On Oct. 11, SpaceX filed with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requesting to modify Starlink’s architecture and establish what it calls “SpaceX V3.”

The Defense Department doles out study contracts in the six-to-seven figure range so often they are rarely worth mentioning in the grand scheme of needle movers, but the Space Development Agency’s Commercial Disposal Services awards are different. 

Military agencies have long been ideal customers for the satellite industry because of their willingness to pay a premium for resilient communications.

Every year at the perennial Paris pilgrimage, one or more trends emerge as the dominant theme of the show, and 2024 was no different.

Supply chain fragility has been a perpetual challenge for the satellite industry, often centering on subsystems and components for which there are very few suppliers.

Over the past two years, Starlink has hit the maritime industry like a tsunami, swallowing up cruise line, yachts, and merchant vessels at such high rates that competitors must adapt or die.

It’s been a pretty miserable decade if you’re a GEO operator. The spectrum skirmishes over Ku and Ka-bands kicked things off, followed by a relentless arms race to launch increasingly more powerful HTS satellites.

SDA needs a spiral development plan for user terminals

Press leaks on M&A discussions typically aren’t helpful (remember EchoStar’s attempt at buying Inmarsat?), but there was probably no good way to hide the fact that Airbus and Thales Alenia Space (TAS) are in early discussions about a potential merger of their space businesses. 

Last week, Airbus announced it was taking a €900 million charge in its Space Systems business.

A change in the winds of European defense spending

Telesat Lightspeed’s supply chain is becoming real

Why Starlink’s foray into Indonesia is so important

In years past, small countries often financed geostationary satellites under the auspices of national sovereignty.

What started as a binary battle between DTD spectrum approaches is increasingly looking like an “and” rather than an “or” outcome.

Companies are often reluctant to name-drop their competitors, but it’s no secret that virtually every satellite communications operator is squaring up against Starlink.

SpaceX is eyeing another segment of the space economy for disruption.

Netherlands-based IoT innovator, previously known as Magnitude Space, rebranded to "Hiber" in 2017, drawing inspiration from the idea of its modems entering a dormant state akin to “hibernating bears” between signal transmissions.

Among the dozens of meetings the Quilty team conducted at Satellite 2024 in Washington DC last week, one topic emerged more than any other: direct-to-device communications.

It goes without saying that most of the industry’s regional satellite operators are too small to field their own large LEO or MEO constellations, yet all feel the pressure to expand beyond purely GEO-based connectivity.