Iridium Communications‘ recently launched batch of 10 NEXT satellites began pre-operational testing and validation process with systems functioning nominally. SpaceX launched the satellites Wednesday, bringing the NEXT constellation to 65 satellites, Iridium said Monday. The satellite communications firm aims to launch an eighth batch later this year to complete program. The upcoming set would bring the […] More

A NASA satellite designed to explore outer space for potentially life-supporting exoplanets entered service on July 25 and is expected to transmit science data back to Earth in August. The space agency said Saturday the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite will work to periodically send data every 13.5 days after the TESS Science Team receives the […] More

A communications satellite that Maxar Technologies‘ SSL business produced for Telesat has started to conduct post-launch operations. The Telstar 19 VANTAGE satellite deployed its solar arrays on time after launching aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida early Sunday morning, Maxar said Tuesday. On early Tuesday, the satellite fired its main thruster […] More

Iridium Communications has changed its target launch date for a seventh batch of NEXT communications satellites to July 25. The company said Tuesday it rescheduled the Iridium-7 mission in order to give SpaceX more time to prepare the rocket that will carry the satellites into orbit. SpaceX launched the sixth NEXT batch May 22 from Vandenberg Air Force Base […] More

France-based Airbus seeks to participate in U.S. military space technology development projects through the establishment of a Florida-based satellite assembly line scheduled to be operational this fall, SpaceNews reported Friday. Airbus’s joint venture with satellite broadband company OneWeb established the facility with the goal to produce at least 900 spacecraft designed to operate in low Earth orbit. The […] More

Maxar Technologies’ SSL subsidiary built and provided the transceiver assembly components for a pair of Microwave Ranging Instruments that took off in May as part of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On mission of NASA and the German Research Center for Geosciences. Al Tadros, vice president of SSL’s space infrastructure and civil space, wrote […] More

Panelists representing the Air Line Pilots Association, United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and SpaceX recently testified before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation about the necessity of government regulatory reform in commercial space transportation. Teslarati reported Tuesday that the panelists identified two primary areas where timely government action is needed, namely: […] More

Iridium Communications plans to launch on July 20 the seventh batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The planned launch would bring the total number of Iridium NEXT satellites in orbit to 65 under a potential $3 billion communications satellite constellation replacement program that […] More

ExecutiveBiz talked with Matt Desch, chief executive officer, and a four-time Wash100 winner, about Iridium’s May 22nd satellite launch, their partnership with SpaceX and where he sees the company’s path ahead. “Over the years, we’ve gone public and renewed ourselves to the point that we’re not just surviving anymore; we’re thriving.” ExecutiveBiz: You’ve been chief […] More

The five Iridium Communications satellites that Hawthorne, Calif.-based firm SpaceX launched Tuesday have entered the testing and validation phase. “Three of the [Iridium NEXT] satellites from this launch will be going directly in to service in our sixth orbital plane, where the other two will serve as spares,” Iridium Chief Operating Officer Scott Smith said in a […] More

Iridium Communications has received approval from the International Maritime Organization’s maritime safety committee to provide Global Maritime Distress Safety System mobile satellite services. Iridium said Monday it plans to start providing GMDSS services by early 2020 through its satellite network and will collaborate with the International Mobile Satellite Organization to facilitate the delivery of such services through […] 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