Sustainability

Orbit Fab has completed testing its refueling payload and GRIP capture and refueling nozzle. The company announced Tuesday that it conducted numerous tests with government representatives at the Air Force Research Lab’s (AFRL’s) simulation facilities at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the tests, a fuel shuttle equipped with the GRIP mechanism...

OroraTech, the German satellite data company, will now play a key role in helping emergency services and the government in Greece as they fight wildfires, a major problem in Greece.  It has won a contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to support the Greek National Satellites Space Program led by the Hellenic Space Center. OroraTech announced...

U.S. Space Command confirmed that a defunct Russian satellite broke up in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) on Wednesday, creating more than 100 pieces of debris.  Space Command said the breakup took place on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. MT. It was not clear why the satellite broke up, such as if it was the result of an...

Intelsat has ordered a satellite servicing mission from Starfish Space for its Otter servicing vehicle. This will be Starfish’s first mission to provide services to a commercial satellite operator with Otter. Under the deal announced Wednesday, Starfish will begin its first servicing mission for Intelsat in 2026. At first, Otter will dock with and maneuver...

Wildfires have a devastating impact on human and animal life, property, biodiversity, and air quality, local economies, and so much more. In this week’s On Orbit podcast, we hear about a new coalition bringing together NGOs, philanthropy, and a satellite company to change wildfire response. Satellite company Muon Space is working with the Earth Fire...

Slingshot Aerospace is bringing the benefits of AI into the satellite arena. The company confirmed Wednesday that it, alongside the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), rolled out a new AI system, called Agatha, that identifies anomalous spacecraft within large satellite constellations. Slingshot’s Agatha was trained on over 60 years of simulated constellation data that...

Eutelsat has reached a significant milestone as it looks to make progress in the sustainability arena. Eutelsat said its first generation of more than 600 satellites in LEO achieved a platinum rating in the Space Sustainability Rating (SSR). First imagined at the World Economic Forum (WEF), the rating’s aim is to reduce the creation of...

Satellite operator Intelsat has signed with Northrop Grumman‘s SpaceLogistics to utilize its two Mission Extension Vehicles (MEVs) and service its satellites for at least another four years. The contract agreement, announced Thursday, is itself a life-extension of a six-year-long partnership between the two companies that has showcased how the MEV-1 and MEV-2 vehicles can extend...

Open Cosmos is a company to watch in the European Earth observation (EO) market as it looks to bring the benefits of small satellites to enterprises all over the world. Open Cosmos recently announced a strategic partnership with Connected, a Portuguese startup committed to universal and affordable narrowband connectivity from space. The two companies plan...

Privateer, a space data company started by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, acquired Earth observation (EO) analytics company Orbital Insight in a deal announced May 6. Privateer pitched the acquisition as a way to “make space data and Earth insights more powerful and accessible than ever.”  Privateer said that Orbital Insight’s TerraScope analytics platform will be...