Via Satellite
• Rachel Jewett
MDA Space won an initial antenna contract for 66 IRIS² satellites Thales Alenia Space aims to deliver in 2029, as Eutelsat forecasts $11 billion in IRIS² revenue for 2032–40 and OneWeb approaches EBITDA break-even. Telesat, meanwhile, pushed global Lightspeed service back three months to mid-2028 amid falling revenue and looming debt maturities.
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MDA Space won an initial antenna contract for 66 IRIS² satellites Thales Alenia Space aims to deliver in 2029, as Eutelsat forecasts $11 billion in IRIS² revenue for 2032–40 and OneWeb approaches EBITDA break-even. Telesat, meanwhile, pushed global Lightspeed service back three months to mid-2028 amid falling revenue and looming debt maturities.
MDA Space will build AURORA broadband digital phased-array antennas and controllers for the first 66 satellites in Europe’s IRIS² secure-connectivity constellation. The agreement with Thales Alenia Space is valued at more than €100 million, with the satellites scheduled to launch in 2029.
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Telesat says delays completing two pathfinder satellites at MDA Space will push the planned start of global Lightspeed broadband service back about three months, to around the end of the second quarter of 2028. The company also cited a tight launch market as it prepares to deploy the constellation.
A new Defense Intelligence Agency assessment says China has tripled its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellite fleet since 2018 and is expanding systems to track and target U.S. and allied forces. The report also reviews China’s reusable spaceplane and warns of growing Chinese and Russian counterspace capabilities, including potential directed-energy weapons in orbit.
A Falcon 9 lifted off from California overnight on Oct. 27, carrying 27 additional Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. The launch adds another batch to SpaceX’s constellation, extending its deployment cadence through a mission launched in the early morning hours.
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NASA has ended science operations for the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which has descended to less than 171 miles (275 kilometers) above Earth. Atmospheric drag at that altitude prevents its telescopes from steadily observing targets, following a failed commercial-spacecraft attempt to raise the observatory’s orbit.
The European Commission, ESA and the SpaceRISE consortium signed an implementation agreement on Aug. 7, 2026, for IRIS², a sovereign communications network of 348 spacecraft in low and medium Earth orbit. Separately, Airbus says it is fielding interest in HBCplus, an inflight-connectivity solution supporting GEO and Lightspeed LEO services.
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The agency’s safety advisers say NASA risks losing human access to low Earth orbit as Crew Dragon approaches retirement and concerns persist about commercial space stations. The warning puts continuity of crewed operations in orbit at issue, though the available report provides no timetable or details of the advisers’ recommendations.
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