Amazon Web Services is offering AWS Ground Station, a new service that gives customers expanded access to satellite data through a network of ground stations around the world.

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Iridium Communications on Wednesday declared the completion of the $3B Iridium NEXT satellite constellation at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. "The completion of the Iridium NEXT program signifies a new chapter in the Iridium story, one that sees us transforming from a big cash spender to a big cash generator," Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a statement published Wednesday.
 

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Iridium Communications’ final and eighth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites launched Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard SpaceX’s previously flown Falcon 9 rocket. Iridium said Friday the satellites, which were fielded to orbital plane three, established communications with its satellite network operations facility after launch and are set to enter the first on-orbit testing phase.

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Iridium Communications has announced that the launch of the eighth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites aboard SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket is now scheduled on Jan. 7, SpaceNews reported Friday. The new schedule sought to provide SpaceX more time to accommodate Spaceflight Industries’ SmallSat Express rideshare mission, which took off on Monday, Dec. 3. Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a […] More

Telesat has received a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to assess the capability of commercial satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit to support the Pentagon’s future broadband connectivity requirements and other space-based communication needs. The company said Tuesday it will collaborate with Leidos on the contract awarded through DARPA’s Blackjack program. Blackjack seeks to leverage […] More

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has selected Thales to build a facility at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico for receiving and processing distress beacon signals from Global Navigation Satellite System satellites. Thales said Monday it will establish the Southwest USA Medium-Earth Orbit Local User Terminal to support NOAA’s Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking […] More

Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch has said the company intends to deboost the last batch of its legacy satellites in the first quarter of 2019 as it plans to transition all network functions to the Iridium NEXT constellation, SpaceNews reported Wednesday. Desch, a four-time Wash100 recipient, told reporters Monday at World Satellite Business Week in Paris the company has […] More

An Orbital ATK spacecraft took off Monday aboard the company’s Antares rocket to deliver approximately 7,400 pounds of experiments and crew supplies to the International Space Station. The launch of the Orbital ATK-built Cygnus spacecraft designated S.S. J.R. Thompson from NASA‘s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia serves as the company’s ninth cargo delivery mission to the orbiting laboratory under the […] More

An updated configuration of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Friday from a launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to bring into orbit Bangladesh’s Bangabandhu 1 communications satellite, Spaceflight Now reported Friday. The first-stage booster of the rocket’s Block 5 version landed on SpaceX’s drone ship approximately 400 miles east of Cape Canaveral after […] More

Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce has said the company has launched a new program that aims to develop new spacecraft to build up its fleets of Ka– and L-band satellites in an effort to meet demand, SpaceNews reported Thursday. Pearce said Wednesday at an earnings call that the GX Flex program, which is now in the […] More

SpaceX plans to launch on May 4 its updated Falcon 9 rocket from a launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to bring into orbit a Thales Alenia Space-built communications satellite for Bangladesh, Spaceflight Now reported Tuesday. The rocket’s Block 5 configuration will take off to send into space the Bangabandhu 1 satellite designed […] More

Sierra Nevada Corp. and Turkish Aerospace Industries have developed a trainer aircraft in order to compete for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X program that seeks to replace the T-38 jet, Quwa reported Monday. Bilal Khan writes SNC and TAI established a Colorado-based subsidiary, Freedom Aircraft Ventures, to offer the Freedom Trainer aircraft. The Freedom Trainer jet will be equipped with […] More