2023 was quite a year for the companies with heavy bets in Low-Earth Orbit. Eutelsat completed its deal for OneWeb. Amazon launched its prototype satellites for Project Kuiper. Telesat swapped manufacturers to move forward with its Lightspeed network. Starlink continued to launch satellites at a dizzying rate. Add to that new players such as E-Space and Rivada are also looking to make an impact as the world seems to be going LEO.

In the humanitarian sector, satellite communications contribute considerably to relief efforts in areas without reliable cellular service – from portable connectivity kits for first responders and drone surveillance to coordination of food distribution and e-learning programmes. Digital technologies are facilitating aid operations like never before.

“The Mouse that Roared” was a 1959 comedy in which a tiny duchy defied a nuclear superpower. Something a bit like that happened for real in recent months, when little Liechtenstein, backed by Germany, thwarted an apparent Chinese effort to obtain broadband satellite frequencies granted to a company in the principality a decade ago.

Three words that are essentially guaranteed to brighten someone’s day in the world of IoT (the Internet of Things): “Full global coverage.” That’s one of the golden tickets, so to speak.

With the many LEO constellationseither launching or in the advanced planning stage, do we need another one? Irish Entrepreneur and Rivada Networks CEO, Declan Ganley thinks so, and he might be right.

Rivada Space Network's executives Ronald van der Breggen and Clemens Kaiser discuss building a space network with optical satellite technology and its implications for future connectivity. They explore the growth of optical technology, the role of optical intra-satellite links, trade-offs between optical and RF technology, and effects on satellite ground stations.

Rivada Space Networks, which aims to launch an inter-satellite laser linked Ka-band LEO network that establishes end-to-end connections without gateways, is positioning its unique satcom service as being particularly well suited for delivering a new standard in satellite-powered inflight connectivity.

Live stream from the SmallSat Symposium 2023 Session: Turning Constellations Into Networks