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On Friday, May 28, 2021, OneWeb launched 36 satellites to bring the company one step closer to completing their commercial service by the end of the year — this was OneWeb’s seventh overall launch and the fourth in a five-launch program to fulfill the company’s ‘Five to 50’ service,.

The satellites are manufactured by OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture between OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space, based in Space Coast, Florida.

The venture developed a production line process for manufacturing the satellites that dramatically lowers costs and also significantly accelerates output.

With two production lines in their Florida factory, each line can build one satellite in a single eight-hour shift, allowing OneWeb Satellites to produce satellites at a scale that will enable OneWeb to rapidly build out its full constellation. OneWeb Satellites employs more than 180 people in Florida and is on track to have a headcount of 200 at the Merritt Island facility on the Space Coast by the end of the year. OneWeb has now increased their satellite constellation to more than 200 spacecraft.

This latest launch adds 36 satellites to OneWeb’s constellation as the company works to complete their 648 LEO satellite fleet that will deliver high-speed, low-latency global connectivity. This launch placed the smallsats in their designated orbits and represents 80 percent of the constellation required to enable the firm’s connectivity solution to reach all regions north of 50 degrees latitude by June of 2021.

OneWeb plans to offer connectivity across the United Kingdom, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Arctic Seas and Canada. Their service is expected to be switched on before the end of the year and OneWeb intends to make global service available in 2022.

The launch occurred from the Vostochny Cosmodrome and was be conducted by Arianespace. This was the 57^th Soyuz mission conducted by Arianespace and their Starsem affiliate.

By operating this flight on behalf of OneWeb, Arianespace continues their record of fulfilling their customer’s ultimate ambition, that being to provide internet access for everyone, everywhere, all the time.

Locals and tourists in the Whitsunday region of Australia could soon be watching rockets launching into space, with the Queensland government announcing their support for the local space launch industry.

In a statement, Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Steven Miles, said, “Growing our space industry in Queensland will add billions to the economy and create thousands of local jobs. That’s why we are committed the development of launch infrastructure. Our easterly facing position, proximity to the equator, and our leading launch and propulsion companies make Queensland the perfect place to invest in space.”

The announcement follows a technical and environmental study commissioned on Abbot Point last year, which concluded that the site is suitable for small-scale launch vehicles.

Enter Gilmour Space Technologies, a venture-funded rocket company on Australia’s Gold Coast that is developing lower cost rockets to launch smallsats into LEO starting in 2022.

“Gilmour Space Technologies has expressed an interest in the site (and) we are keen to work with the team at Gilmour and local stakeholders,” said Mr Miles.

Launching on Gilmour’s first Eris rocket next year will be several Australian payloads, including a ‘space taxi’ by Sydney-based Space Machines Company and a fire detection satellite by Fireball International, another Queensland company on the Sunshine Coast.

“A launch site at Abbot Point in North Queensland would give our customers a range of valuable orbits, inclinations, and altitudes that they will require,” said Gilmour Space co-founder and Head of Launch Operations, James Gilmour.

The company is also looking at a proposed launch site in South Australia for complementary polar orbits, in line with their vision to achieve ‘All Orbits, All Planets.’

“Our next step is to continue to work with key stakeholders to get all the necessary approvals we need to proceed on building and operating an orbital launch facility at Abbot Point,” said Mr Gilmour. “With sufficient and timely support, I see no reason why we can’t be demonstrating key, sovereign space capability next year, launching our first Australian-made rocket, with Australian payloads, from an Australian launch site.”

SES Government Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, in close partnership with a key U.S. Government customer, designed, developed and fielded an O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) reachback capability to provide mission-critical communications for a key combatant command.

The awarded task order for $11.8 million is against the single-award $516.7 million Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), low-latency, High Throughput Satellite (HTS) services. This is the 15th task order awarded to SES GS on this BPA.

With this agreement, SES Government Solutions expands its high-throughput, low-latency services in support of mission-essential combatant command requirements, as the customer needs evolve, by providing innovative, flexible and secure communications solutions.

Using O3b services, U.S. Government customers can take advantage of the field-proven capabilities to support the provisioning of enterprise services to deployed warfighters. The solution leverages the MEO constellation by providing fiber-like connectivity to austere deployed locations.  

“The Department of Defense has vast and expansive information at their fingertips,” said President and CEO of SES Government Solutions, Brigadier General Pete Hoene, USAF (retired). “Utilizing reachback technology gives our warfighters the information and support needed for mission success. By leveraging the O3b MEO constellation, deployed U.S. military personnel have access to near real-time decision-making intelligence at the tactical edge.”

The target for SpaceX: Saturday, May 15, for the company’s follow-up Starlink mission, with the smallsats nestled aboard a Falcon 9 launch vehicle that lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

On board this mission are 52 Starlink satellites, a Capella Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, and Tyvak-0130, an optical spectrum astronomy observation satellite.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster that supports this mission previously launched NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and three Starlink missions.

Following stage separation, SpaceX landed the Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship located in the Atlantic Ocean. One half of this mission’s Falcon 9’s fairing previously supported the SXM-7 mission, and the other half previously supported the NROL-108 mission.

CAES has partnered with Raytheon Intelligence & Space to develop and provide RF signal conversion technology for use in a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) program.

The Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) or Global Lightning program seeks to connect military aircraft to emerging commercial satellite internet constellations in LEO. CAES will provide multi-band block frequency converters for design into a new Raytheon phased array antenna and will allow communications with satellite internet constellations and aircraft to seamlessly jump between different satellites. The program culminates with a flight demonstration in 2022.

Commercial LEO satellites have the potential to allow communications at significantly faster speeds than is currently available on today’s military aircraft. As a result, the DEUCSI program seeks to leverage evolving space internet networks for USAF communications and data sharing capabilities.

CAES offers a full range of high performance RF modules and integrated microwave assemblies, featuring low phase noise, high spurious suppression and excellent gain flatness which enable superior signal integrity. CAES’ trusted frequency converters support uplink and downlink functionality that enable an efficient link of new space data services and a complete airborne, multi-band satellite terminal system.

In addition, CAES frequency converters feature unique packaging techniques allowing for very high density circuit integration, high channel-to-channel isolation, excellent thermal management and small form-factor solutions.

“CAES is excited to be chosen as a key partner for Raytheon’s DEUCSI solution, in what could become a widely used, high capacity data communications capability for the United States military,” said Mike Kahn, President and CEO, CAES. “CAES has a long history of pioneering high performance, narrowband and wideband millimeter wave solutions for military and space applications. In addition, our longstanding design-for-manufacturing expertise allows CAES to automate certain assembly and test functions to meet the most challenging customer design requirements.”

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Performed on Monday, April 26, at precisely 07:14 a.m. local time at Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome (22:14 a.m. on April 25, UTC), Soyuz Flight ST31 orbited 36 new OneWeb satellites. That brings the size of the OneWeb fleet on-orbit to 182 in number.

Flight ST31 was the 56th Soyuz mission carried out by Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate.

Arianespace has launched 182 OneWeb satellites through six Soyuz launches to date. Pursuant to an amended launch contract with OneWeb, Arianespace will perform 13 more Soyuz launches through 2021 and 2022.

These launches will enable OneWeb to complete the deployment of its full global constellation of low Earth orbit satellites by the end of 2022. OneWeb’s mission is to bring internet everywhere to everyone, by creating a global connectivity platform through a next-generation satellite constellation in LEO.

The OneWeb constellation will deliver high-speed, low-latency connectivity to a wide range of customer sectors, including aviation, maritime, backhaul services, and for governments, emergency response services and more. Central to its purpose, OneWeb seeks to bring connectivity to every place where fiber cannot reach, and thereby bridge the digital divide.

The satellite prime contractor is OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture of OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space. The satellites were produced in Florida, USA, in the company’s leading-edge satellite manufacturing facilities that can build up to two satellites per day on a series production line dedicated to spacecraft assembly, integration, and testing.

“Congratulations to all the teams who made this latest mission from the Vostochny Cosmodrome a success. This launch again confirms Arianespace’s ability to deploy the OneWeb constellation through the use of three different Soyuz launch sites – in French Guiana, Kazakhstan and Russia,” said Stéphane Israël, Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace. “I want to sincerely thank OneWeb for its trust. I am delighted that our company has contributed – for the sixth time – to this client’s ultimate ambition of providing Internet access to everyone, anywhere, at any time.”

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (Nasdaq: GILT, TASE: GILT has received orders of more than $20 million for support of gateways of LEO constellations.

Gilat’s subsidiary, Wavestream, was selected as the vendor of choice to supply Gateway Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPAs) to a leading satellite operator to support LEO constellation gateways. The orders were received as part of the previously announced contract.

Wavestream’s Gateway-Class PowerStream 160Ka SSPAs, designed specifically for networks using wide bandwidth uplinks and high order modulation schemes, were selected due to their best-in-class technical performance and their unmatched reliability in harsh environments, best addressing the stringent requirements of Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit (NGSO) constellations.

“We are fully engaged and committed to deliver the essential SSPAs for the LEO constellation Gateways,” said Bob Huffman, Wavestream’s General Manager. “Wavestream’s proven technological advantage, as well as our unmatched production capacity, make us a perfect supplier for the high volume of Ka-band Gateway-class SSPAs required for this constellation.”

HawkEye 360 has developed new maritime security and vessel monitoring capabilities that combine HawkEye 360’s RF geolocation services with a customized machine learning model developed through Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Machine Learning (ML) Solutions Lab.

The capabilities, which will be integrated into the HawkEye 360 portfolio of products, leverage underlying vessel characteristics and behavior to predict whether a given vessel is likely to engage in similar activity as sanctioned vessels.

HawkEye 360 used Amazon SageMaker Autopilot — a fully managed service that helps make it easy to build, train and deploy ML models quickly — to develop the purpose-built, proprietary algorithms undergirding the new capabilities. These algorithms can help generate deeper insights into RF data in half the time than was previously possible.

The new algorithms evaluate vessels’ historical data and known interactions, along with contextual vessel characteristics to generate insights into the complex connections involved in illicit maritime vessel activity, such as illegal fishing, human trafficking, ship-to-ship transfer of illegal goods, smuggling and more. This provides analysts with a holistic view of maritime activity and the ability to detect, predict and zoom in on high-risk activity.

This RF signals analysis and machine learning ability can help make the oceans a safe place by supporting a variety of applications, including commercial maritime activity, national security operations, maritime domain awareness, environmental protection and more.

“RF signals can provide valuable insight into commercial vessel activity across the globe, even when bad actors seek to hide their location,” said Tim Pavlick, Vice President of Product at HawkEye 360. “With these machine learning-backed capabilities, we will empower customers to cut through an ocean full of noise to obtain more timely and critical insights from maritime RF data to improve mission outcomes and prevent illegal and illicit activities.”

Sri Elaprolu, Senior Manager of Amazon Machine Learning Solutions Lab, said, “By combining HawkEye’s data and deep domain expertise with Amazon SageMaker Autopilot, HawkEye 360 is able to cut in half the time for machine learning model development and deployment. That frees up time for their data scientists to focus on creating new and innovative solutions to the world’s problems.”

The avalanche of legal filings and motions in the increasingly bitter dispute between SES and Intelsat over the division of C-band ‘incentives’ from the FCC is simply immense.

April 14th saw another flood of documents, but one stood out, which contained Intelsat’s strong rebuttal of some of SES arguments. The opening paragraph says it all — “SES’s Motion is mostly a continuation of its smear campaign against [Intelsat], SES’s largest competitor. SES first seeks to intervene in a lawsuit that does not exist.”

The filing to Intelsat’s bankruptcy court then takes 17 pages of legalese to expand on its rebuttal of SES’s arguments, and states, “SES has pursued its claim through bombastic character assassination, in an effort to advance SES’s competitive efforts against the Debtors, while ignoring the text of the contract it signed and the FCC Order that the Debtors are working to implement…. SES’s approach is simply not how bankruptcy works. SES (and all other creditors) will have every opportunity to advance its opposing assertions about payments flowing from the FCC Order during [Intelsat’s exit from bankruptcy plan] confirmation proceedings.”

The invective from Intelsat certainly manages to match that already filed by SES. Intelsat claims that the C-Band Alliance – the initial entity which negotiated with the FCC over the allocation of C-band frequencies over the US – had no role once the FCC had determined its auction process.

Intelsat argues that “none of the proceeds from the FCC-run auction will flow to the CBA or any of the satellite operators; instead, those proceeds will all go to the U.S. Treasury. The payments allocated to each separate satellite operator under the FCC regime are for their actions separately—and they are not related to the auction proceeds. As such, the acceleration payments were not a part of the Market Approach nor even contemplated by the Agreement.

“SES is trying to pocket for itself money that Intelsat is eligible for on account of Intelsat’s rights in the C-Band—and that value belongs to Intelsat’s real creditors (not its chief competitor),” stated the Intelsat filing, adding ”The reality is clear: SES, the Debtors’ fiercest competitor, seeks a windfall for doing nothing while the Debtors earn incentive payments, described in the FCC Order, for the benefit of the Debtors’ stakeholders.”

The judge in this case needs – and probably has – the wisdom of Solomon!

Millions For Musk

Elon Musk might well mount an IPO for his SpaceX business somewhere down the line, but for the moment, he seems happy to raise cash by issuing new equity. In a regulatory filing, SpaceX says it has raised a total of $1.164 billion over the past few weeks.

The company had already reported raising some $850 million back in February, which gave the rocket and broadband-by-satellite company a valuation of about $74 billion. Last August, SpaceX raised $1.9 billion according to Reuters.

The net total of this latest funding round places another $314 million or so into SpaceX’s coffers.

Somewhat coincidentally, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, on April 15th, said that her company will be providing a consistent global connectivity business by late this year and within 5 years will be using its larger Starship rocket to be carrying people within 5 years. Starship would be flying inter-continentally as well as – eventually – to Mars “before 2030”.

Shotwell said that SpaceX was targeting its broadband service to be global shortly after its scheduled 28th launch. Earlier in April it made its 23rd Starlink launch, so simple math suggests another 300 satellites need to be placed into orbit.

Shotwell also talked about its development of inter-satellite laser links, saying that Version 3 (SpaceX had already tested two iterations) of its laser-linked craft would be orbited in the next few months.

The demand for broadband connectivity over both fixed and mobile broadband networks is increasing dramatically. However, despite network expansions and upgrades, only half of households worldwide currently have access to fixed broadband services.

With the rollout of LEO constellations, satellite broadband services will improve broadband penetration significantly. Global tech market advisory firm ABI Research forecasts that the satellite broadband market will reach 3.5 million subscribers in 2021, grow at a CAGR 8 per cent to reach 5.2 million users in 2026, and generate $4.1 billion service revenue.

“LEO satellites will play an important role in satellite broadband services in the years to come,” says Khin Sandi Lynn, Industry Analyst at ABI Research. “High Throughput Satellite (HTS) LEO systems can support multi-Gbps speed per satellite. Orbiting around 800-1600 km from the Earth’s surface, LEO systems offer a major advantage of low latency between 30-50 milliseconds, enabling LEO broadband services to support low latency services such as online gaming and live video streaming.”

ABI Research notes that, traditionally, GEO satellites are mainly used to provide broadband services to homes and businesses in remote or rural areas where the deployment of mobile or fixed broadband connectivity is challenging. Although GEO satellites support viable speed over 100 Mbps speed broadband access, their distance from the Earth surface, about 36,000 km, creates a drawback of longer latency as high as 600ms, limiting the use of low latency applications.

LEO satellite operator SpaceX first launched its Starlink broadband services to residential users in 2020, supporting 100 Mbps broadband speed with unlimited data caps per month. SpaceX has launched more than 1,000 LEO satellites and aims to serve more than 600,000 homes and businesses in the United States. The company is now working toward the expansion of its broadband service to some markets in Latin America.

Other companies, such as OneWeb and Telesat, have launched LEO satellites providing connectivity to the business segment. Amazon, which plans to launch LEO constellations named project Kuiper, received FCC approval for its project in mid-2020, although the first satellite launch date is yet to be confirmed.

As broadband connectivity is becoming an essential service in today’s homes, satellite broadband services will remain an important part of the broadband market. There is inevitable competition from terrestrial broadband networks due to the expansion of fixed broadband networks and mobile networks.

The expansion of LTE and 5G networks will challenge the satellite broadband industry by supplying fixed wireless access (FWA) services to residential users. However, the cost and time associated with terrestrial network deployments can limit distribution in remote areas. “Satellite systems will continue to provide broadband services to underserved and unserved areas,” Lynn says.

LEO systems’ arrival will benefit users in remote areas by supporting high-speed, low latency broadband service. “The challenge of LEO-based broadband service currently is the cost of terminals, which are relatively high compared to existing satellite or terrestrial platforms. LEO satellite operators need to find ways to lower the terminal cost. Flexible packages and pricing could make the services affordable for users in both developed and emerging markets. Even though heavy subsidising of hardware costs may be required initially, the ability to boost adoption rates will help ecosystem development and eventually lower the hardware cost,” concludes Lynn.

Exolaunch is discussing their new line of orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs) that will launch satellites to custom orbits in an environmentally responsible way which, according the firm, are the first of their kind in the OTV industry. The company’s space tug testing and flight qualification will start in 2022 on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rideshare missions.

With more than 140 satellites deployed to date across different launch vehicles, Exolaunch has an industry insight it can leverage to develop solutions tailored towards meeting customer needs and addressing market trends. Named Reliant, Exolaunch claims this will be the most robust OTV platform on the market for performance, payload, capacity, and flexibility in executing orbital maneuvers.

Exolaunch’s tug is powered by a company-described, innovative, green propulsion system, which also provides a high thrust-to-weight ratio and meets the highest standards for environmental safety. Its design also leverages additive technologies using lightweight carbon fiber composites and 3D printing, resulting in low mass and high cost-efficiency. The Reliant currently comes in two configurations, Standard and Pro.

The Standard configuration is optimal for moving satellites to a custom orbit altitude after they’ve been deployed from a launch vehicle on a set rideshare orbit. For example, the propulsion system lifts the orbit from 250-300 km to 550 km in one hour, expanding the reach of existing missions to the small satellite community.

The Pro configuration is equipped with a hybrid propulsion system, which combines the advantages of green propulsion and the capabilities of an electric propulsion system. The Reliant Pro enables customers to change the orbit altitude as well as adjust the inclination, LTAN/LTDN and perform orbital phasing for satellite constellations. Additionally, it is designed to deorbit in less than two hours after deployment completion, minimizing the risks of space collisions and reducing orbital debris.

Reliant will also set the standard for environmentally conscious OTVs, featuring the ability to install modular payloads with the purpose of tackling the growing issue of space debris. After safely deploying satellites into their target orbits, an essential task of the Reliant Pro would be to collect authorized space debris prior to deorbiting, thereby fostering the sustainable use of space.

Exolaunch’s space tugs are compatible with any launch vehicle, with the primary target use on Falcon 9 under SpaceX’s SmallSat Rideshare Program. This allows Exolaunch customers to benefit from best-in-class tailored launch services, launch cost optimization, and flexible mission management while also offering access to custom orbits within the reach of a general rideshare program in an environmentally responsible way.

Exolaunch’s OTVs are fully compatible with its proprietary flight-proven deployment technologies, including CarboNIX, a next-gen scalable and shock-free microsatellite separation system; EXOpod, a cutting-edge cubesat deployer; EXOport, a flexible multi-satellite adapter, and an EXObox sequencer.

Reliant is one aspect of Exolaunch’s Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability impact initiative. As a responsible business, Exolaunch prioritizes environmental performance of its products and is committed to guaranteeing the conduct of its activities in a safe and ethical manner.

“There is an increased demand from our customers and the NewSpace industry for dedicated injection and custom orbit in their constellation deployment programs, but until now they’ve been limited to one orbit per launch,” said Jeanne Medvedeva, Vice President of Launch Services at Exolaunch. “Our space tug program will now offer customers multiple orbit options for smallsat deployments on any given mission, enabling wider access to space and diverse constellation launch strategies. It is also our contribution to the capacity-building of in-space logistics, a new emerging niche that is gaining value in the Exolaunch portfolio.”

“In designing our OTV, we paid due regard to the space sustainability and space debris mitigation guidelines with constant thought as to how we could make a positive change and go beyond what has been done to set a new benchmark,” said Dr. Olga Stelmakh-Drescher, Exolaunch Chief Policy and Government Relations Officer. “With that in mind, we developed a feature that would allow Exolaunch to not only mitigate the risk of space debris generation, but also to reduce the amount of debris in orbit every time Reliant is launched. We believe this dedicated OTV service will be in high demand by space governmental and intergovernmental organizations, and later on by private actors once the practice is established.”

Exolaunch provides launch, in-space logistics and deployment services for NewSpace. Its flight heritage includes the successful deployment of 140 small satellites into orbit (with 60+ satellites scheduled for flight in 2021) through its global network of launch vehicle providers. Exolaunch executes launch contracts for NewSpace leaders, the world’s most innovative startups, research institutions, government organizations, and space agencies. The company manufactures flight-proven separation systems to deliver the best-in-class integration and deployment services for small satellites, and develops a line of space tugs to provide last-mile delivery services and combat space debris.