Satellite News

LeoSat Enterprises, an emerging company with plans to launch a constellation of up to 108 low-earth-orbit communications satellites, has announced the appointment of Ronald van der Breggen as Chief Commercial Officer. In this position Ronald will be responsible for managing the global sales and marketing operations of LeoSat.

On 1 January 2016, Universal Space Network, Inc. (USN), changed its name to SSC Space U.S. Inc. The purpose of the name change is to leverage the strength and global capabilities and efficiencies of USN’s parent corporation, the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC).

Eutelsat Communications announced that Michel de Rosen has informed the Board of Directors that he will step down from his position as Chief Executive Officer in March 2016. He will remain in the role of non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eutelsat until the end of his current mandate in November 2016, at which point his mandate will be submitted to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting for renewal.

International Launch Services (ILS) has appointed Jim Kramer as Vice President of Engineering and Mission Assurance and Thomas Carroll as Vice President of Sales.

International Launch Services (ILS) announces the appointment of Kirk Pysher as president. Mr. Pysher will take over leadership from Phil Slack, who served as president of ILS since 2012. Khrunichev State Research and Space Production Center (Khrunichev), the majority owner of ILS, has provided its full endorsement of Mr. Pysher as the new head of ILS.

JAXA has announced the official naming of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle currently under development. The name was decided in coordination with the prime contractor (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.)

As of today, 1 July 2015, ESA has a new Director General: Johann-Dietrich (Jan) Woerner, who has taken up duty at ESA Headquarters in Paris, France.

SES announced that Patrick Biewer has been appointed by the LuxGovSat S.A. Board of Directors as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective 1 July 2015. Jointly held by SES and the Luxembourg Government, the company’s objectives are the acquisition, the launch and the operation of a satellite for the provision of governmental and military communication services.