News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
Speedcast International Limited and Inmarsat announced that they have reached agreement on the sale of Speedcast’s primary Fleet Xpress, FleetBroadband and Fleet One service contracts to Inmarsat. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020112202
Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich; Date: 21 November 2020, 1717 UTC; Launch site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA. The satellite was delivered into orbit just under an hour after lift-off and contact was established at the ground station in Alaska at 1849 UTC. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020112100
With the upcoming launch of ocean monitoring satellite Sentinel-6, two new Precise Orbit Determination Receivers (PODRIX) from RUAG Space will make their maiden flight. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111900
Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has been awarded a contract by GHGSat of Montreal to build the next three microsatellites in its commercial greenhouse gas monitoring constellation. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111901
Eutelsat Communications has agreed the disposal of its 51% stake in Euro Broadband Infrastructure (EBI), the company operating the KA SAT satellite, and related European broadband business to Viasat Inc, its 49% shareholder, for an initial consideration of EUR140 million. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111902
Russia’s Arktika-M, the first satellite to monitor the Arctic climate and environment, is going to be launched in February 2021, according to a source in the space and rocket industry. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111800
UK communications company OneWeb is planning to have eight to ten satellite launches in 2021 from the Guiana Space Center and the Baikonur and Vostochny spaceports, a spokesperson for Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of Roskosmos state space corporation, was quoted as saying. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111801
Astroscale Holdings Inc. announced that its End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) mission will launch on a Soyuz rocket operated by GK Launch Services from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, in March 2021. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111802
A batch of 10 satellites is to be developed following the signing of a three-year Partnership Project between small satellite manufacturer AAC Clyde Space UK and ESA, with co-funding from the UK Space Agency. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111803
Eutelsat Communications has signed a Letter of Agreement with TIM (also operating under the name Telecom Italia) for wholesale capacity on the Eutelsat KONNECT and KONNECT VHTS satellites which will enable Italian households, even those living in the most isolated areas, to benefit from very high-speed fixed broadband via satellite from January 2021. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111804