Space News Roundup: Satellite Internet, Climate Monitoring, and the Expanding Role of Space Technology (June 30, 2025) / Updated: 2025, June 30th, 14:21 CET
Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet constellation, now has over 5 million customers in 125 countries, with rivals including Eutelsat OneWeb, Globalstar, and Amazon’s Project Kuiper and government-led IRIS2 and QianFan programs. Vodafone and AST SpaceMobile formed SatCo, a Luxembourg-based joint venture aiming to deliver direct-to-device satellite connectivity across Europe by 2026, integrating with 4G/5G networks. MTG-S1, Europe’s next-generation Meteosat Third Generation Sounder, carries the Sentinel-4 payload for air quality and atmospheric monitoring over Europe and North Africa, and will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 with major European industry partners Thales Alenia Space, Airbus, GMV, and SENER. Japan’s GOSAT-GW climate satellite