Tag: satellites
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‘Redmond Space District’ celebrates the Northwest’s hotspot for satellite industry
SpaceX employees in Redmond, Wash., give a cheer during the countdown to a Starlink satellite launch in 2019. Thousands of Starlink satellites have been built in Redmond. (SpaceX via YouTube) REDMOND, Wash. — This Seattle-area suburb has played a role in the space industry for more than a half-century, but the city of Redmond is…
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NRO awards contracts to Xplore and five other hyperspectral imaging companies
Xplore is working on its Xcraft satellite platform at its HQ in Redmond, Wash. (Xplore Illustration) The National Reconnaissance Office awarded study contracts to six companies offering — or planning to offer — satellite images of Earth in multiple wavelengths, including Redmond, Wash.-based Xplore. Other companies receiving contracts under NRO’s multi-stage Strategic Commercial Enhancements Broad…
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‘Open for business’: Amazon shows off antennas for its Kuiper satellite network
Amazon’s Dave Limp compares the size of the smallest Kuiper antenna, at right, to a Kindle ebook, at left. (Satellite 2023 via YouTube) After years of development, Amazon is showing off the antennas it plans to use for its Project Kuiper satellite broadband network — and says it plans to begin offering beta service for…
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Starfish Space raises $14M to advance development of satellite servicing vehicles
An artist’s conception shows an Otter servicing vehicle docked to a larger satellite. (Starfish Space Illustration) Starfish Space, a Seattle-area startup founded by two veterans of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture, has raised $14 million in funding to support its plans to develop spacecraft capable of hooking up with bigger satellites to boost their…
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Study highlights concerns over satellite interference with Hubble observations
A raw Hubble image shows a satellite streak. (NASA / ESA / STScI / Kruk et al. / Nature) An analysis of more than 100,000 images from the Hubble Space Telescope, conducted with the aid of artificial intelligence and hundreds of human volunteers, confirms that satellites including SpaceX’s Starlink spacecraft are increasingly interfering with astronomical…
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Amazon’s Kuiper satellites are good to go after FCC’s approval of orbital debris plan
Artwork shows ULA’s Vulcan rocket lifting off with Amazon’s Kuiper satellites. (Amazon Illustration) The Federal Communications Commission says Amazon’s 3,236-satellite Project Kuiper constellation is fully cleared for deployment after the company filed an acceptable plan for dealing with the risks of orbital debris. This week’s order follows up on the conditional approval that the FCC…
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The cloud in orbit: Amazon Web Services demonstrates data analysis on a satellite
An artist’s conception shows D-Orbit’s ION spacecraft deploying smaller satellites. (D-Orbit Illustration) For the past 10 months, Amazon Web Services has been running data through its cloud-based software platform on what’s arguably the world’s edgiest edge: a satellite in low Earth orbit. The experiment, revealed today during AWS’ re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, is aimed…
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Amazon switches Project Kuiper prototype satellites to ULA’s first Vulcan launch
An artist’s conception shows a ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket launching Amazon’s satellites. (Amazon Illustration) The first two prototype satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband internet network are now due to launch on the first-ever flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket early next year, rather than on ABL Space Systems’ rocket. Today’s announcement comes…
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Microsoft Azure ramps up access to cloud computing via SpaceX’s Starlink satellites
A SpaceX Starlink satellite antenna is connected to Microsoft’s Azure Stack Edge device. (Microsoft Photo) With SpaceX’s help, Microsoft is taking the next step toward merging cloud computing with available-anywhere satellite connectivity. Today Microsoft announced the start of a private preview for Azure Orbital Cloud Access, which lets users link up with the cloud in…
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For Apple and other companies, satellites plus cellphones add up to a new frontier
Apple’s iPhone 14 is built to link up with satellites for an emergency SOS. (Apple Video) Today’s big iPhone reveal adds Apple to the list of companies aiming to combine the power of satellite communications with the power of everyday cellphones — a list that includes other tech heavyweights such as T-Mobile and SpaceX, Amazon…