Tag: OneWeb

Start-up Space Blasts Off

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Bryce Space and Technology has produced a new report, Start-up Space: Update on Investment in Commercial Space Ventures.

Below is the executive summary. You can also download the full report.

Executive Summary

The Start-Up Space series examines space investment in the 21st century and analyzes investment trends, focusing on investors in new companies that have acquired private financing. Space is continuing to attract increased attention in Silicon Valley and in investment communities world-wide. Space ventures now appeal to investors because new, lower-cost systems are envisioned to follow the path terrestrial tech has profitably traveled: dropping system costs and massively increasing user bases for new products, especially new data products. Large valuations and exits are demonstrating the potential for high returns.
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RUAG Space Kicks Off Production at New Florida Facility

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OneWeb Founder Greg Wyler and RUAG Space CEO Peter Guggenbach. (Credit: RUAG Space)

TITUSVILLE, Fla. (RUAG Space PR) — RUAG Space, a leading product supplier to the space industry, held a celebratory reception last night, marking the commencement of full production capabilities in its Titusville, Florida facility. Production is set to begin, with the first delivery batches foreseen in approximately 1.5 months. Embracing state-of-the-art machinery and automated processes, this new facility aligns with the industry’s ambition toward cheaper access to space.

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OneWeb Inaugurates Spacecraft Assembly Line

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Airbus-built OneWeb satellite (Credit: Airbus)

TOULOUSE, France (Airbus PR)  – Today, OneWeb Satellites inaugurates its assembly line in Toulouse, the beating heart of Airbus’ manufacturing expertise, to begin end-to-end validation, testing, and integration of its first satellites set for launch in just over nine months.

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FCC Grants OneWeb U.S. Access

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WASHINGTON, June 22, 2017 (FCC PR) – The Federal Communications Commission today approved a request by WorldVu Satellites Limited, which does business as OneWeb, to access the United States satellite market. Today’s action paves the way for OneWeb to provide broadband services using satellite technology that holds unique promise to expand Internet access in remote and rural areas across the country.

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Intelsat-OneWeb Merger Collapses

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Intelsat has announced that its planned merger with startup satellite Internet provider OneWeb has collapsed.

The complex deal put together by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp would have required holders of Intelsat’s $14 billion debt to accept discounts on what they are owed. The proposed debt swap found no takers prior to the May 31 deadline for accepting it. Intelsat and OneWeb had extended the deadline several times.

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Teledyne Defence Wins Big Order with OneWeb

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SHIPLEY, UK (Teledyne Defence & Space PR) — Teledyne Defence & Space, a business unit of Teledyne Microwave Solutions, announced today that it has been selected to manufacture over 5,000 Filters and Diplexers to support a space payload application for a large satellite program.

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OneWeb Moves Forward With Broadband Satellite Constellation

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OneWeb says it is on track with its broadband satellite constellation.

OneWeb told the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that its 800-plus-satellite constellation is on schedule and ready to fulfill the FCC’s goal of broadband coverage of all U.S. territory to reduce the digital divide.

For satellite broadband providers, Alaska appears to be the flavor of the month. In view to a competition for in-flight broadband service provision, in-flight-connectivity provider Gogo Inc. recently leased an aging SES-owned satellite and had it moved into a position for Alaskan and Hawaii coverage….

OneWeb, which for regulatory purposes is also known as WorldVu Satellites, said its final assembly line for the first 10 of its 880 satellites would be in operation at the Airbus Defence and Space plant in Toulouse, France, in June.

Airbus is a 50% shareholder of OneWeb Satellites, whose principal operations will be conducted in Exploration Park, Florida, where two production lines are being built.

The first 10 satellites will be used to validate OneWeb system performance. Full production-rate launches, aboard Europeanized Russian Soyuz rockets, is expected to start by the end of 2018, with each Soyuz carrying up to 36 OneWeb satellites, each expected to weigh about 150 kilograms.

Read the full story.

 

Russia Continues Slow Shift of Launches to Vostochny

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Soyuz launch complex at Vostochny. (Credit: Roscosmos)

Tass reports that Roscosmos plans to conduct two satellite launches in December from Russia’s new Vostochny Cosmodrome as the space agency continues a slow shift away from dependence on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazahkstan.

The two Soyuz-2 launches will come about 20 months after the inaugural launch from the new spaceport in April 2016.

Roscomos head Igor Komarov outlined plans to gradually ramp up the number of launches from the facility, which has only one launch pad.

The state corporation expects that up to ten launches, including commercial ones, will be held annually at Vostochny, which is still under construction.

First commercial launches from Russia’s new Vostochny space center in the Far Eastern Amur Region are to begin in 2018, the head of Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation said. The space center’s commercial launch plan includes those for the OneWeb project aimed at creating a constellation of microsatellites to blanket the entire earth surface for broadband internet access all over the world.

“Two or three commercial launches are scheduled for 2018, six or seven – for 2019,” the Roscosmos chief said….

Vostochny’s construction began in 2012. The infrastructure for the first unmanned Angara carrier rocket launch is due to be ready by 2021, and for the first manned Angara mission by 2023.
Read the full story.

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OneWeb Breaks Ground on Satellite Factory at Kennedy

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One Web Satellites Ground Breaking ceremony at Exploration Park. (Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — The portfolio of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will soon include large-scale satellite manufacturing following Thursday’s groundbreaking for a 150,000-square foot spacecraft factory in the center’s Exploration Park.

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Satellite Professions Name “Rising Five” New Space Companies

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NEW YORK (SSPI PR) — The Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) named today the first annual Rising Five, the five New Space Companies in the satellite industry that have made the most substantial progress over the past year. Decided by an international editorial advisory board, the 2017 Rising Five are the Kymeta Corporation, OneWeb, Planet, Spire Global and Virgin Galactic.

“The Rising Five represent the Society’s assessment of the progress made by innovative companies that are raising money, creating new technologies and pioneering new business models in this 60-year-old industry,” said SSPI Chairman Bryan McGuirk, chief commercial officer of Globecomm. “With so many new entrants in the market, the question is always who has the right idea, the right financing and the staying power to overcome the hurdles facing any new business and to find sustainable success. Our membership represents companies that know what it takes to succeed in one of the world’s most challenging technologies.”

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SpaceX Wants to Launch 12,000 Satellites

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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.

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Intelsat, OneWeb Announce Conditional Combination Agreement

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Luxembourg, Jersey, and Tokyo, Japan, February 28, 2017 (Intelsat PR) — Intelsat (NYSE: I) and OneWeb today announced that they have entered into a definitive combination agreement pursuant to which Intelsat and OneWeb will merge in a share-for-share transaction. Intelsat and SoftBank Group Corp. (“SoftBank”) also entered into a definitive share purchase agreement pursuant to which SoftBank will invest $1.7 billion in newly issued common and preferred shares of the combined company. Both the merger and the SoftBank investment are subject to, among other conditions, successful completion of debt exchange offers to certain existing Intelsat bondholders as well as receipt of certain regulatory approvals.

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Report: OneWeb, Intelsat Merger in the Works

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An interesting story from Sky News:

The Japanese technology investor SoftBank is hatching plans for a multi-billion dollar merger of two major satellite companies – OneWeb and Intelsat – in a deal that would create a global powerhouse in the fast-changing arena of space technology.

Sky News has learnt that discussions involving a combination of OneWeb – shareholders in which include Airbus, The Coca-Cola Company and Virgin Group – and Intelsat are at an advanced stage.

Intelsat is also a small shareholder in OneWeb.

One source indicated that a deal could be outlined when Intelsat, which is listed in New York, reports financial results on Tuesday.

If the talks are successfully concluded, an announcement would come just two months after SoftBank invested $1bn in OneWeb, a move designed to help it build the world’s first high-volume satellite production facility in Florida.

SolAero’s $10 Million Expansion Keyed to OneWeb Contract

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ALBUQUERQUE, NM (SolAero PR) –- SolAero Technologies Corp (SolAero), a leading provider of high efficiency solar cells, solar panels, and composite structural products, announced a $10 million program investment to augment its existing solar panel production capabilities in support of the growing market for commercial satellite constellations. This significant commitment includes the construction of a new 40,000 square foot facility at its headquarters in Albuquerque, NM. Once complete, this facility will contain the world’s only vertically-integrated, end-to-end satellite solar panel production capability. The project will create more than 100 new jobs at SolAero and its partners and will represent the leading industry benchmark for space solar power technology.

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