Tag: satellites
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Amazon fires back at SpaceX in regulatory war of words over satellite constellations
An artist’s conception shows an Atlas V rocket launching Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites. (United Launch Alliance / Amazon Illustration) Amazon laid out out a laundry list of SpaceX’s regulatory tussles today in a letter sent to the Federal Communications Commission, marking the latest chapter in a bare-knuckles battle over broadband satellite constellations. The letter —…
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Kymeta teams up with OneWeb to test mobile satellite broadband service
Kymeta and OneWeb test a u8-based data terminal with OneWeb’s constellation of satellites. (Kymeta Photo) Redmond, Wash.-based Kymeta Corp., the mobile connectivity company backed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, has joined forces with OneWeb to test satellite broadband services that make use of Kymeta’s u8 flat-panel antenna system. “I’m very happy to report back that…
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Elon Musk goads Jeff Bezos on Twitter as their prolonged space spat escalates
The rivalry between SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has surfaced on Twitter. Again. (Musk Photo: TED via YouTube; Bezos Photo: GeekWire / Kevin Lisota) SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has fired a fresh volley of tart tweets at Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the Blue Origin space venture, in the…
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Facebook’s satellite connectivity team switches over to Amazon’s Project Kuiper
A schematic shows the design for the phased-array antennas to be used for Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite broadband network. (Amazon Graphic) Facebook has struck a deal to have more than a dozen of its wireless internet experts move over to Amazon to work on its Project Kuiper satellite broadband network, The Information reported today. An…
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SpaceX launches 88 spacecraft into orbit — including two of Spaceflight’s orbital tugs
A SpaceX Falcon 9 booster makes its landing after the Transporter-2 launch. (SpaceX via YouTube) SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket sent dozens of satellites into orbit today with a launch that featured an unusual on-the-ground touchdown for its first-stage booster. Eighty-eight spacecraft were packed aboard the two-stage rocket, which took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force…
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LeoStella delivers first Loft Orbital satellite for SpaceX’s jam-packed rideshare mission
Loft Orbital’s YAM-3 satellite is on display in the foreground at LeoStella’s factory in Tukwila, Wash. In the background, clean-room workers use their arms to spell out Y-A-M-3. (Leostella Photo) SpaceX is getting set to launch scores of satellites for its Transporter-2 rideshare mission, and one of those satellites marks a milestone for LeoStella. Loft…
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Inside look: Spaceflight ships out Sherpa orbital tugs to give 36 spacecraft a ride
Tony Frego, Spaceflight Inc.’s senior director of mission management, shows off the Sherpa-LTE1 orbital transportation vehicle and its electric propulsion system. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) AUBURN, Wash. — A pair of space tugs are beginning their journey from Spaceflight Inc.’s clean room, south of Seattle, to low Earth orbit. Along the way, the Sherpa…
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Inside the satellite factory: How LeoStella uses software to track spacecraft hardware
Workers check out an assembled satellite at LeoStella’s manufacturing facility. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) TUKWILA, Wash. — LeoStella’s satellite factory has tons of hardware spread out over 22,000 square feet of space, but the secret ingredient for its manufacturing process may well be the software. “What you see here is the physical layout,” Brian…
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Microsoft and Ball Aerospace enlist the cloud to speed up Space Force’s data flow
An artist’s conception shows Telesat’s Phase 1 LEO satellite in orbit. (Telesat Illustration) How will Pentagon planners cope with the torrents of data that are expected to rain down from a constellation of satellites monitoring hotspots from low Earth orbit? Microsoft and Ball Aerospace say they’ve demonstrated that the cloud can handle it — and…
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BlackSky Earth-observing satellites lost due to anomaly during Rocket Lab launch
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle rises from its pad in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Two satellites for BlackSky’s Earth observation constellation were lost today when the second stage of Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle suffered an anomaly, just minutes after liftoff from New Zealand. Rocket Lab said the mission failure was under investigation.…