Satellites

A collection of 56 posts

Markets

Frontier and Indigo Partners Sign Starlink Deal Spanning More Than 1,000 Aircraft

Frontier Airlines and other airlines in the Indigo Partners portfolio will install SpaceX's Starlink in-flight connectivity across more than 1,000 aircraft under a deal announced Tuesday. The agreement marks Frontier's first in-flight connectivity service, as the budget carrier does not currently offer Wi-

Policy

FCC Clears Reflect Orbital's First Space Mirror, Leaves Impact Questions Unanswered

The Federal Communications Commission granted Reflect Orbital a license to launch its first in-space demonstration satellite, named Eärendil-1, clearing the way for a debut flight scheduled this year. The Hawthorne California startup aims to validate technology that beams sunlight to Earth using orbiting mirrors, while the Commission explicitly

Launch

SpaceX Targets July 16 for Starship Flight 13, First to Deploy Starlink V3 Satellites

SpaceX is preparing for the 13th integrated flight test of its Starship system, with launch targeted as early as Thursday, July 16, from Starbase in South Texas. The 90-minute window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT. The mission marks the first deployment of next-generation Starlink V3 satellites

Policy

Eight NATO Allies Agree to Build Shared Military Satellite Mega-Constellation

Eight NATO member nations have agreed to jointly develop a new military satellite mega-constellation, announced during the 2026 NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey. The participating countries are Denmark, Canada, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Turkey. The agreement marks a significant multinational commitment to shared space infrastructure for

Satellites

SpaceX Seeks FCC Approval for 100,000 Gen3 Starlink Satellites

SpaceX filed an application with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Monday, July 6, 2026, requesting authorization to deploy up to 100,000 third-generation Starlink satellites. The filing outlines a low-latency, high-capacity global communications network designed to route internet backhaul traffic for billions of consumers, enterprise

Launch

First Commercial Nuclear-Powered Satellite Reaches Orbit on Falcon 9 Rideshare

City Labs' BOHR cubesat became the world's first commercially built nuclear-powered satellite to reach orbit, launching early on July 7 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. The mission marks the first commercially designed and operated spacecraft to carry nuclear technology into space, a domain long reserved for

Markets

Iridium Absorbs Aireon in $367 Million Deal Ahead of Rocket Lab Sale

Iridium Communications has completed its takeover of Aireon, the aircraft-tracking venture, buying the remaining 61 percent it did not already own for $367 million. The move brings the aviation safety service fully in-house ahead of Iridium's planned $8 billion sale to Rocket Lab. Iridium announced the

Policy

South Korea Approves Sovereign LEO Constellation, Pulls Lunar Landing Forward to 2030

The South Korean government formally authorized an industrial space strategy on Friday, July 3, 2026, to build a sovereign low Earth orbit satellite communications network by 2035. The plan, frequently designated the "Korean version of Starlink," commits the country to a self-reliant aerospace capability administered through the

Launch

Semiconductor Test Beds Ride Falcon 9 Booster on Sunrise Starlink Launch

Two semiconductor fabrication test beds flew a sub-orbital ride on the first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that lifted a batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral shortly after sunrise on July 5, 2026. The manufacturing pods belong to Washington, D.C.-based startup Besxar Space Industries,

Markets

Landspace Satellite Affiliate Hongqing Raises $191 Million in Major Chinese Commercial Space Round

Hongqing Technology, the satellite manufacturing affiliate of Chinese launch firm Landspace, has raised more than 1.3 billion yuan, roughly $191 million, in one of the largest single funding rounds for a Chinese commercial satellite maker. The round, announced July 2, brings the company's total financing to more

Markets

Planet Germany Picks Isar Aerospace for German-Built Satellite and Rocket Launch

Planet Labs' German subsidiary has selected Isar Aerospace to launch one of its Pelican Earth observation satellites aboard a Spectrum rocket, with both companies aiming to complete the mission in less than 12 months. The agreement pairs a German-built satellite with a German-built rocket, a first for

Satellites

Amazon Leo Reaches 396 Satellites, Enough to Begin Broadband Service

Amazon says its low-Earth orbit constellation now carries enough satellites to switch on its broadband internet service, with 396 spacecraft deployed following a launch on July 2. The company states the constellation can now support continuous service across initial latitudes, keeping it on track for commercial availability targeted for

Launch

Atlas 5 551 Flies Final Mission, Delivering 29 Amazon Leo Satellites to Orbit

United Launch Alliance launched the final flight of its Atlas 5 rocket in the 551 configuration early Thursday, lofting 29 Amazon Leo broadband satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The predawn liftoff closed a significant chapter for ULA and marked the last Atlas 5 to carry a satellite payload.

Markets

EchoStar's DISH Units File Chapter 11 to Repay Debt Early After $40 Billion Spectrum Sales

EchoStar's satellite TV and abandoned 5G subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 30, advancing a prepackaged restructuring plan designed to repay debt early following spectrum sales to SpaceX and AT&T. DISH DBS said the filing does not affect DISH TV, Sling TV, or

Satellites

Five-Month-Old Startup Orbital Files for 100,000 Data Center Satellites

Los Angeles startup Orbital has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to deploy up to 100,000 data center satellites, targeting 10 gigawatts of computing power from space to meet rising artificial intelligence demand. The filings, submitted June 24, build on a constellation the five-month-old venture first

Satellites

Four Satellite Operators Form NGSO Trade Group as Rocket Lab Moves to Buy Iridium

Amazon, Iridium, Globalstar and Telesat launched the SpaceConnect Association in Washington, D.C. on June 24, 2026, creating a new international trade body for the non-geostationary orbit satellite sector. The group will advocate globally for regulatory frameworks, market access and spectrum allocations specific to NGSO architectures. The launch coincides

Satellites

SpaceX Alumni Launch Eclipse Space to Build Sovereign Megaconstellations

REDMOND, WASHINGTON – Eclipse Space, a startup founded by a group of former SpaceX employees, emerged from stealth mode last week, with a plan to make constellation ownership possible for sovereign governments and enterprises. The company aims to offer customers satellite networks built to their own requirements rather than relying on

Satellites

SiriusXM Lofts Most Powerful Satellite Yet on Falcon 9, Built by Intuitive Machines Subsidiary

SpaceX launched SiriusXM's SXM-11 satellite aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday, sending a 7.5-ton broadcasting spacecraft toward geostationary orbit. The satellite, the most powerful in SiriusXM's fleet, is built to replace two aging satellites and was

Markets

Rocket Lab to Acquire Iridium in an $8 Billion Cash and Stock Transaction

Rocket Lab announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Iridium Communications. Rocket Lab will acquire all the outstanding shares of Iridium common stock for $54 per share in a cash and stock deal. This represents an enterprise value for Iridium of approximately $8.0 billion.

Launch

Rocket Lab Marks 10th Straight Success for Synspective With "Ten Owl of Ten" Launch

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) launched a radar-imaging satellite for Japanese company Synspective on June 26th, completing its 10th dedicated mission for the customer with a 100 percent success rate across all ten flights. The launch lifted off from New Zealand under the mission name "Ten Owl of Ten.

Policy

NGSO Operators Form SpaceConnect Association in Washington Without SpaceX

A new trade association representing non-geostationary satellite operators launched in Washington this week with Amazon, Globalstar, Iridium and Telesat as founding members and a conspicuous absence where SpaceX should be. The group, called SpaceConnect Association, says its mission is to give NGSO operators a dedicated voice on licensing rules,

Satellites Featured

OST Insights: Orbital Datacenter Profitability Comes Down to One Number

The first datacenter-grade GPU in orbit was an Nvidia H100, launched on Starcloud-1 in November 2025. It was a 2022-era chip flown on a roughly 60kg (132lbs) test satellite, and it did something genuinely new: it trained a model in space and ran an open-source version

Satellites

Musk Confirms Starmind as Name for SpaceX AI Satellite Constellation

Elon Musk confirmed that Starmind will be the official name of SpaceX's planned AI satellite constellation, a network described to the FCC as comprising up to one million AI satellites. Unlike Starlink, which relays connectivity, Starmind satellites would compute data in orbit, a shift its proponents say could

Markets

OHB Launches Share Sale With KKR to Chase Higher Valuation in Wake of SpaceX IPO

German satellite manufacturer OHB said on June 22, 2026 that it is launching a share sale in partnership with private equity firm KKR. The company aims to attract new investors and secure a higher valuation, a move tied directly to rising investor interest in space stocks following SpaceX's

Satellites

Boeing Proves Quantum Entanglement Swapping on Space-Ready Payload Ahead of 2027 Flight

Boeing has demonstrated high-fidelity entanglement swapping in ground testing of its Q4S quantum networking satellite payload, clearing a key milestone before an on-orbit experiment planned for 2027. The result moves a core building block of quantum networking off the laboratory bench and onto hardware engineered for the constraints