Author: starpathwp-production
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Commercial, Industrial, Standard Military and Space: What These Component Labels Mean, and Where CAST and SAST Parts Lists Fit In
A supplier describes a chip as “space grade.” A procurement specialist wants to know whether it appears on an approved-parts list. At a program review, an engineer asks a different question: Can the device meet mission requirements in this particular circuit position? These questions may sound repetitive, but they are not asking the same thing.…
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Elon Musk Says Starlink Could Carry Most Global Internet Traffic Within a Decade
SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said on September 23, 2026, that Starlink could carry the majority of global internet traffic within ten years, an ambitious forecast tied to the deployment of higher-capacity Starlink V3 satellites and proposed Starmind spacecraft combining broadband connectivity with orbital computing. The projection would represent a fundamental change in internet infrastructure.…
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Impulse Space Wins $28 Million Space Force Contract for LEO-Based GEO Surveillance Mission
Impulse Space has received a $28 million U.S. Space Force contract to provide a maneuverable Mira spacecraft for a space domain awareness mission scheduled to launch no earlier than 2029. The spacecraft will operate in low Earth orbit while carrying an optical sensor designed to track and characterize objects in geostationary orbit. A government-provided launch…
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Viasat Wins First $42 Million Order Under $307 Million Marine Corps SATCOM Contract
Viasat has received an initial $42 million task order to provide fully managed global satellite communications to the U.S. Marine Corps under a seven-year contract with a ceiling of $307 million. The U.S. Space Force Commercial Satellite Communications Office awarded the Marine Enterprise Commercial Satcom Satellite Services contract, known as MECS2, through Viasat subsidiary Inmarsat…
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DMU41 IMU Recovers From Proton Strikes and Withstands 30 kRad Radiation Test
Silicon Sensing said on September 23 that eight DMU41 inertial measurement units returned to normal operation after single-event effects testing with protons at energies from 50 to 200 MeV, while separate total ionizing dose trials exposed the units to as much as 30 kRad(Si). Post-test acceptance procedures found no significant performance drift, providing satellite developers…
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Space Epoch Raises $343 Million to Fund Reusable Yuanxingzhe-1 Rocket
Chinese commercial launch company Space Epoch has completed a Series B++ financing round, bringing its total funding raised over the past six months to more than 2.3 billion yuan, or approximately $343 million. The capital will support the first orbital flight of its reusable Yuanxingzhe-1 methane-fueled rocket, first-stage recovery testing and the development of commercial…
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Beyond Reach Labs Opens Brooklyn Facility to Scale Flarewing Solar Arrays
Beyond Reach Labs is opening a 16,000-square-foot manufacturing and testing facility at Brooklyn’s Industry City complex in New York on September 24, establishing dedicated production capacity for its Flarewing deployable solar array. The system is designed to provide high-density electrical power for commercial space stations, orbital computing platforms and direct-to-device satellite networks. Founded by former…
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Exolaunch Books First SpaceX Starfall Earth-Return Mission for 2029
Exolaunch has signed a contract with SpaceX to serve as payload integrator for a Starfall mission targeted to launch aboard Starship no earlier than 2029, marking the German company’s first commitment to Starship and its first mission involving the return of customer payloads from orbit. Announced on September 21, the agreement expands Exolaunch beyond conventional…
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SES Signs Multi-Year Deal to Distribute JioStar Channels Across South Asia
SES and JioStar signed a multi-year agreement on September 21 under which JioStar will move its television-channel distribution to SES’s IS-20 satellite, extending delivery to cable systems, direct-to-home platforms and other broadcast networks across India and the wider Indian subcontinent. The companies did not disclose the contract’s value, capacity commitment or exact duration. The agreement…
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How Do Engineers Choose Satellite Cables? Power, Signal, RF and High-Voltage Lines Have Different Requirements
A satellite unit may work perfectly on a test bench, then develop problems after installation on the spacecraft: low supply voltage, fluctuating temperature readings, intermittent bus errors or higher-than-expected radio-frequency (RF) losses. The fault may lie in the cable connecting the unit. A cable is rarely a transparent path between two devices. It has resistance,…