Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace has ordered three microsatellites from NanoAvionics for a space-based maritime surveillance mission. The companies announced the deal May 18, financial terms were not disclosed.   The mission brings together a group of European companies. NanoAvionics, based in Lithuania, will build the satellites based on its MP42 microsatellite bus. Kongsberg is…

Terran Orbital Corporation shipped two next-generation satellites for Earth observation company GeoOptics to Cape Canaveral ahead of launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-5 rideshare mission. The Transporter-5 mission is set for May 25.  The spacecraft are the first phase of GeoOptics's Cicero-2 constellation, designed to monitor the impacts of climate change. These second-generation satellites were developed by…

Arabsat ordered a software-defined Geostationary (GEO) satellite from Thales Alenia Space, the regional operator announced April 29.  Arabsat-7A is based on the Thales based on the Space Inspire platform, which allows the operator to reconfigure satellite services while in orbit to adjust to demand. It will provide connectivity to support broadband and video broadcasting.  The…

Astra Space, Inc. will supply LeoStella with spacecraft engines under a new contract announced Tuesday. Astra is a smallsat launcher and is expanding into space technologies. The launcher acquired propulsion company Apollo Fusion last year.  Astra is expected to begin delivering the propulsion systems later this year and into 2023. The companies did not share…