Via Satellite
Industry magazine delivering news and analysis on satellite communications business, broadcast and broadband technology, and market trends.
The Seismic Shifts in the Satellite Communications Landscape Are Far From Over
The satellite communications market is undergoing rapid consolidation and capacity expansion, highlighted by SpaceX’s Starlink surpassing 10,000 LEO satellites and a series of high‑profile mergers among incumbents. New entrants such as Amazon Leo and Blue Origin’s TeraWave are committing substantial capital, intensifying competition for launch slots and spectrum. Satellite IoT connections grew 20.7% year‑over‑year to 13.6 million in 2025, while broadband subscriptions are projected to reach 51 million by 2033. Direct‑to‑cellular users could hit 2.6 billion by 2035, unlocking multibillion‑dollar revenue streams.
Automation and Agility: How SSC Space Go Is Designed for the New Age of Ground
SSC Space has launched SSC Space Go, a new ground‑segment service tailored for commercial small‑sat operators in low‑Earth orbit. Building on 54 years of mission experience, the offering combines upgraded hardware and software to deliver higher automation and operational flexibility....
Canadian Navy to Trial All.Space Hydra 4 Terminal
The Royal Canadian Navy will trial All.Space’s Hydra 4 multi‑band, multi‑orbit satellite terminal at the Maritime Forces Pacific base in Victoria, British Columbia. Hydra 4 can connect simultaneously to military Ka‑band, commercial Ka, Ku and L‑band networks, as well as Starlink and...
Planet Details AI-Driven Object Detection Onboard Pelican-4 Satellite
Planet demonstrated AI-driven object detection onboard its Pelican‑4 satellite using an Nvidia Jetson Orin module. The satellite captured an image of Alice Springs airport on March 25 and identified airplanes directly in orbit, marking one of the first instances of...
Live in the Booth: Matt Desch Talks Iridium NTN Direct and Alt PNT Advances
Iridium is launching Iridium NTN Direct, positioning itself as the first standardized, global narrow‑band satellite IoT service. The offering runs on Iridium’s existing constellation, eliminating the need for new hardware. CEO Matt Desch highlighted automotive use cases such as airbag...
Redwire Wins European Quantum Satellite Contract
Redwire announced it has won a European Space Agency (ESA) contract to build a quantum‑secure satellite under the QKDSat program. The company will deliver its Belgium‑built Hammerhead spacecraft equipped with a quantum key distribution (QKD) payload and its ADPMS‑3 avionics...
African Market for Satellite Services Offers Pent Up Demand
Africa’s satellite market is accelerating, with 21 nations operating space programs and 65 satellites already launched, and another 120 slated by 2030. Broadband penetration remains under 50% for over 1 billion people, prompting a surge in satellite terminals from 100,000 to...
Gravitics Receives Strategic Funding Increase From SpaceWERX
Gravitics secured a Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) contract from SpaceWERX, the U.S. Space Force’s innovation arm, worth up to $60 million. The award will fund a flight‑demonstration of Gravitics’ Orbital Carrier on a low‑Earth‑orbit rideshare, alongside a Viper orbital transfer vehicle...
Astroscale and Exotrail to Co-Develop Servicing Mission
Japanese satellite‑life‑extension specialist Astroscale and French launch‑service firm Exotrail have signed a contract to co‑develop a low‑Earth‑orbit de‑orbiting mission, aiming for operational capability by 2030. The partnership combines Exotrail’s SpaceVan vehicle with Astroscale’s capture system and proximity‑operations expertise. The agreement...
In-Orbit Logistics Companies Call for Clearer Demand Signals From Gov
Industry leaders at a SATShow Week panel warned that demand for in‑orbit inspection, repair, refueling and de‑orbit services will surge over the next five to ten years as Low‑Earth Orbit becomes increasingly congested. The Space Development Agency (SDA) highlighted a...
ArkEdge Space to Work With ABIT For IoT Service Rollout
ArkEdge Space and Japan’s ABIT Corporation have signed an MOU to co‑develop wide‑area IoT solutions and satellite communication equipment. The collaboration merges ArkEdge’s low‑power, long‑range satellite network—validated on 18 in‑orbit satellites—with ABIT’s ground‑side device design, mass‑production and protocol expertise. ArkEdge...
CanarySat CEO Antonio Abad Outlines the Sovereign, Secure Approach Behind the Magec Constellation
CanarySat, backed by Spain’s Arquimea, unveiled its Magec constellation – a planned 264‑satellite Ka‑band LEO network aimed at sovereign, secure communications for governments, critical infrastructure and essential enterprises. The company, less than a year old, leverages five years of design...
Measat Appoints New CTO
Measat Global has appointed John Loke as chief technology officer, effective April 1. Loke returns after a decade in senior roles at Measat and most recently served as CTO of a Singapore satellite operator, where he delivered high‑speed broadband across...
Live in the Booth: Arianespace CEO David Cavaillolès Previews Ariane 6 Ramp-Up
Arianespace is accelerating its Ariane 6 launch cadence, with the next mission slated for April 28 following a successful February flight for its biggest customer, Amazon. CEO David Cavaillolès highlighted the massive coordination effort involving roughly 600 European companies to keep the...
Faced With Starlink Competition, Ground Segment Leaders Turn to Orchestration, Specialization
Ground‑segment providers are feeling the pressure of vertically integrated LEO megaconstellations such as Starlink and Amazon Leo, which manufacture their own user terminals and drive prices to rock‑bottom levels. Executives from Ovzon, SpaceBridge and Comtech warned that the traditional consumer‑grade GEO...
Air Force Awards BlackSky $99M to Large Aperture Optical Payload for Space-Based Imaging
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded BlackSky Technology a $99 million contract to develop a low‑cost, large‑aperture optical payload for space‑based imaging and space‑domain awareness. An initial $2.1 million FY‑2026 R&D obligation will jump‑start design work, with the SBIR Phase III award...
Claussen Departs, ST Engineering iDirect Names Sridhar Kuppanna as CEO
ST Engineering iDirect announced that its chief technology officer, Sridhar Kuppanna, will assume the chief executive role, succeeding Don Claussen after roughly three years. Kuppanna, who has spent two and a half years shaping the firm’s technology roadmap, is credited...
WAVE Achieves First Cloud-to-Gateway Satcom Virtualization with AI Signal Analysis
Members of the IEEE‑backed WAVE Consortium—AWS, Gilat Defense, and SES Space & Defense—demonstrated the first standardized cloud‑to‑gateway satellite communications virtualization using FPGA acceleration. A 10 Mbps video stream was transmitted through a DVBS‑2X modem, digitized at an SES gateway, and processed...
Live in the Booth: AST SpaceMobile President Scott Wisniewski Talks Spectrum Strategy and Defense Potential
AST SpaceMobile President and Chief Strategy Officer Scott Wisniewski highlighted the recent launch of the BlueBird 6 satellite, a new agreement with European carrier Orange, and the company’s evolving spectrum strategy. He announced that AST secured its first Space Development Agency...
SpaceBridge Launches UniHub as Streamlined VSAT Platform
SpaceBridge unveiled UniHub, a compact all‑in‑one VSAT hub that consolidates SDR multichannel modulation, burst demodulation for up to 800 carriers, network communication center functions, QoS, and advanced waveforms like TDMA and dSCPC. The platform promises reduced footprint, lower SWaP, and...
Bridgit Mendler Outlines Northwood’s Vision for Rapidly Deployable Ground Infrastructure
Northwood Space, led by former Disney star Bridgit Mendler, unveiled its strategy to create rapidly deployable satellite ground infrastructure. The company raised $100 million in a Series B round and has already fielded Portal phased‑array units in Australia and another continent, with...
Inside the Data Fusion and Integration Challenges to Building the Golden Dome
The Golden Dome missile‑defense concept faces a formidable data‑fusion hurdle, requiring real‑time 3‑D tracking of ballistic and hypersonic launches from a patchwork of space‑ and ground‑based sensors. Industry leaders at a SATShow Week panel emphasized that the obstacle is less...
Eutelsat CEO Fallacher Talks OneWeb Gen 2, Global Competition, and Sovereign Demand
Eutelsat CEO Jean‑François Fallacher outlines a strategic shift from a GEO‑centric broadcast model toward a hybrid GEO/LEO connectivity business, leveraging the OneWeb constellation and upcoming Gen 2 satellites. The company has secured €1.5 billion in capital increases, a €1 billion export credit agency...
Comtech Delivers First Set of Digital Modems to US Army
Comtech has delivered the first batch of Enterprise Digital Intermediate Frequency Multi‑Carrier (EDIM) modems under a $48.6 million U.S. Army contract signed in 2023. The units are still in development and will undergo final acceptance testing this summer before fielding. The...
Latest White House Cybersecurity Strategy Talks Crypto, AI, Quantum
The White House released President Trump’s Cyber Strategy for America in mid‑March, outlining six policy pillars that target critical‑infrastructure protection, emerging‑technology superiority, and a broadened offensive cyber posture. Notably, the strategy calls for securing supply‑chain integrity, promoting U.S.‑made hardware, and...
Getting Better Outcomes In Space: How Will the UK Embrace the Challenge?
At Space‑Comm London, a panel of government and industry leaders warned that space has become a core national security arena, with satellite jamming and anti‑satellite weapons now routine. Speakers stressed the need for the UK to protect its interests by...
SpiderOak Wins New UAS Systems Contract
SpiderOak has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Unmanned Aircraft Systems PMO to conduct supply‑chain analysis and cybersecurity assessments for vendors in the Drone Dominance Program. The company will apply its Advanced Cyber Threat & Resilience Assessments (ACTRA)...
Ukraine Ambassador to UK Talks Future Warfare
Ukrainian ambassador Valerii Zaluzhnyi, former commander‑in‑chief, addressed Chatham House in February, warning that future wars will be dominated by autonomous and semi‑autonomous robotic systems. He argued that robotisation could cut human casualties while stressing that no single state will master...
Ligado Tells FCC That SkyTerra Next Proposal Won’t Cause Interference
Ligado filed a new FCC petition to modify its satellite license and host the SkyTerra Next L‑band payload on AST SpaceMobile’s low‑Earth‑orbit constellation. The company argues the deployment will operate within existing L‑band coordination agreements and will not interfere with...
9 New Faces for SATShow Week 2026
SATShow Week 2026 unveiled nine fresh leaders spanning investment, manufacturing, policy and operations, underscoring the event’s expanding GovMilSpace focus. Ellen Chang highlighted the need for terrestrial infrastructure financing, while Apex’s Ian Cinnamon disclosed a $400 million fundraising round to scale bus...
Industry Roundtable With ’10 Hottest’ Executives
A roundtable of leaders from Viasat, SpinLaunch, Voyager Technologies, ArkEdge Space and Planet highlighted three dominant themes for SATShow Week 2026: the rise of multi‑orbit and hybrid satellite networks, the growing importance of dual‑use space systems for defense and commercial...
Telesat’s Lightspeed Service Launch Slips to 2028
Telesat announced that its Lightspeed low‑Earth‑orbit satellite service will now enter commercial operation in the first quarter of 2028, slipping from the end‑2027 target due to delays in the ASIC chips supplied by SatixFy. The first batch of satellites is...
Marlink Launches Cloud Platform for Maritime Customers
Marlink introduced XChange NextGen, an edge cloud platform for maritime operators, on March 17. The solution consolidates connectivity, network management, cybersecurity, cloud services, and IIoT applications into a single scalable architecture. It aims to reduce capital spend, eliminate fragmented onboard...
Lite Coms Executives Talk Multi-Orbit Innovation and the Future of Tactical VSAT
Lite Coms, a seven‑year‑old satcom firm, has deployed almost 1,000 tactical VSAT terminals for U.S. and allied forces. Its core strategy centers on multi‑orbit, constellation‑agnostic terminals that operate across GEO, MEO and LEO networks, highlighted by the upcoming 2026 Ku/Ka...
European Space Agency Taps Terran Orbital Subsidiary for Defense Deal
Terran Orbital’s subsidiary Tyvak International secured a contract with the European Space Agency to build Farinella, a 6U CubeSat for the RAMSES planetary‑defense mission. The spacecraft will study near‑Earth asteroid Apophis during its close approach on 13 April 2029, providing data to...
Ovzon Receives $1.3M US Defense Contract
Swedish satellite communications firm Ovzon secured a $1.3 million, three‑month contract from the U.S. Defense Department for sat‑com services and technical support, with work commencing immediately. The agreement builds on a relationship dating back to 2014, during which the Pentagon has...
To Achieve Space Dominance, the U.S. Must Eliminate Strategic Ambiguity
The article argues that U.S. space dominance hinges on eliminating strategic ambiguity through persistent, high‑fidelity Space Domain Awareness (SDA). It highlights Russian LUCH satellites shadowing commercial GEO assets and the Intelsat 33E debris incident as concrete examples of gray‑zone threats that...
ALL.SPACE Signs Viasat Partnership Deal
ALL.SPACE announced a strategic partnership with Viasat, securing Category 4 certification for its Hydra electronically steered terminal on the Viasat Global Xpress (GX) Ka‑band network. The certification enables full‑performance operation across Viasat’s high‑capacity steerable beams for on‑move, on‑pause, and halt scenarios....
SpaceBridge CEO David Gelerman Explains Why UniHub Is a Pivotal Launch for Company
SpaceBridge is set to unveil UniHub at SATShow 2026, a software‑defined, modular VSAT hub packaged in a compact 3RU enclosure. The all‑in‑one solution promises up to five‑fold performance gains over the legacy ASAT‑II architecture and dramatically faster field deployment. CEO...
Contrivian Becomes Authorized Reseller of Amazon Leo for State, Local Governments
Contrivian announced it has become an authorized reseller of Amazon’s Leo low‑Earth‑orbit satellite service, extending its portfolio of multi‑modal connectivity for U.S. state and local governments. The partnership allows Contrivian to embed Leo’s satellite links into its software‑defined network platform,...
ST Engineering iDirect Forms African Connectivity Partnership With Q-KON
ST Engineering iDirect and African satellite services firm Q‑KON announced a partnership to launch the Intuition Unbound platform across Africa. Q‑KON will provide satellite capacity and teleport facilities in South Africa, while iDirect supplies its scalable ground connectivity solution. The...
Space Force Surveying Industry on Collaboration With Canada on Allied Space Domain Awareness C2
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command has issued a solicitation for industry input, including Canadian firms, on a joint command‑and‑control (C2) system for allied space domain awareness (SDA). A letter of offer and acceptance with Canada’s Department of National...
Equatys D2D Venture Targets Up to 2,800-Satellite Constellation
Viasat and Space42 detailed their Equitays direct‑to‑device venture, outlining a potential constellation of up to 2,800 satellites spread across 60 orbital planes and three altitude layers. The network will operate in globally harmonized L‑ and S‑band mobile satellite service spectrum,...
Designing for the Next Generation of GEO With Swissto12 CEO Emile De Rijk
Swissto12, founded by Emile de Rijk, is reshaping geostationary orbit (GEO) access by building smaller, more flexible satellites that cut launch costs and delivery times. The CEO discussed the company’s advanced payload technology, its relevance to sovereign space initiatives, and...
Voyager Makes ‘Low Eight Figures’ Investment in Max Space
Voyager Technologies announced a low‑eight‑figure investment in Max Space to accelerate development of expandable lunar habitats. The funding will support research, engineering, manufacturing scaling, and mission integration aimed at NASA’s 2028 lunar presence goal. Voyager ties the partnership to its...
Hughes Network Systems Tapped for AFRL Space Data Networking Experimentation
The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Hughes Network Services a contract under its RAPID program to support the STAR‑FISH procurement for space data networking experimentation. The effort targets resilient, hybrid satellite‑terrestrial networks that can dynamically route data across multiple domains....
Branson Talks Virgin Galactic Return to Flight and Government Backing at Space-Comm Europe
Virgin Galactic announced that its next‑generation Delta Class suborbital vehicle will begin commercial flights by the end of 2026, targeting a rapid 48‑hour turnaround between missions. The move follows Blue Origin’s decision to suspend New Shepard flights, positioning Virgin as...
NGA Awards BlackSky Seven-Figure Order on Luno A Contract
BlackSky has secured a seven‑figure renewal from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency under the Luno A Facility Monitoring Delivery Order. The contract extension reflects strong customer satisfaction with BlackSky’s high‑cadence, AI‑enabled change detection analytics. The company now monitors more than...
Two Satellites in SES’s O3b mPOWER MEO Constellation Come Online
SES announced that the ninth and tenth O3b mPOWER satellites have entered service, raising the constellation to ten operational units out of the planned thirteen. The satellites were launched by SpaceX on July 22 from Cape Canaveral and use redesigned...
Thursday Morning Conversation with Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg
Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg discussed the rollout of the ViaSat-3 constellation in a Thursday Morning Conversation with Via Satellite. The second ViaSat-3 satellite is set to enter service within weeks, with a third slated for a spring launch and later...