Author: starpathwp-production
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ST Engineering iDirect Names Sridhar Kuppanna as Chief Technology Officer
ST Engineering iDirect promoted Sridhar Kuppanna to the position of chief technology officer effective immediately, the company announced Feb. 4. Kuppanna will continue to serve as senior vice president of Engineering. He has over 25 years of experience in telecom innovation, AI applications, virtualization, cloud computing, and network orchestration. Kuppanna will help ST Engineering iDirect…
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Thales Alenia Space Partners with ESA to Develop Argonaut Lunar Cargo Lander
Thales Alenia Space, joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA), worth € 862 Million, related to the design, the development and the delivery of the Lunar Descent Element (LDE) for ESA’s Argonaut Mission, including responsibility for mission design and integration. Planned to be launched…
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Ontario Cancels Starlink Contract Over Trump Tariffs
Canadian province Ontario is canceling an award to SpaceX for Starlink internet service in remote communities after President Trump instituted U.S. tariffs against Canada at midnight on March 4. Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on March 4 that the province will “rip up our contract with Starlink, take U.S. alcohol off LCBO’s shelves and ban…
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Orbex Wins Launch Contract With D-Orbit Fresh off the UK Funding Boost
Orbex has won a new contract with D-Orbit for two launches aboard Orbex Prime, the company’s micro-launcher, over the course of the next three years. Orbex announced the deal, Feb. 3. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. D-Orbit offers logistics services to the space market, for example, by transporting satellites once in orbit…
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Arianespace to Launch ESA’s Space Telescope PLATO with Ariane 6
Arianespace, at the 17th European Space Conference, have announced that it has been awarded the contract to launch the European Space Agency’s (ESA) terrestrial planet hunter PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars) satellite. PLATO will board the heavy-lift Ariane 62, for a launch from Europe’s Spaceport, in French Guiana, end of 2026, and will…
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Viasat Awarded Task Order for US Space Force PLEO Contract
Viasat received a task order award to provide satellite communications services to support Department of Defense missions under the Proliferated Low-Earth Orbit (PLEO) contract, Viasat announced Feb. 3. This is Viasat’s first task order on the PLEO contract and it is worth $3.5 million.Viasat will provide Ku-band Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) services through a partner network…
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Indra Group Acquires Majority Stake in Hispasat from Redeia, to Strengthen its European Space Leadership
Indra Group, a Spanish technology and defense company, has agreed to acquire an 89.68% stake in satellite operator Hispasat from Redeia, a Spanish infrastructure corporation, for 725 million euros ($747 million), Indra announced Feb. 3. The deal includes Redeia’s 43% share in Hisdesat, a Spanish government satellite services provider, with Indra already holding 7% of…
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GomSpace Receives 9MSEK Product Order for Advanced Software-Defined Radios
GomSpace announces the sale of the advanced software-defined radios (SDR’s) to a European customer specializing in Signal Intelligence. The deal valued at 9MSEK, marks another significant milestone in the company’s commitment to enabling groundbreaking advancements in space missions. Software-defined radios represent a transformative leap in space communication technology. Unlike traditional radios, which rely on fixed…
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AST SpaceMobile Secures FCC Approval for US Testing with AT&T and Verizon
AST SpaceMobile, the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones, designed for both commercial and government applications, announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted the company Special Temporary Authority (STA) authorizing testing service in the United States. This approval enables AST SpaceMobile’s first five commercial…
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Launch Roundup: Soyuz flies; New Shepard simulates lunar gravity
This week’s launch manifest is quite diverse, featuring the launches of four different rockets worldwide. Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket has simulated the Moon’s gravity from just beyond the Kármán line, and Rocket Lab launched Electron for the first time this year from New Zealand. Russia launched Soyuz for the first time in 2025…