From SpaceNews:
If all continues to go as planned, OneWeb’s first six spacecraft will finish on-orbit testing this spring, clearing the path for an initial system of 648 satellites — 600 operational and 48 spares — and setting the stage for a larger system that could eventually number 900 or more satellites.
From SingularityHub:
Artificial intelligence in space exploration is gathering momentum. Over the coming years, new missions look likely to be turbo-charged by AI as we voyage to comets, moons, and planets and explore the possibilities of mining asteroids.
From Los Angeles Times:
Aerospace giant Boeing Co. said Thursday it will acquire Millennium Space Systems of El Segundo, a maker of small satellites, in the latest indication that tiny spacecraft are upending the industry.
From JPL.NASA.Gov:
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission is a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). GRACE-FO is a successor to the original GRACE mission, which orbited Earth from 2002-2017. GRACE-FO will carry on the extremely successful work of its predecessor while testing a new technology designed to dramatically improve the already remarkable precision of its measurement system.
From Space Tech Expo USA:
During our research, it became apparent that the microlauncher industry excites many. This soon-to-become-operational market will open up a new avenue for bringing satellites and other small spacecraft into orbit. This market will be able to widen the launch bottleneck and provide a fast launch service to the thousands of small satellites to be launched within the next decade
From PR Newswire:
Scheduled for launch in 2020 to 4°West orbital position, AMOS-8 satellite will increase access to high-speed data and streaming entertainment to customers across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
From Medium:
Dr. Wei Songjie, Waltonchain’s Chief Blockchain Expert, has devised a way to implement a global anywhere-internet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites with the help of blockchain technology in order to create a world hub for Internet of Things devices.
There are a lot of interesting and innovative applications surfacing worldwide, therefore we want to take a moment to dedicate periodic posts highlighting our Applications page. In this weeks edition we link to articles covering how 5G data speeds will help evolve the medical industry; the first nanosatellite to beam a smarthphone call from space; wireless enabled clothing and wearable biometric rings to help replace passwords, keys, and credit cards; and how airplanes are turning into communications satellites.
From the Los Angeles Times:
It’s been 44 years since the mighty Saturn V last thundered skyward from a launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The towering rocket, generating enough power to lift 269,000 pounds into orbit, had been the workhorse of the Apollo moon missions.
We're seeing the campaign for satellites to help propel the development of new 5G data speeds. Check out this interview with Magali Vassiere, Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications on ESA's partnership with the industry to develop and demonstrate the added value that satellite brings in the context of 5G.
-Paris Air and Space Show, 21 June 2017.