SpaceNews This Week | New funding round values SpaceX at $22.2 billion; Intelsat's slow-to-orbit IS-33e proving slow to attract customers

07.28.17 View this email in your browser New funding round values SpaceX at $21.2 billion Jeff Foust — SpaceX has raised more than $350 million in a new funding round that values the company at $21.2 billion, according to data obtained by a financial company. Equidate, a San Francisco company that operates a market for trading shares in privately-held companies and publishes financial information about them, said that SpaceX had closed a $351 million funding round, designated Series H, in July. News of the funding was first reported by the New York Times, which recently profiled Equidate. The Series H round gives SpaceX a valuation of $21.2 billion, making it one of the most valuable privately-held companies. That valuation is a 75 percent increase over the company's value from its last funding round, a $1 billion investment led by Google and Fidelity in January 2015 that valued SpaceX at $12 billion. Intelsat's slow-to-orbit IS-33e proving slow to attract customers Caleb Henry — Intelsat-33e, which took longer to enter service because of a broken thruster, is now taking longer than expected to fill with paying customers. While customer acquisition for Intelsat's second Epic-series high-throughput satellite (HTS) is proving slower than the first, the satellite fleet operator says the disparity is more a reflection of different customer sets for the two satellites than of market appetite for high-throughput capacity.  Speaking to investors July 27, Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler said as the operator nears the completion of its initial fleet of Epic satellites, it will likely use in-orbit servicing to delay decisions on other fleet replenishment. Cameras on NASA exoplanet spacecraft slightly out of focus Jeff Foust — Cameras recently installed on a NASA spacecraft designed to look for nearby exoplanets will be slightly out of focus once launched, but the agency said that will not affect the mission's science. NASA confirmed July 26 that the focus of the four cameras on the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) spacecraft will drift when the spacecraft cools to operating temperatures after launch next March. The problem was noticed in recent tests when the cameras were chilled to approximately –75 degrees Celsius. "Recent tests show the cameras on TESS are slightly out of focus when placed in the cold temperatures of space where it will be operating," NASA spokesperson Felicia Chou said in response to a SpaceNews inquiry. "After a thorough engineering evaluation, NASA has concluded TESS can fully accomplish its science mission with the cameras as they are, and will proceed with current integration activities."   Senate restores funding for NASA Earth science and satellite servicing programs Jeff Foust — An appropriations bill approved by a Senate committee July 27 would restore funding for several NASA Earth science missions slated for termination by the administration as well as a satellite servicing program. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a commerce, justice and science (CJS) appropriations bill, along with two other spending bills, during a markup session. The CJS bill, offering $19.529 billion for NASA overall, had cleared its subcommittee July 25. The bill and accompanying report, released after the markup, reveal significant differences between the Senate and both their House counterparts as well as the original White House request in several areas, including science and space technology. Thales FlytLive gets FCC approval for Ka-band aero-connectivity network in US Caleb Henry — A decision by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to allow the use of Thales FlytLive aeronautical terminals opens the market to a fourth competitive reseller in what is currently the largest regional inflight connectivity market. Thales announced July 27 that FCC approval was given earlier this month for a commercial service that will launch later this year. Winning FCC approval took three months, Thales said. The five largest inflight connectivity providers — Gogo, Panasonic Avionics, Global Eagle Entertainment, ViaSat and Inmarsat — all provide internet access on aircraft flying over the United States. Another rising competitor, SmartSky Networks, is building a network of air-to-ground stations throughout the U.S. that is also expected to go live later this year, bringing the number of major service providers in this market to seven. NASA reschedules TDRS-M launch for Aug. 20 Jeff Foust — NASA announced July 26 that the launch of a communications satellite damaged during payload processing activities earlier this month has been rescheduled for Aug. 20. In a statement, NASA said it has given satellite manufacturer Boeing approval to replace an S-band omnidirectional antenna on the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) M spacecraft. That antenna was damaged during final spacecraft closeout activities July 14 at an Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida. At the time of the incident, NASA had planned to launch TDRS-M on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 on Aug. 3. The agency said it has rescheduled that launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for Aug. 20. Telesat says low latency led to LEO constellation Caleb Henry — Satellite fleet operator Telesat, whose first two low-Earth orbit satellites launch later this year, says latency was the critical factor in deciding to invest in a high-throughput, non-geosynchronous constellation. Dan Goldberg, president and CEO of Telesat, said during a July 26 conference call with investors that while the Ottawa, Canada-based company is still spending on geostationary high throughput satellites (HTS), including two slated to launch next year, it was the need for faster broadband services in the future that drove the decision to favor a closer orbit.  "You can launch very large, high throughput satellites in GEO, kind of terabit-plus type satellites to try to answer those requirements," Goldberg said, describing said requirements as unsurprisingly more bandwidth at a lower cost. 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