Astrocast, a nanosatellite IoT network operator, today announced the signing of an agreement to acquire Hiber, a Netherlands-based, IoT-as-a-Service provider. Under the agreement, Astrocast agreed to acquire all of Hiber’s shares in exchange for the issuance of new Astrocast shares, representing 16.5% of Astrocast’s share capital, calculated prior to its previously announced public offering on Euronext Growth Paris. Hiber’s shareholders also agreed to invest €10.45 million in Astrocast’s public offering.

Fire. In our homes, it brings us light, warmth and hope. In the depths of the forest, it brings terror. 
A forest fire is a massive wall of heat and flame. Driven by high winds, it can leap across roads, spin into columns of fire, turn homes to ash. 
But every year, around the world, men and women walk into the fire to save the forest, the homes, the people. They are wildfire fighters, and they do one of the world’s hardest jobs.

 ST Engineering iDirect, a global leader in satellite communications, and Philippines-based value-added service provider for broadcast and telecommunications, ComClark Network and Technology Corporation, have come together to improve connectivity services for the country’s public school network. Satellite services being rolled out at more than 2,000 remote schools in the Philippines will use the iDirect Evolution Hub, iQ Desktop modems, gateway antenna and HPA (High Power Amplifier). Global satellite operator SES will provide Ku-band capacity via the SES-9 satellite.

Our industry is known for innovation. Sometimes this comes from within, from well-established companies, and sometimes it comes from totally outside the industry, as Elon Musk did twenty years ago when he founded SpaceX. This makes trying to write a short article on innovation, all the more challenging, there is so much to choose from! So, I decided to focus on new entrants, but this still left very many interesting companies to choose from. In the end, I decided to limit myself to companies trying to solve a known problem, then rather arbitrarily selected four companies.

The Asia-Pacific market is generating a great impact on the satellite manufacturing and launch market segments. NSR forecasts over US$ 105.7 billion for 9,200 satellites to be generated between 2020-2030 from the region, a quarter of the global satellite orders. The interest in the satellite industry for the Asian market is tangible.

ND SATCOM kicked off the New Year on a high note with a deal to deliver 30 exclusive SKYWAN modems to the Polish Ministry of Defence (MOD). This deal will feature the new SKYWAN 5G-SR-X, a unique solution designed for military applications taking into account extensive customer feedback. This SKYWAN version is ready to secure mission critical networks – anytime, anywhere.

“The world must adjust to living with Covid-19” is a phrase becoming increasingly commonplace in mainstream media reporting of the continuing pandemic. Whilst perhaps reflecting the ongoing practical realities of Sars-Cov-2 some 26 months after the World Health Organization declared the disease a global pandemic, it is a phrase of little comfort to the millions who have lost relatives and friends, nor to those continuing to suffer from “Long Covid”, nor to those in remote locations and in less developed nations still awaiting vaccination.