Megaconstellation Monthly News Roundup for August 2025:
York Opens for T1: York Space Systems delivered 21 Tranche 1 Transport birds for SDA’s debut operational launch, filling one of two near-polar planes.
Tracking L3: Cleared CDR/PRR on its $919M Tranche 2 Tracking contract, L3Harris is moving 18 infrared satellites into production while going for Gold(en Dome) by pouring $250M into factory expansions.
EchoStar Reset: $23B spectrum sale to AT&T keeps the company solvent while MDA Space signs on for hybrid NTN rollout and we await the fate of the 2 GHz spectrum.
Starlink Static: The July 24 outage knocked out everything from passenger Wi-Fi to Starshield comms, reminding regulators that even an 8,000-sat network still needs a backup plan.
BlueBirds Cleared for Flight: AST pocketed global S-band rights and got a partial green light from the FCC for Block 20.
BEAD Haul so far: The subsidy map is shifting with satellites muscling past the fiber-first gatekeepers.