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The Space Force has contracted out its next “responsive space” mission, and this one is a doozy.
The two awardees, Rocket Lab and startup True Anomaly, will each build and launch spacecraft that will conduct rendezvous and proximity operations on orbit.
That was also the year SpaceX launched its first 60 Starlink satellites.
The company was spending plenty of cash on research and development, too — $559 million in 2018 and $661 million the following year.
The Starlink program completed a milestone in 2019, when SpaceX launched the first batch of operational Starlink satellites in May of that year.
The company ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $868 million for 2018 and $990 million for 2019.
The company launches its Starlink satellites with its own rocket, its Falcon 9 workhorse, which means it can launch the space-based internet satellites at unprecedented rates.
SpaceX launched its first batch of Starlink satellites that will be able to connect directly to cell phones ahead of planned testing later this year.
The company launched six Starlink satellites with this capability with a batch of 15 other Starlink birds aboard a Falcon 9 rocket late last night.
SpaceX obtained approval from U.S. regulators last month to test the satellites in partnership with T-Mobile.
SpaceX has a number of other partnerships with native telecom companies in countries including Australia, Canada and Japan.
SpaceX said the tests would eventually involve 840 satellites transmitting 4G connectivity to around 2,000 unmodified smartphones.
The bill also mandates biometric verification for subscribers and restricts the number of SIM cards each subscriber uses to limit fraud.
The legacy of the old scammers in the telecom sector will be left behind, and arrangements will be made through this bill to make the telecom sector a sunrise sector,” Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Indian telecom minister, said while introducing the bill in the parliament.
Interestingly, the telecom bill excludes the term “OTT,” available in its initial draft last year, indicating regulations for over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram.
“The bill is regressive as it enhances the government’s colonial-era powers to intercept communications and shut down the internet.
It undermines end-to-end encryption, which is crucial for privacy,” said Namrata Maheshwari, Asia Pacific Policy Counsel at Access Now, in a prepared statement.
The FCC explained that this first application was a high-level, short one, and that those qualifying for that would receive closer scrutiny.
(In fact the FCC had considered not even letting orbital communications companies apply, but decided to allow them to compete on their merits.)
This was in addition to “numerous financial and technical deficiencies” the agency identified in the proposal and the company’s operations.
It even leaned on the promise of SpaceX’s super-heavy launch vehicle Starship as evidence for these claims.
As the FCC points out, though:A the time of the Bureau’s decision, Starship had not yet been launched.
Cellular providers have long been accused of creating “cellular dead zones,” areas where there is little or no signal strength. With the advent of satellite technology, however, this may soon…
” argon Hall thrusters are an innovative piece of technology that will help power the Starlink V2 mini satellites, one of SpaceX’s many innovations acquired from Swarm Technologies in 2021.”…
The CMA’s provisional approval of Inmarsat and Viasat’s merger comes as both companies face increased competition from cellular networks, drones, and other satellite services. The two companies’ combined market share…
