated video on demand (VOD) services, SES has announced. SES will provide playout, content processing, distribution, and VOD services, delivering BBCS and UKTV content to a network of…

July 2, 2020 – Optus announced a giant leap in its satellite business, confirming a contract with Airbus Defence and Space for a brand new, OneSat software-defined satellite, Optus 11, to be deployed for Australia and New Zealand in 2023 at the current Optus D1 orbital location of 160°East. Optus has entered into a revised…

June 26, 2020 – Thaicom Public Company Limited and CAT Telecom Public Company Limited has announced a satellite business joint venture in order to strengthen Thailand’s telecommunications infrastructure and to support the growth of the digital economy industry and satellite industry. The two companies are partnering to form a joint venture company called ‘Nation Space…

June 25, 2020 – The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed an annual renewal contract with Airbus on continuing the operation and use of European components on the International Space Station (ISS). The contract is worth around €16 million. For astronauts conducting research on the ISS, it is essential that all systems function reliably. An…

June 23, 2020 – China launched the last satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) on June 23, marking the completion of the deployment of its own global navigation system. The satellite, the 55th in the family of BeiDou, was launched at 9:43 a.m. (Beijing Time) and sent into the preset orbit by a…

June 23, 2020 – ST Engineering iDirect has further strengthened its long-standing relationship with leading telecom provider VIVACOM with a new agreement to supply MCX7000 modulators to facilitate additional broadcast offerings in Eastern Europe and Africa. VIVACOM, the largest telecommunications provider in Bulgaria, will use the MCX7000, a dense DVB-S2X multi-carrier satellite gateway, to launch…

June 15, 2020 – Maxar Technologies announced it will build four geostationary communications satellites for satellite operator Intelsat. The contract was previously disclosed with Maxar’s 2020 first quarter results. Intelsat ordered the satellites to transition its existing media distribution and contribution services-uninterrupted-from the 3.7 to 4.0 gigahertz portion of the C-band, to the 4.0 to…