Russia’s Roscosmos has proposed a BRICS Space Council to implement the group’s current space collaborations and govern them collectively.

The BRICS discussions in Bengaluru built on talks held in Brazil last year about addressing technical asymmetries through personnel training or technology sharing.

The BRICS remote sensing satellite constellation currently includes spacecraft and instruments from China, Russia, Brazil, and India.

Russia has primarily advocated for a BRICS space council since 2024.

The outcome of the BRICS space council proposal and the remote sensing constellation discussion is expected to appear in the group’s declaration at the BRICS summit in New Delhi in September.

Saudi Arabia has delayed its formal BRICS accession several times since it was meant to join at the start of 2024.

SES receives 100% of any subsequent auction compensation for the remaining 60 MHz of C-band spectrum.

SES built contingency costs of $150 million into its C-band clearing plan.

The FCC auction of AWS-3 cellular licences (Auction 113) ended after 72 rounds with accepted bids of more than $3.57 billion.

Seventeen businesses were qualified to bid in AWS-3 Auction 113, including EchoStar, SpaceX, and major U.S. cellular operators.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the FCC expects to hold the upper C-band auction no later than July next year.

SES said clearing 100 MHz of C-band spectrum could take about 30 months, and clearing an additional 60 MHz would take another 60 months.

SES said customer migration to new feeds and earth station transitions will cost about $93 million.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the AWS-3 auction generated billions of dollars in competitive bids and bolsters competition in the wireless marketplace.

Auction 97 raised more than $2.9 billion in 2014 for spectrum licenses that EchoStar subsidiary Dish had bought.

SES said satellite procurement, launch, insurance, and ground equipment for each new satellite will total approximately $2.62 billion.

AWS-3 prices ranged from 15 cents per MHz-POP for American Samoa to $5.67 per MHz-POP for Honolulu, Hawaii.

SES said legal costs, contractor reimbursement, program management costs, and engineering service costs will total about $62 million.

SES estimated that clearing 160 MHz of Upper C-band spectrum will cost about $3.6 billion.

SES must pay 42.5% of spectrum sale proceeds to Intelsat’s former shareholders for the sale of the first 100 MHz of C-band spectrum.

In 2020, the FCC auctioned 280 MHz of C-band capacity and paid SES and Intelsat almost $9 billion in compensation for freeing up their spectrum.

SES said new Telemetry, Tracking & Control equipment and uplink antennas will cost about $45 million.

SES said clearing 160 MHz of Upper C-band spectrum will require launching new Ku-band satellites with C-band uplink capabilities.

BNP Paribas estimated that FCC compensation would provide SES with more than $1 billion for the initial 100 MHz of C-band capacity.

Up to $3.3 billion of AWS-3 auction proceeds will reimburse cellular operators that must replace Chinese equipment under the FCC’s rip-and-replace mandate.

New Street Research analyst David Barden estimated the average AWS-3 auction price at $2.53 per MHz-POP.

SES said the Terrestrial Recovery Network and new IRDs will cost about $777 million.

Chicago prices in the AWS-3 auction topped $4 per MHz-POP, and New York prices reached $3.30 per MHz-POP.

SES has earmarked an investment envelope of $1.6 billion to start procuring and launching new satellites.

Karibu is part of the Africa-European Union Space Partnership Programme (AESPP).

Open Cosmos named Pinkmatter Solutions, Dragonfly Aerospace, Nano Satellite Yard, SaH Analytics International, Geomatica, Rada 360, IGN FI, and Simera Sense as collaborating companies on Karibu.

Open Cosmos will help define the foundations and operation of the Karibu mission.

The Karibu project will be funded by the European Commission through the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) under the EU’s Global Gateway strategy.

Open Cosmos is a UK-based satellite development and manufacturing company of Spanish origin.

The AESPP is structured around institutional support, research on space and ecological transition with a focus on early warning for climate phenomena, and strengthening private-sector capabilities.

The AESPP is implemented by the European Space Agency in close collaboration with the African Space Agency (AfSA).

Open Cosmos was selected to carry out the phase 1 feasibility study for the Karibu mission.

The European Space Agency awarded Open Cosmos a contract to design an Earth observation mission to be deployed in Africa.

Ling Hangzhe has a recovery barge.

MDA Space’s new contract strengthens its position in defense-focused space infrastructure and sovereign mission markets.

The satellite will use deployment mechanisms for thrusters and reflectors from MDA Space’s existing technology portfolio.

MDA Space’s Montreal facility will produce and test advanced antennas and the analog repeater before shipment to Japan.

The Japanese military satellite communications program is intended to support secure defense communications for Japan.

MDA Space’s UK facility is providing digital beamforming technology for Japan’s future defense communications.

Mitsubishi Electric will handle assembly, integration, and final testing of the satellite in Japan.

MDA Space’s UK facility will develop the technology for the satellite’s multi-beam digital payload.

The multi-beam digital payload is designed to provide secure communications with anti-jamming capability, high resilience, and reconfigurable digital beamforming in orbit.

The contract will be added to MDA Space’s order book in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026.

MDA Space entered a Japanese military satellite communications program intended to replace DSN-2 (Kirameki-2) in geostationary orbit for Japan’s Ministry of Defense.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation selected MDA Space to design and manufacture the digital payload, antennas, and several subsystems for the next-generation satellite.