Tag: satellites
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Microsoft Azure ramps up access to cloud computing via SpaceX’s Starlink satellites
A SpaceX Starlink satellite antenna is connected to Microsoft’s Azure Stack Edge device. (Microsoft Photo) With SpaceX’s help, Microsoft is taking the next step toward merging cloud computing with available-anywhere satellite connectivity. Today Microsoft announced the start of a private preview for Azure Orbital Cloud Access, which lets users link up with the cloud in…
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For Apple and other companies, satellites plus cellphones add up to a new frontier
Apple’s iPhone 14 is built to link up with satellites for an emergency SOS. (Apple Video) Today’s big iPhone reveal adds Apple to the list of companies aiming to combine the power of satellite communications with the power of everyday cellphones — a list that includes other tech heavyweights such as T-Mobile and SpaceX, Amazon…
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T-Mobile’s coverage will get a big boost from SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, starting with texts
Starship prototypes serve as a backdrop for T-Mobile’s Mike Sievert and SpaceX’s Elon Musk. (T-Mobile Photo) T-Mobile subscribers will be getting a satellite upgrade to their wireless service, thanks to a newly announced partnership that takes advantage of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation. But don’t expect to start streaming high-definition videos via satellite to your T-Mobile connected…
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Microsoft and Xplore team up with NOAA to demonstrate cloud-based satellite operations
An artist’s rendition shows the NOAA-18 satellite in orbit. (NOAA Illustration) What do you do with an aging weather satellite? If you’re the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, you turn to Microsoft Azure and a Seattle-area startup called Xplore to find out if there’s a cheaper way to keep it going. After a yearlong demonstration…
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SpaceX launches 59 payloads, including Spaceflight’s latest breed of orbital tug
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket rises from its Florida launch pad. (SpaceX via YouTube) A new type of controllable orbital transfer vehicle built by Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc. made its debut today when SpaceX sent dozens of satellites into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX’s Transporter-5 mission, which is part of the company’s rideshare program, lifted…
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NRO strikes multibillion-dollar deals with BlackSky, Maxar and Planet for spy satellite imagery
An artist’s conception shows one of BlackSky’s satellites in orbit. (Black Sky Illustration) Three satellite imaging companies are in line to receive billions of dollars from the National Reconnaissance Office over the next decade, thanks to a string of contracts announced today. The companies are the same satellite operators who won study contracts from the…
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Astronomers make an Earth Day plea to rein in satellite constellations for the environment’s sake
Astronomers say this streak in a Hubble Space Telescope image is likely to have been created by a Starlink satellite flying just a few miles above Hubble. (MAST Image via Nature Astronomy / Simon Porter) Astronomers have issued an Earth Day call for environmentalism to be extended more fully to the final frontier, and for…
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NASA awards millions to SpaceX and Amazon’s Project Kuiper for satellite communications
An artist’s conception shows a NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite in orbit. (NASA Illustration) Six satellite ventures — including SpaceX’s Starlink network and Amazon’s Project Kuiper — are due to receive a total of $278.5 million in NASA funding to demonstrate next-generation space communication services in Earth orbit. The Communications Services Project is intended…
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Activate the ion drive! LeoStella will buy Astra’s electric propulsion systems for small satellites
An electric propulsion system lights up its thruster with xenon propellant. (Astra / Apollo Fusion Photo) Astra Space says it’s made a deal with Tukwila, Wash.-based LeoStella to provide multiple electric propulsion systems for LeoStella’s small satellites, with deliveries due to begin later this year. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. LeoStella is…
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Amazon reserves up to 83 rocket launches for Project Kuiper broadband satellite constellation
Amazon plans to have satellites sent into orbit by (from left) United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rockets, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets and Arianespace’s Ariane 6 rockets. (Amazon Illustration) Amazon has secured as many as 83 launches on three types of heavy-lift rockets to put more than 1,500 satellites into low Earth orbit for its…