On Oct. 21, United Launch Alliance began integrating its third Vulcan rocket on a mission that, if done this year, positions the company to make good on an ambitious launch cadence in 2025.

On Oct. 21, United Launch Alliance began integrating its third Vulcan rocket on a mission that, if done this year, positions the company to make good on an ambitious launch cadence in 2025.

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.

During the heyday of the 2020-2022 SPAC investment bubble, more than a dozen space companies filed to go public, ranging from established players like Planet and Spire to early-stage, pre-revenue startups.

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.

If the GEO satcom industry is to survive, GEO satellite manufacturers will need to up their game and reverse a troubling trend of ever-longer time to bring new GEO capacity online.

A New Benchmark for Launch Vehicle Robustness

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. 

In June, Earth Observation (EO) company Planet announced a 17% workforce reduction, shedding around 180 employees in the company’s second round of layoffs in just over a year.

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

Quilty’s takeaways from World Space Business Week

A change in the winds of European defense spending

Rocket Lab, Synspective and the art of the multi-launch deal

Telesat Lightspeed’s supply chain is becoming real