News from World Satellite Business Week | Are GEO satellite orders still a good measure of industry health?

View this email in your browser SpaceNews' show daily for Euroconsult's World Satellite Business Week in Paris, Sept. 11-15 September 15, 2017 SPACENEWS' DAILY COVERAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY Are GEO satellite orders still a good measure of industry health? Brian Berger — For the world's leading satellite manufacturers, 2017 has been a rather disappointing year so far. Just four contracts have been signed this year for large geostationary communications satellites — the traditional bread-and-butter of the commercial satellite industry and a big drop from the 10-15 orders the likes of Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and Thales Alenia Space expected to be fighting for this year. On the other side of the equation, you have the satellite operators themselves, who stand to improve profit margins if they can continue to serve their customers well without constantly replenishing their fleets of  big, expensive geostationary satellites. SEE FULL STORY From selling data to selling answers, EO market faces transformation Tereza Pultarova — Earth-observation startups are investing in data analytics and machine learning to transform raw satellite data into marketable insights they say have the potential to be every bit as indispensable to investors and business leaders as the up-to-the-second analytics they get from the likes of a $20,000-a-year Bloomberg terminal subscription. Speaking during the closing day of Euroconsult's World Satellite Business Week in Paris Sept. 15, top executives of Earth-observation startups Urthecast, Planet and others agreed that the growth of their respective businesses will depend on the ability to use the wealth of raw data acquired by their satellites to extract answers needed by customers across a wide range of industries. "We believe that there is going to be a unique moment when this industry is going to be similar to what happened, for example, in navigation," said Wade Larson, president and CEO of Vancouver-based Urthecast. "Navigation became kind of embedded infrastructure in a much larger industry called location-based services. We think that this is happening with geoanalytics, as well."  SEE FULL STORY ESA signs up as Ariane 6 inaugural customer with two Galileo missions Caleb Henry — The European Space Agency stepped up to be Arianespace's first customer for the next-generation Ariane 6 rocket, while keeping Soyuz as a backup option. Signing the contract on behalf of the European Commission and the European Union, ESA agreed to launch four Galileo navigation satellites two at a time on Ariane 6 rockets. The missions will both use the Ariane 62, the lighter version equipped with two side-boosters, and will launch from Europe's Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana in late-2020 and mid-2021.  ArianeGroup, formerly Airbus Safran Launchers, is building the Ariane 6, with ESA overseeing the rocket's procurement and architecture. Arianespace has a first-ever demonstration flight of the Ariane 6 on July 16, 2020.  SEE FULL STORY Retired Boeing satellite exec to head EO startup Hera Systems Tereza Pultarova — California startup Hera Systems has tapped a long-retired Boeing executive as CEO to to help realize the firm's ambition to develop and launch a constellation of tens of Earth-observing micro-satellites. Roger Roberts ended an eight-year stint as the head of Boeing space and intelligence systems in 2005 as his unit's marquee classified contract, the Future Imagery Architecture constellation of optical and radar reconnaissance satellites, was facing cancellation. Bobby Machinski, Hera Systems' founder, announced  Sept. 15 during the closing day of Euroconsult's World Satellite Business Week in Paris that Roberts would be replacing him as CEO.   SEE FULL STORY BlackSky taps Thales Alenia to build 60 fast-revisit EO satellites Tereza Pultarova — Seattle-based BlackSky has announced a joint venture with Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio to build and operate a constellation of 60 fast-revisit, high-resolution Earth-observation satellites and establish a new smallsat manufacturing facility in the United States. BlackSky CEO and founder Jason Andrews announced the partnership Sept. 15 during the closing day of Euroconsult's World Satellite Business Week in Paris. "We started this vision in 2013 and today we are announcing a strategic partnership with Thales Alenia Space and some financing that will get the critical mass going," said Andrews. "There is also a partnership with Telespazio to help distribute our analytics products and services internationally but with a focus on Europe," he said.  SEE FULL STORY Follow SpaceNews Advertise with Us SN FIRST UP Satcom is sent out every Wednesday by SpaceNews Staff Writer Caleb Henry and SpaceNews Editor-in-Chief Brian Berger. Copyright © 2017 SPACENEWS, All rights reserved.