Smart has a services agreement with Lynk signed last year.

Smart Communications is a subsidiary of Philippine telco PLDT.

The testing teams accessed Smart’s website, demonstrating Lynk satellite’s light data capabilities.

Lynk Global has tested its direct-to-device satellite service on the island of Catanduanes in the Philippines with partner Smart Communications.

Lynk is merging with Omnispace and SES is set to become a strategic investor in the combined company under a deal announced last year.

Smart’s Network Strategy and Architecture team conducted tests with Lynk's technical team, successfully sending text messages between a phone in Catanduanes and a phone in Manila.

Catanduanes is an island southeast of Manila where it is difficult to deploy telco infrastructure.

The tests also involved messaging between two phones located within Catanduanes province using Lynk’s satellites.

Catanduanes was recently impacted by typhoons Tino and Uwan, which damaged power and telco infrastructure.

The meeting focused on satellite constellations and the IRIS² program.

Teodoro Valente is the president of the Italian Space Agency.

The national satellite constellations were identified as key assets for the competitiveness and resilience of the European space economy.

Philippe Baptiste is the French Minister of Higher Education and Research.

The meeting affirmed the central role of Italian-French cooperation in developing the European space economy.

The discussions included satellite constellations, IRIS², and common programs with the intent to strengthen political and industrial coordination.

The upcoming intergovernmental summit is part of the Quirinal Treaty framework.

Urso and Baptiste discussed bilateral cooperation and European space programs during a videocall.

The dialogue emphasized aligning industrial and research policies in Europe for autonomous development of space infrastructures.

The IRIS² program is one of the instruments through which Europe aims to strengthen its satellite communications capabilities.

Urso and Baptiste shared the need to intensify collaboration ahead of the upcoming intergovernmental summit between Italy and France.

The European space economy was highlighted as one of the pillars for reinforced cooperation impacting continental space policies.

The ministers reviewed the progress and prospects of the IRIS² program, which aims to establish a secure and sovereign satellite constellation.

Adolfo Urso is the Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy and Delegate Authority for Space and Aerospace Policies in Italy.

Aule Space aims to source as many spacecraft components as possible from India’s growing space supply chain to keep costs lower than competitors.

According to CEO Jay Panchal, 80% of GEO spacecraft operating today are compatible with Aule’s life extension service.

Aule Space has received a $90,000 grant from India’s IN-SPACe office, which promotes the country's commercial space sector.

The funding round for Aule Space was led by pi Ventures, with additional angel investments from Eash Sundaram and Arvind Lakshmikumar.

Aule Space, based in Bengaluru, has closed $2 million in pre-seed funding to develop spacecraft that can grapple onto existing satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) and provide up to six years of extra propulsion.

Aule Space is in talks with the Indian government to conduct rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) missions for the military.

Aule Space plans to develop AI-powered guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) software and aims to build its first spacecraft to launch a demonstration mission in 2027.

Aule’s technology will grab onto the thruster nozzle of GEO spacecraft and does not require new hardware on customer satellites.

Aule envisions its technology providing capabilities beyond life extension, such as non-Earth imaging and spacecraft inspection to commercial and defense customers.

TrustPoint’s architecture aims to eliminate the dependence on GPS and other MEO signals, addressing vulnerabilities caused by jamming and electronic interference.

The demonstration marks a significant step for TrustPoint in providing a commercial, GPS-independent positioning, navigation, and timing capability for satellite operators.

TrustPoint's C-band service is designed to provide secure, high-precision timing less susceptible to vulnerabilities of heritage L-band signals.

TrustPoint was awarded two Direct-to-Phase II contracts by SpaceWERX to expedite the transition of its C-band LEO architecture to operational deployment.

TrustPoint plans to scale its LEONS infrastructure to support other LEO operators seeking resilient timing after its successful ground-to-space transmission.

TrustPoint aims to deploy a constellation of approximately 300 spacecraft to provide global, commercial GPS-equivalent services with improved security and lower latency.

The U.S. Space Force prioritizes the transition to a GPS-independent architecture as part of its 'Proliferated Warfighter' concept.

The successful signal transmission validated the LEONS ground infrastructure as a rapidly deployable and scalable solution for global PNT coverage.

The LEONS demonstration involved transmitting time-transfer and tracking signals from a compact ground node to an orbiting spacecraft.

TrustPoint successfully launched and contacted its third satellite in 2023, which served as the primary testbed for core technologies.

The demonstration was part of the SpaceWERX AltPNT Challenge, aimed at developing alternatives to legacy Global Navigation Satellite Systems.

TrustPoint announced the first successful demonstration of its Low Earth Orbit Navigation System (LEONS) on January 15, 2026.

Arianespace will launch 2-3 Amazon Leo satellites starting in February 2026.

Arianespace plans to conduct 7-8 Ariane 6 missions in 2026.

Eutelsat has contracted multiple launches with startup MaiaSpace.

The contract with MaiaSpace includes OneWeb launches starting in 2027.

The Ceres-1 rocket successfully sent 4 Tianqi Constellation satellites into 850 km, 45° orbits.

The Ceres-1 solid rocket lifted off from a barge off the coast of Shandong province at 2010 UTC on January 15, 2026.