News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has scrapped its proposed military spaceplane after Boeing withdrew from the Experimental Spaceplane (XSP) programme also known as ‘Phantom Express,’ Space.com reports. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012801
Virgin Orbit has signed an agreement with ImageSat International (ISI), Israel, to develop an end-to-end responsive space service offering focused on national security customers. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012802
Eutelsat Communications’ Eutelsat 7C satellite has entered full commercial service and is ready to support broadcast customers across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Turkey. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012803
Iridium Communications Inc. announced that its Iridium CloudConnect satellite cloud-based solution is now actively serving customers. This new service combines Iridium IoT capabilities with Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT and cloud services extending customers’ IoT reach to the more than 80% of the Earth that lacks terrestrial coverage. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012804
Kepler Communications said it begins production in its newly commissioned satellite manufacturing facility in Toronto, Canada. It is an essential step towards delivering the company’s proposed fleet of 140 satellites for high-capacity global connectivity services. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012805
The launch of Soyuz 2.1a rocket with Meridian-M military satellite from Plesetsk, northern Russia, was cancelled over a malfunction of the rocket’s electrical equipment. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012600
SpaceX is expected to launch its next Falcon 9 rocket into space on 27 January. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012601
Egyptian satellite operator Nilesat and SpaceX have signed a contract for the launch of Nilesat-301 geostationary communications satellite due in 2022. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012602
Europe’s Galileo satellite constellation will reply to messages received by the satellites’ COSPAS-SARSAT payloads, assuring people in danger that help is on the way. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012603
AT&T Inc.’s DirecTV unit said there is "a significant risk" that battery cells aboard its Spaceway-1 satellite could burst. DirecTV received permission to conduct an emergency operation to reduce risks of an accidental explosion. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012300