In the face of unprecedented global environmental challenges, the Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to be the catalyst in driving sustainable development. Satellite IoT, a means of communicating with very remote assets and sensors, holds tremendous potential in monitoring, managing, and mitigating environmental issues. 

When I started doing research for this article on “new space,” I was spoilt for choice.  There are so many relatively new companies, with innovative products and services.  Where to begin, and how to choose which to highlight? 

Readers of this magazine will know that behind (or rather, above) many areas of modern life is satellite technology. 5G phone networks. Location tracking. Precision farming. Disaster prevention and response. Without satellites, next to none of this could exist or exist at the level of sophistication we enjoy now. The technology is so deeply integrated into modern life that if all the world’s satellites were to vanish tomorrow, we would be in serious trouble. And it’s why, despite the volatility of the past few years, the industry has continued to expand. In 2024, we can expect another big year.

In 2017, North Korea shocked the world by launching tests of two ballistic missiles able to cross the Pacific and strike the US.  One just missed hitting a commercial passenger flight headed for Tokyo.

The UN Security Council slapped a severe penalty on the rogue nation: a limit on the amount of fuel and crude oil it could import.  The hope was that, with no oil reserves of its own, North Korea would soon feel the pressure to change its ways.   

Except it didn’t.  Two years later, the country conducted no fewer than 20 missile tests.  What went wrong?   

In 1910 the Supreme Court of the United States found Standard Oil Company of New Jersey guilty of monopolizing the petroleum industry through a series of abusive and anticompetitive actions. The Court's remedy was to divide Standard Oil into several geographically separate and eventually even competing firms. Reacting to the size and scale of this unfavorable ruling to the company he had founded, the head of the greatest business monopoly in history, John D. Rockefeller, allegedly said, “I expected it, but did not think it would be so BIG!”

The National Association of Broadcasters today revealed a groundbreaking lineup for the NAB Show Welcome Session, taking place on the Main Stage at NAB Show, April 15 at 9:30 a.m. PST.

Satellite-direct-to-standard-phone provider Lynk Global, Inc.and Slam Corp. (NASDAQ: SLAM), a special purpose acquisition company, today announced that they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement  under which Slam will combine with Lynk. Upon completion, the combined company will operate as Lynk Global Holdings, Inc. and its common stock is expected to be publicly listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “LYNK”.

Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP) a provider of satellite-based solutions primarily serving the aerospace and defense industries, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the investor group comprised of Sophis Investments LLC, Sophis GP LLC, Tassos Recachinas, Roark’s Drift, LLC, Joseph Roos, Jordi Puig-Suari, Roland Coelho and Austin Williams.

Satellite connectivity direct to phone and devices is not new for companies like Iridium, Globalstar, Inmarsat that have been active in this market for the last 25-plus years but the new wave is the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations that are now targeting the cellular services and IOT with existing traditional companies already providing some services and new startup coming to this market.

As we’ve said for quite some time, the satellite communications market in China has historically been a pretty vanilla affair. On the Geostationary (GEO) side, the state-owned China Satcom runs an effective monopoly on the provision of satellite services, occasionally buying additional capacity from its partial subsidiary APT Satellite, and from foreign operators. On the non-GEO side, we’ve seen limited activity from state-owned China Satellite Networks Limited (China SatNet), a centrally-controlled state-owned enterprise (SOE) founded in 2021 with the purpose of deploying a “Chinese version of Starlink”.