Commercial space is no longer the only area of satellite telecommunications. Almost every sector of the space enterprise is opening up to commercial providers.
Two of the three finalists for this year’s Achievement in Commercial Space Award represent longstanding commercial pillars of the space industry: launch and satellite communications.
The third pioneer in one of the most daunting space sectors to commercialize: human spaceflight.
We have selected the three achievements below as some of the biggest of the year. The winner of this category, chosen based on the valuable contributions of previous SpaceNews award recipients, will be announced during the annual awards celebration.
The ceremony will take place on December 5.
Let’s take a closer look at this year’s honorees, one of whom will be named the 2023 Civil Space Achievement of the Year:
Intelsat and SES earn billions by meeting C-band deadlines
Intelsat and SES will receive a total of $7 billion for returning public C-band to the FCC, in addition to the $2 billion they already received for helping to make the spectrum available to U.S. telecommunications networks.
SpaceX launch pace
SpaceX has already exceeded the record number of launches for the whole of 2022: since the beginning of 2023, 80 launches have been made, and the figure is increasing. Even China (government and commercial launches combined) does not launch as often as SpaceX.
First commercial flights of Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo
After years of development delays, including a fatal crash during a test flight in 2014, Virgin Galactic began commercial flights in June, continuing to operate them monthly. This allows the company to finally serve customers who in some cases bought tickets more than 15 years ago, while working on a new generation of vehicles that promise more frequent and less expensive suborbital flights.