February 2015

Skybox Imaging has been one of the success stories of the satellite sector in recent years. The company, which was created only a few years ago, was sold to Google in 2014 in a deal worth $500 million. It has been a story of superb entrepreneurship reinventing the satellite imaging landscape at a stroke. It…

Aircraft switching from beam to beam or satellite to satellite. Photo: ViaSat [Via Satellite 02-12-2015] ViaSat Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Dankberg sees an opportunity for new in-flight Wi-Fi strategies and technology to drive revenue for the company, even in the face of a shrinking U.S. market. In a conference call regarding an otherwise…

From left to right: Joe Milroy, associate publisher of Via Satellite, Robert Bell, executive director of SSPI, and Caleb Henry, junior editor of Via Satellite at SSPI’s 2014 Future Leaders Dinner. Photo: Via Satellite [Via Satellite 02-12-2015] Via Satellite magazine and its parent company Access Intelligence, have partnered with the Society of Satellite Professionals International…

Grand Circle Cruise Line’s newly-acquired M/V Corinthian vessel. Photo: Grand Circle Cruise Line [Via Satellite 02-12-2015] MTN Communications has signed two new global cruise line operators as customers for maritime connectivity, and has renewed a contract with a long-term European customer. Noble Caledonia, a U.K. based operator of small cruise ships, and Grand Circle Cruise…

Jean Yves LeGall, CNES president. Photo: CNES. [Via Satellite 02-12-2015] CNES, the French space agency, and the Agencia Espacial Mexicana (AEM), Mexico’s space agency, have agreed to step up the cooperation initiated in April 2014 on space-based telecommunications, remote sensing and disaster relief. CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall met with AEM Director General Francisco Javier…

A Samsung Ultra-HD television. Photo: Samsung [Via Satellite 02-12-2015] SES has started simulcasting its Ultra-HD demonstration channel from the 19.2 degrees east orbital position to audiences in the U.K. and Ireland from the Astra 2E satellite at 28.2 degrees east. The channel is concurrently transmitting video content such as cityscapes, exotic animals and urban sports…

Gustavo Silbert, executive director of Embratel Star One. Photo: Embratel Star One [Via Satellite 02-11-2015] Brazilian satellite operator Embratel Star One is readying for an increase in demand for mobility services, along with the permanent presence of Ultra-HD in Latin America. The company’s first new satellite since 2012, Star One C4, is scheduled to launch…

Engineers examining an AEHF antenna. Photo: Northrop Grumman [Via Satellite 02-11-2015] The United States Air Force concluded a six-month rigorous and complex multiservice operational test and evaluation of its Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system in January at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado. The test and evaluation’s goal was to ensure the AEHF system…

Francine Mazala, overall winner of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards 2013, addresses the attendees of the gala ceremony where the 2014 winners of this pan-African competition were announced. Photo: Eutelsat [Via Satellite 02-11-2015] Eutelsat and MultiChoice have announced the winners of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, a pan-African competition to promote interest in science and space…

ICAO is proposing a new aircraft tracking standard, based on discussions that occurred at its High Level Safety Conference this week. Photo: ICAO. [Via Satellite 02-11-2015] Following the conclusion of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Second High Level Safety Conference in Montreal last week, Inmarsat has announced its support of the regulatory body’s conclusion…