News Analysis

The May-June 2025 issue of the Satellite Executive Briefing is now available.  Featuring:

Africa: A New Era for Space and Uncertainty for Satcom by Blaine Curcio

Five Ws and One H for System Success by Bruce Elbert

Administrative Blockages Puts Europe's Ability to Defend Itself at Risk by Dr. Robert Brüll

Better Satellite World: The Bright Side of Changing Diapers by Lou Zacharilla

Executive Spotlight: Interview with Francesco Cataldo, Chairman of the Board-iKO Media Group

Company Spotlight: Creonic

Plus  Products and Services Profiles SATExpo (CABSAT) and Satellite Asia 2025, Mergers and Acquisitions, Market Trends, Executive Moves,  and many more. Click here to read or download the file

By Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief

Los Angeles, Calif., June 2, 2025 - While the United States is launching rockets nearly every other day, and China maintains a steady rhythm of about one launch every five days, Europe—once a dominant force in commercial space—finds itself playing catch-up. The delayed debut of the Ariane 6 and the grounding of the Vega launcher following repeated failures have significantly eroded Europe's competitive position in orbital launch capability.

Long Beach, Calif. May 27, 2025--Rocket Lab Corporation (Nasdaq: RKLB) today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the parent holding company of Geost, LLC , a Tucson, Arizona-based electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) payload development and manufacturing company and provider to high-priority national security satellites, from Lightridge Solutions, a portfolio company of ATL Partners, for US$ 275 million in a mix of US$ 125 million of cash and US$ 150 million in privately placed shares of Rocket Lab common stock, plus up to US$ 50 million in potential additional cash earnout payments tied to revenue targets. 

Petah Tikva, Israel, May 19, 2025 — Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: GILT, TASE: GILT), today reported its results for the first quarter, ended March 31, 2025. The company reported that revenues Increased 21% Year-over-Year with Adjusted EBITDA of US$ 7.6 Million

Paris, France, May 15, 2025 – Satellite operator Eutelsat Communications (ISIN: FR0010221234 - Euronext Paris / London Stock Exchange: ETL) reported revenues for the Third Quarter and Nine Months ended 31 March 2025.  Third Quarter Operating Verticals revenues of €300.6m, down 2.2%[¹] year‑on-year while Nine Month Operating Verticals revenues up 1.8%[1] year-on-year.

MarketBrief Report on the VSAT Market sponsored by Es'hailSat

Featuring:

The VSAT Market by Elisabeth Tweedie

Interview with Ibrahim Abdulla Al-Hammadi, Executive Director-Sales-Es’hailSat

Case Study on VSAT Mobility Network for Vehicle-Based Connectivity Solution

To read or download the pdf of full report click here.

Ottawa, Canada, May 6, 2025 – Satellite operator Telesat (Nasdaq and TSX: TSAT) today announced its financial results for the three month period ended March 31, 2025. All amounts are in Canadian dollars and reported under IFRS® Accounting Standards unless otherwise noted.

By Dr. Robert Brüll

Brussels, Belgium, May 2,, 2025--’Strategic autonomy’ has long been an ambition of the European Union (EU). It refers to the capacity of the EU to act without being dependent on other countries in strategically important policy areas, such as defence. European Council President Charles Michel called it 'our new common project for this century' as well as 'the aim for our generation'. Now, amid global uncertainty, strategic autonomy has become a necessity.

By Bruce Elbert

Austin, Tex., May 1, 2025--Here they are: WWWWWM – the five Ws and the One H – it stands for those familiar questions: who, what, where, when, why and how. You can ask Google or ChatGPT to define these and you’ll get some pretty good generic answers. These are the standard questions that according to journalistic practice should be answered by any article, preferably the lead paragraph. For our industry, these simple questions are not simple to answer, whether as a business or as a strategy:

Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., April 28, 2025 – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Kuiper-1 mission for Amazon’s Project Kuiper lifted off on April 28 at 7:01 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Kuiper 1 launch marks the beginning of full-scale deployment of the Kuiper constellation and a new chapter in the commercial launch industry as Amazon partners with ULA to deliver a majority of its advanced satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO).