SSI News
The US$3.1 billion offer Intelsat could not refuse, from rival SES
SES will acquire its rival satellite operator Intelsat for US$3.1 billion in cash. The deal, expected to close in the second half of 2025, will see two of the ‘Big Four’ fixed-satellite service (FSS) commercial satellite operators merge to form a mega GEO satellite...
Thuraya-3 satellite’s comms payload fails in orbit
Middle Eastern satellite operator Yahsat's subsidiary Thuraya has lost one of its satellite fleet - or rather it has lost is communications payload. The Thuraya 3 communications satellite, located over 98.5 degrees East in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) reportedly...
International Space Station battery debris falls on Florida home…so should Keraunothnetophobics be afraid?
Keraunothnetophobia, the fear of falling artificial satellites and other space objects, is not to be confused with Keraunophobia, the fear of lightning strikes. Although often regarded as especially irrational, Keraunothnetophobics’ fears turned out to be partly...
US Navy counters Iran’s retaliatory mass missile attack on Israel using exo-atmospheric interceptors
The US Navy has used its Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor in action for the first time. SM-3s were used to shoot down Iranian medium-range ballistic missiles fired at Israel on 13 April in response to a fatal air strike, which Israel is widely believed to be...
Analysis: spiralling costs may spell end of the line for Mars Sample Return
The cost of NASA’s Mars Sample Return project has doubled from a projected US$5.3 billion to US$11 billion, prompting many to question whether it is worth continuing with the mission. In response, the US space agency has turned to its field centres for cost cutting...
Analysis: Delta IV Heavy retires as Angara-5 flies from Vostochny on only its fourth launch in ten years
A pair of major launches, that took place just days apart in April, illustrate how far Russia has lost its way from the days when it was at the forefront of rocket launch technology. The first, from the US, was a swansong: the Delta IV Heavy’s last flight. The other,...
Launches in April 2024
An audience with Aarti Holla-Maini, Director of UNOOSA
Farah Ghouri finds out how Aarti Holla-Maini, director of the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs, is faring six months into the job, her plans for the office and why she believes the UN’s sustainability guidelines are the “treaty of our times” Six months after taking up...
Round-up of recommended space stories in March 2024
We're keeping an eye on space news, so you don't have to. Here is our round-up of the most important, and interesting, space news stories of March from across the web: Money money money: NASA gets significantly less than what it wanted with space and planetary science...
Mel’s Good Space
Our modern world relies heavily on space technology to make Planet Earth a more comfortable, safe and efficient place to live but, as many of us in the industry are aware, there is an increasing threat to these benefits. Spacecraft collisions, anti-satellite testing,...
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