News Analysis

by Aurélie Gillet

Taiwan, a small island in the Pacific Ocean with a population of 23.5 million, is not the first place that comes to mind when thinking of space powers. With a historically limited domestic space sector, Taiwan’s space ambitions have been limited to a few technologically impressive, but still niche missions, with this despite an economy that has developed several world-leading high-tech sectors, and a world-leading supply chain for certain critical components. 

by Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief

We're finally near the end of 2021 and for most people, it couldn't come fast enough. It's been a very challenging   year not only for the satellite industry but for pretty much the global economy.

Singapore, December 8, 2021-ST Engineering today announced that its Corporate Venture Capital unit, ST Engineering Ventures Pte Ltd led a US$ 30 million Series A round in Israel-based hiSky Ltd., a  developer and provider of affordable and agile satellite Internet of Things (IoT) networks and solutions, with participation from SDF (Strategic Development Fund), the investment arm of Tawazun Holding, and hiSky’s existing shareholders.

by Martin Jarrold

As I began writing this column news was filtering over media about the decision of the World Health Organization to designate the latest mutations to the spike protein of the Sars-Cov-2 virus as a “variant of concern”, and to use the Greek letter Omicron to name it (rather than the original designation of B.1.1.529). Thanks to the skills of scientists at South Africa’s Medical Research Council Genomics Centre the exact sequencing of the new variant was speedily completed and its details promulgated quickly to their colleagues in sister agencies around the world.

The December 2021 Year in Review issue of the Satellite Executive Briefing magazine sponsored by Gazprom Space Systems is now available.  Featuring:

The Most Significant Storylines in 2021  by Virgil Labrador

Taiwan: A Serious and Up-and-Coming Player in the Space Industry by Aurélie Gillet

Executive Spotlight: Igor Kot, Deputy Secretary-General, Gazprom Space Systems

Company Spotlight: ND SATCOM: Flexibility, Agility and Resilience 

A Year to Remember and A Year Ahead​  by Martin Jarrold

In Skynet We Trust by Robert Bell

PLUS Products Spotlight, Mergers and Acquisitions, Executive Moves, Market Briefs, Vital Statistics, Satellite Markets Stock Index and many more. Click here to read or download the file

Denver, Colo., December 2, 2021--Rocket Lab acquires space hardware company Planetary Systems Corporation (“PSC”).  Crux CFO Advisors was the exclusive financial advisor in the transacation.

Hong Kong, November 25, 2021– The traditional satcom industry continues to be in a state of rapid change, and still in a state of turmoil. While the industry is currently dominated by a handful of major players, this could also change dramatically over the next five years as new technologies and standards reset the competitive landscape. And despite the impact of Covid, there has been no let-up of interest in investment into the space industry with US$  5.5 Billion in collective proceeds from all 13 space Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) transactions. This was the highlights of the presentation by Caleb Henry, Senior Analyst, Quilty Analytics at the Satellite Industry Forum organized by the Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA)  last week. 

Denver, Colo., November 22, 2021-- Voyager Space Inc.  today announced its intent to acquire a majority stake in San Diego-based Space Micro. Space Micro is a highly innovative engineering-driven business focused on advancing high-performance satellite communications, digital, and electro-optical systems with over 2.7 million hours of space flight heritage.

Ottawa, Canada, November 19, 2021--November 19, 2021 – Telesat Corporation announced today that it is now a public company and will begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (“NASDAQ”) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) under the ticker symbol “TSAT”. This follows the closing of Telesat’s previously announced transaction with Loral Space & Communications Inc. and Public Sector Pension Investment Board in which Loral’s stockholders and Telesat Canada’s other equityholders have exchanged their interests for equity in Telesat’s new public holding structure.  Telesat did not issue new equity to raise additional cash financing as part of the Transaction.