Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) is preparing to launch its own satellite, saving the country billions annually from broadband satellite links for telecommunication, broadcasts and aviation. Nepal had been given the slot by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) back in 1984, but lack of adequate traffic did not make it viable earlier. However, with the increase […]
Archives for January 2021
Egypt Schedules Their “Next” Satellite Launch
A series of Egyptian “Next” satellites will be launched starting in December of this year, this according to the executive director of the Egyptian Space Agency, Mohammed El-Qousi, who told the Middle East News Agency that the first satellite would weigh 65 kilograms for remote sensing and scientific research and was developed in cooperation with […]
Umbra Adds $32 Million in Financing for Only Microsatellite to View in HiRes Through Clouds at Night
Umbra, Inc., an almost five-and-a-half-year-old Santa Barbara-based intelligence and technology company, has raised $32 million in equity financing that was led by the family office venture fund of John Burbank, founder of hedge fund Passport Capital. Other participants are from Umbra’s existing investors, CrossCut Ventures, Starbridge Ventures, Hemisphere Ventures, PonValley, and others. Umbra invented the […]
Axelspace’s Second GRUS Smallsat Group Launch Is Set
Axelspace will be launching four satellites with a launch date set for March 20, 2021, from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The 4 satellites (GRUS-1B, 1C, 1D, 1E) will be part of the AxelGlobe Earth Observation System. This will be the second launch for GRUS satellite series, after the successful deployment of GRUS-1A in December 2018. […]
China’s Yaogan 31 Satellite Driven To Orbit
A Long March 4C rocket carrying the second group of China’s Yaogan 31 remote sensing satellites was launched on January 29, 2021,from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China’s Gansu province. Several satellites were transpored into space. China Aerospace Science and Technology said in a statement that the rocket, built by its Shanghai Academy […]
Redwire’s Roccor To Develop Deployable Systems For NASA’s Solar Cruiser Mission
Redwire has announced that the firm’s subsidiary — Roccor — has been awarded a subcontract to support NASA’s Solar Cruiser technology demonstration mission funded through NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. Roccor was selected by NASA to develop the deployable structure for a nearly 18,000 square foot (1,600 m2) solar sail that will allow solar scientists to view the […]
A OneWeb Satellite Is In Danger Of In-Space Collision
A rocket launched by New Zealand-based Rocket Lab last week, for its clients OHB Sweden and Thales Alenia, has posed a direct collision risk to satellites in the OneWeb constellation. According to Space Intel Report (SIR), OneWeb is demanding that the satellite be removed from its orbital plane. The satellite, GMS-T, is a prototype LEO […]
Key Topic Tech Forums Launched By Satcoms Innovation Group (SIG)
The Satcoms Innovation Group (SIG) has launched a series of technical forums tackling key topics within the SATCOM industry. Taking place throughout the year, SIG’s technical forums will be a member-only discussion forum, aimed at identifying challenges faced by the industry, as well as the solutions needed to resolve those. Each forum will feature an […]
LiveEO Performs Satellite-Based Vegetation Risk Analysis of Entire U.S. Electric Transmission Grid
For the first time in history, vegetation encroachment risk to the entire publicly available U.S. transmission grid has been analyzed from space by the Berlin-based start-up LiveEO. The goal of this large-scale analysis was to demonstrate LiveEO’s analytic capabilities to a North American audience. In total, more than 15,000 public satellite images were used to […]
Swedish Space’s New Asia-Pacific Company, SSC Space Thailand
More is better as Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) announces the formation of SSC Space Thailand, a subsidiary targeted at the Asian-Pacific market. This further expands the company’s presence in the region further investment in the Asian-Pacific region, adding to SSC’s already strong presence in Australia and Thailand, including ground station facilities in both countries. The investment […]