Telesat has received a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to assess the capability of commercial satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit to support the Pentagon’s future broadband connectivity requirements and other space-based communication needs. The company said Tuesday it will collaborate with Leidos on the contract awarded through DARPA’s Blackjack program. Blackjack seeks to leverage […] More

Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch has said the company intends to deboost the last batch of its legacy satellites in the first quarter of 2019 as it plans to transition all network functions to the Iridium NEXT constellation, SpaceNews reported Wednesday. Desch, a four-time Wash100 recipient, told reporters Monday at World Satellite Business Week in Paris the company has […] More

An Orbital ATK spacecraft took off Monday aboard the company’s Antares rocket to deliver approximately 7,400 pounds of experiments and crew supplies to the International Space Station. The launch of the Orbital ATK-built Cygnus spacecraft designated S.S. J.R. Thompson from NASA‘s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia serves as the company's ninth cargo delivery mission to the orbiting laboratory under the […] More

An updated configuration of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Friday from a launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to bring into orbit Bangladesh's Bangabandhu 1 communications satellite, Spaceflight Now reported Friday. The first-stage booster of the rocket’s Block 5 version landed on SpaceX's drone ship approximately 400 miles east of Cape Canaveral after […] More

Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce has said the company has launched a new program that aims to develop new spacecraft to build up its fleets of Ka– and L-band satellites in an effort to meet demand, SpaceNews reported Thursday. Pearce said Wednesday at an earnings call that the GX Flex program, which is now in the […] More

SpaceX plans to launch on May 4 its updated Falcon 9 rocket from a launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to bring into orbit a Thales Alenia Space-built communications satellite for Bangladesh, Spaceflight Now reported Tuesday. The rocket's Block 5 configuration will take off to send into space the Bangabandhu 1 satellite designed […] More

Imarsat has selected France-based company Arianespace to help launch a fifth Global Xpress communications satellite from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. Arianespace said Friday it aims to send Global Express-5 satellite for Inmarsat into orbit with the  Ariane 5 heavy-lift launcher platform within the second half of 2019. Thales Alenia Space will build GX-5 based on the modernized […] More

Iridium Comxmunications has rescheduled to Oct. 4 the launch of a third batch of 10 NEXT communications satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket. The company said Wednesday it began pre-launch processing activities on the satellites and the Falcon 9 rocket stages and components. The third Irdium NEXT launch was originally slated […] More

Iridium Communications plans to launch the third batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites on Sept. 30 aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The scheduled launch would bring the total number of Iridium NEXT satellites in space to 30 as part of a potential $3 billion program to replace an existing constellation with 75 new communications satellites […] More

Iridium Communications' second batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites lifted off Sunday aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to join the initial batch of satellites that took off in January. The launch brings the total number of Iridium NEXT satellites in space to 20 and marks the second of […] More

Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch has said eight of the first 10 Iridium NEXT satellites that took off in January began to provide data and voice transmission service between March and mid-April, Spaceflight Now reported Friday. Stephen Clark writes Desch said at a quarterly earnings call Thursday that engineers have begun to reposition the two other satellites […] More

NASA plans to launch an instrument designed to measure Earth’s ozone as part of SpaceX‘s 10th cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The agency said Saturday the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on ISS  payload will launch with the SpaceX-built Dragon spacecraft this month from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SAGE III will be attached to […] More