Satellite on IT News

The World's First Commercial Nuclear-Powered Satellite Just Reached Orbit

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0800

A satellite powered by a nuclear battery — the first of its kind to fly as a commercial payload — reached orbit early Tuesday morning aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The spacecraft, called BOHR (short for Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability satellite), was built by City Labs, a Florida-based company. It hitchhiked to space on SpaceX’s Transporter-17 rideshare mission, which carried 81 payloads total from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

China puts another batch of Qianfan internet satellites into orbit with Long March 6A

Sat, 04 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0800

China launched another batch of satellites for its ambitious Qianfan broadband internet constellation on Saturday, sending the 13th group of polar orbit satellites into space from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The Long March 6A rocket lifted off at 5:30 p.m. Beijing time and delivered the payloads to their intended orbit without issue.

Rocket Lab to acquire Iridium for $8 billion in landmark space industry deal

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0800

Rocket Lab is buying Iridium for $8 billion in a cash-and-stock deal that would merge one of the most active satellite launchers with one of the oldest satellite communications networks in orbit. The acquisition, announced Monday, is expected to close by mid-2027.

China Mobile's next satellite will process cell signals directly in orbit

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0800

China Mobile is about to launch a satellite with a built-in cell tower.

The 03 experimental satellite, set for liftoff in the coming days, carries an onboard base station capable of processing signals directly in orbit. That puts it ahead of the 02 satellite launched on June 9, which could only relay signals. The 03 satellite can decode and retransmit them instead — what the industry calls “regeneration mode” — giving it more control over how it handles traffic.