Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR) (TSX:MAXR), announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell MDA to a consortium of financial sponsors led by Northern Private Capital (NPC), for CAD$1 billion (US$765 million), subject to customary adjustments. The company expects to use proceeds to reduce leverage and improve its capital structure to prioritize investments for growth in its core areas of Earth Intelligence and Space Infrastructure.

Trying to choose the most significant stories of the year, is always a challenge!  Is x more important than y and does z really have an impact?  Inevitably, the choice of topics to include will always be subjective.  So, here’s my short list.

In its latest research titled, “The Space Economy Report 2019, previously named Satellite Value Chain”, Euroconsult projects that the commercial space value chain will see steady growth over the next decade, reaching US$ 485 billion by 2028. The upstream segment, which includes commercial revenues from manufacturing, launch and ground equipment is expected to increase from US$ 8 billion in 2018 to US$ 11 billion in 2028, a growth rate of four percent per year.

 kacific-launch.jpgSpacex' Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched JCSAT-18/Kacific1 satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida at about 7:10 p.m. It will enter service several weeks after on-orbit tests and moving to its final geostationary orbit position over the Asia-Pacific region.

In its latest research titled, “FSS Capacity Pricing Trends,” Euroconsult details pricing for traditional C-band, Ku-band and High Throughput Satellite (HTS) capacity broken out by contracts, regions, spectrum bands, and applications. The report shows that as the growth of satellite capacity on orbit slows, pricing levels per megahertz (MHz) for regular capacity and per megabits per second (Mbps) for HTS capacity have both stabilized at lower rates of decline and are projected to continue that trend through 2020.

 andrew-browne.jpgTelesat announced today that Andrew Brownehas been appointed the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Reporting to President and CEO, Dan Goldberg, Andrew will serve on Telesat’s Executive Management Team and be based in the company’s headquarters in Ottawa. 

 stephen-rudd.jpgVislink Technologies announced today that Stephen Rudd has joined Vislink as Vice President of Satcom sales and Business Development. In this role, Stephen will be responsible for driving worldwide revenues for the company’s satellite communications product offerings, by developing and implementing growth strategies, informing product development and establishing key