SpaceNews reports that LeoSat, a company that planned to deliver high-speed Internet using as many as 108 satellites, has folded due to lack of investment. Mark Rigolle, CEO of LeoSat, told SpaceNews Nov. 13 that the company laid off all 13 employees — himself included — in August after its earlier investors decided not to fund the company any longer. LeoSat was anticipating that Spanish satellite operator Hispasat and Sky Perfect Jsat […]
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F6 satellite (Credit: OneWeb)
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Jeff Bezos’ Amazon has jumped into a crowded field of companies seeking to provide high-speed broadband, data and other communications services to the entire globe.
Amazon’s Kuiper constellation of 3,236 satellites brings the total number of spacecraft in the 16 announced systems to 20,241 spacecraft. The competition includes SpaceX, Boeing, Telesat, SES and government-backed companies in China and Russia.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s plan to provide high-speed communications to virtually any location on Earth got a big boost this week when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the company’s plan to add 7,518 satellites to the company’s Starlink constellation. The action brings the total number of satellites in Starlink to 11,943 following the FCC’s earlier approval of 4,425 spacecraft last year. Starlink is Musk’s ambitious entry into the global […]
SpaceX constellation includes 7,518 satellite Internet spacecraft- Three other approved constellations total 335 satellites
WASHINGTON, November 15, 2018 (FCC PR) — The Federal Communications Commission today approved the requests of four companies—Space Exploration Holdings, LLC (SpaceX), Kepler Communications, Inc. (Kepler), Telesat Canada (Telesat), and LeoSat MA, Inc. (LeoSat)—seeking to roll-out new and expanded services using proposed non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) satellites.
These proposed satellite systems are expected to enable fixed satellite service in the United States, expanding global connectivity and advancing the goals of increasing high-speed broadband availability and competition in the marketplace.
LeoSat Data Network Constellation (Credit: LeoSat)
WASHINGTON, DC (LeoSat PR)–LeoSat Enterprises, which is launching a constellation of up to 108 low-earth-orbit communications satellites that will provide the fastest, most secure and widest coverage data network in the world, has announced that SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (SJC), Asia’s largest satellite operator and Japan’s only provider of both multi-channel pay TV broadcasting and satellite communications services has entered into an agreement to invest in LeoSat. With this agreement, SJC will be the first Asian satellite operator to pursue the development of low earth orbit capabilities.
Elon Musk (Credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX has filed a new application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for approval to launch a constellation of 7,518 satellites to provide communications in the little used V band.
The system is in addition to another constellations of 4,425 satellites (plus orbital spares) SpaceX proposed in November that would operate in the Ku and Ka bands. In total, the two constellations would have 11,943 spacecraft plus spares.
“When combined into a single, coordinated system, these ‘LEO’ and ‘VLEO’ constellations will enable SpaceX to provide robust broadband services on a full and continuous global basis,” SpaceX said in its application.
Competitor OneWeb has submitted a new application that would add an additional 2,000 satellites capable of operating in the V-band to its planned constellation of 720 satellites.
Another satellite Internet start-up has popped up this month:
Satellite Internet startup LeoSat has contracted with manufacturer Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy to conduct a one-year cost study of the company’s planned low Earth orbiting (LEO) constellation of high-throughput broadband satellites.
LeoSat, a company founded by former Schlumberger executives Cliff Anders and Phil Marlar, aims to orbit a constellation of small, high-throughput Ka-band spacecraft that will deliver Internet services globally. The network initially would comprise 80 satellites aimed at fixed and maritime markets by 2019, and ultimately grow to around 120 satellites to offer mobile service.
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