Viasat reported its annual results Tuesday afternoon with record revenue. The company also announced a couple surprises, with a new wide-body airline customer for its inflight connectivity solution and a change of plans for its future satellite constellation.
Geosynchronous Earth Orbit
Live from the CRJ550: PaxEx Update 25 Oct 2019
United’s newest aircraft type takes flight this week and the CRJ550 interior really is as special as the company has been hyping. Airbus orders and Boeing delays plus some fancy new wifi and upgraded airports on the horizon. Another busy PaxEx week.
SES, Thales, Thinkom raise the bar on inflight connectivity performance with GEO/MEO blend
Blending GEO and MEO satellites delivers a hybrid of coverage, performance, and cost that is hard to beat. SES, Thales, HughesNet, and Thinkom are on the cusp of delivering a commercially-viable solution in this space.
Small Sats get a launch boost from SpaceX, Ariancespace
Cutting the cost for delivering satellites into space is a key factor to increasing capacity and improving coverage in the inflight connectivity market. SpaceX and Arianespace both announced programs today that will help on this front.
ThinKom, Telesat reach LEO link milestone
ThinKom’s new Ka2517 aero satcom antenna is the latest to prove its viability for mixed orbit satellite constellations. The company successfully tested with the Telesat Phase 1 LEO satellite from June 10-14 at Telesat’s Allan Park facility in Ontario, Canada.
PaxEx Premium: LEO Link Success
The market for antennae with a proven track record of successful connections to LEO satellite constellations continues to grow. This week's news brings another Ka-band supplier into the fold.
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PaxEx Premium: More phased array delays??
The inflight connectivity community has suffered from years of disappointment as promise after promise from manufacturers failed to yield electronically steered phased array (ESAs) antennae for commercial aircraft. Phasor and others appeared poised to break that streak, with the news at Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg more optimistic than not. An update from one inflight connectivity provider this week calls some of that optimism into question, however.
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Stratolaunch takes flight, upsetting a 71-year old record
After more than 71 years there’s a new superlative in flight. Scaled Composites’ Stratolaunch now holds the title of largest (by wingspan) aircraft to fly, displacing the Spruce Goose. Will the future of Stratolaunch differ from its historical connection??
Ball Aerospace successfully tests phased array antenna with Telesat LEO satellite
Score another successful test of existing antenna hardware on the new, LEO satellite technology. This time it is Ball Aerospace and its electronically steered flat panel kit linking up with Telesat’s LEO 1.
Inmarsat signs on as first commercial launch customer for MHI’s H3 rocket
Inmarsat secured a new way into space. The company signed on with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as the first commercial customer for the H3 launch vehicle. The launch is expected in 2022(ish).