WorldwideWorldwide SatelliteSatellite MagazineMagazine SatMagazineSatMagazine AprilApril 20212021 Cover image is courtesy of D-Orbit and is an artistic rendition of the company's ION Satellite Carrier delivering smallsats to orbit; the background picture of the Earth has been taken by D-Orbit’s D-Sense multi-sensor. Download our app! CPI: Your one stop shop for Search: CPI Satcom BUCs, TWTAs and KPAs. www.cpii.com | [email protected] | +1 (669) 275-2744 Publishing Operations InfoBeam Features Silvano Payne, Publisher + Executive Writer SpaceX 4 Executive Spotlight: David Bettinger 8 Simon Payne, Chief Technical Officer CEO, SpaceLink Hartley G. Lesser, Editorial Director ORBCOMM 4 Industry Challenges… Easing In 2021 14 Author: Chris Forrester, Senior Columnist Pattie Lesser, Executive Editor OneWeb + The AST Group 5 Executive Spotlight: Colonel Terry Virts 22 Donald McGee, Production Manager Astronaut Teresa Sanderson, Operations Director C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. 25 Focus: Bridgecomm 28 Sean Payne, Business Development Director With Barry Matsumori, CEO Dan Makinster, Technical Advisor Inmarsat, Clearwater Seafood + Intellian 26 How SIG & SOMAP Are Working Together 32 Author: Helen Weedon, Satellite Innovation Group Teledyne e2v 27 SPACS In Space 34 Senior Contributors Author: Amanda L. Darling, K&L Gates Chris Forrester, Broadgate Publications SatNews Digital Editions 31 Focus: D-Orbit 40 Author: Jonathan Firth, COO Karl Fuchs, iDirect Government Services Amazon Web Services + USGIF 37 Finally Time For Optical SATCOM? 46 Bob Gough, Goonhilly Earth Station Author: Arthur Van Eeckhout, NSR Rebecca M. Cowen-Hirsch, Inmarsat L3Harris + NASA 37 Transforming Earth & Deep Space Missions 48 Ken Peterman, Viasat Author: Jörg Rockstroh, WORK Microwave Giles Peeters, Track24 Defence Thales Alenia Space 38 Going To Space To Stay — Better Satellite World 50 Author: SSPI Koen Willems, ST Engineering Newtec Tomorrow.io 39 Delivering SATCOM With LoRa® 52 Author: Remi Lorrain This Issue’s Authors TESAT + Lockheed Martin Space 39 How Does A Satellite Exceed Its Expected Lifespan? 54 Author: Swedish Space Corporation Wen Cheng Chong Euroconsult 43 Rapid Satellite Imaging 56 Author: Pratik Kirve, Allied Market Research Amanda L. Darling Knight Sky + Kratos Defense & Security Solutions 44 Focus: Kepler Communications & Kymeta 58 Author: Wen Cheng Chong, Kepler Communications Arthur Van Eeckhout Secure World Foundation 44 The State Of The Ground Segment 60 Author: Joakim Espeland, QuadSAT Joakim Espeland Maxar Technologies + Busek Company 45 A Conversation With Explorer Mike Horn 64 Changing The World Through Technology Jonathan Firth Microsoft Azure Orbital 67 Global Space Budgets: A Country-Level Analysis 70 Author: Space in Africa Chris Forrester OQ Technology & NanoAvionics 68 Vinisha Josh Global Market Insights 69 Pratik Kirve Remi Lorrain Advertisers Advantech Wireless Technologies, Inc. 13 Jörg Rockstroh AirBorn Inc. 7 AvL Technologies 3 Helen Weedon CPI Satcom & Antenna Technologies 25 CPI Satcom Products Cover + 5 MilSat Symposium 31 + 57 SpaceBridge 21 Terrasat Communications, Inc. 19 SatMagazine is published 11 times a year by Satnews Publishers, 800 Siesta Way, Sonoma, CA, 95476 — USA. Phone: (707) 939-9306 / Fax: (707) 939-9235 © 2020 Satnews Publishers We reserve the right to edit all submitted materials to meet publication content guidelines, as well as for grammar and spelling errors, or to move articles to an alternative issue to accommodate publication space requirements, or remove content due to space restrictions or unacceptable content. Submission of articles does not constitute acceptance of said material by Satnews Publishers. Edited materials may, or may not, be returned to author and/or company for review prior to publication. The views expressed in Satnews Publishers’ various publications do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Satnews Publishers. All rights reserved. All included imagery is courtesy of, and copyright to, the respective companies and/or named individuals. SatMagazine Page 2 April 2021 CONNECTING YOU TO THE FUTURE SMALL PACKAGE. 1.35M FIT BIG GAIN. FLEXIBLE INTEGRATED TERMINAL ARSTRAT KA-BAND CERTIFICATION COMPUTER ASSISTED SATCAP MANUAL POINTING OR AUTO-AQUISITION BUILT-IN TUNER & BEACON RECEIVER TRI-BAND X, KU AND WIDEBAND KA FEEDS WITH QUICK CHANGE RF KITS MODULAR & FLEXIBLE MODEM, BUC & LNB OPTIONS SCALABLE: 75CM, 98CM & 1.35M SET-UP BY ONE PERSON IN MINUTES LIGHTWEIGHT IATA-COMPLIANT avltech.comCHECKABLE CASES avltech.com InfoBeam SpaceX Sends Under the terms of the agreement, ORBCOMM stockholders will 60 Starlinks Skyward receive $11.50 in cash per outstanding share of common stock upon closing of the transaction, representing a premium of approximately 52% to ORBCOMM’s closing share price on April 7th and a 50% premium over the 90-day volume-weighted average share price through that date. The investment by GI Partners will support ORBCOMM’s strong momentum in the industrial IoT as it increases its investment in sales, marketing and technology innovation to accelerate growth, execute on its long-term strategic plan and global market expansion, and provide added flexibility as a privately-held company. “This transaction will provide immediate and substantial value to Another group of SpaceX Starlinks were sent skyward 0n ORBCOMM stockholders, reflecting the tremendous commitment and Wednesday, April 7, at 12:34 p.m. EDT. Sixty additional work of our employees and stakeholders. The partnership with GI Starlink satellites roared into the heavens via a Falcon 9 Partners will provide us the opportunity to rapidly advance our long- booster from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape term strategy,” said Marc Eisenberg, ORBCOMM’s Chief Executive Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Officer. “GI Partners has an established track record of working with companies to accelerate growth, and we look forward to continuing to About eight minutes after launch, the Falcon 9 booster landed on the “Of drive innovation, providing world-class service to our global Course I Still Love You” droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. This first-stage customers and expanding our market share in the industrial IoT as a booster had launched six previous times, including the first SpaceX privately held company.” launch sent astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). “ORBCOMM has a long history of innovation, providing mission- This was the seventh launch and landing of this Falcon 9 first stage critical services to customers across the global logistics landscape booster, which previously launched NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and a broad range of other industries,” said Mark Prybutok, Managing and Doug Hurley to the ISS, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, plus Director of GI Partners. “We are excited to work with the ORBCOMM two Starlink missions. One half of the Falcon 9’s fairing previously team to take the business forward as IoT use cases continue to supported the AMOS-17 and two Starlink missions, and the other evolve and grow.” supported one Starlink mission. ORBCOMM’s Board of Directors has unanimously approved the “Our drone trips are equivalent in size to a football field, and the transaction and recommends that ORBCOMM’s stockholders vote in landing area that you see right there is approximately 200 feet by 150 favor of the transaction at the special meeting of ORBCOMM feet, that’s big enough that a hockey rink would fit inside that landing stockholders to be called in connection with the transaction. area,” SpaceX Dragon engineer Youmei Zhou said. The parties expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2021. ORBCOMM To Be Acquired By GI Partners Subject to and upon completion of the transaction, ORBCOMM will become a privately-held company and its common stock will no longer be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. PJT Partners and Raymond James are acting as financial advisors to ORBCOMM, and Milbank LLP is acting as legal counsel. Evercore is acting as financial advisor to GI Partners, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP are acting as legal ORBCOMM Inc. (Nasdaq: ORBC) has entered into a counsel. definitive agreement to be acquired by GI Partners in an all-cash transaction that values ORBCOMM at investors.orbcomm.com/ approximately $1.1 billion, including net debt. SatMagazine Page 4 April 2021 InfoBeam OneWeb Engages The AST Group With An MoU OneWeb has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The AST Group (AST) — by working together, AST and OneWeb will offer fixed-land and maritime customers access to OneWeb’s fast, flexible and affordable connectivity solutions seamlessly in even the most remote locations on land and at sea. Download Customer beta trials will be undertaken with AST before the end of the year and will be focused on delivering fixed services to support remote connectivity in Northern Europe. the CPI Once full commercial service is available in 2022, OneWeb seeks to mobile app! provide AST’s customers, primarily in the commercial shipping, fishing and high-end offshore sectors, with access to viable, high speed, low latency connectivity as an alternative to the current VSAT internet solutions to truly enable digitization and deliver the long-awaited leap in operational efficiencies. HPA RF calculator Commenting on the partnership, Gregory Darling, AST’s founder and Chairman, said, “We’re delighted to strengthen our relationship with Quickly access HPA data sheets OneWeb by becoming its distribution partner so that we