Sustainability

Astroscale has won a new contract in the United Kingdom worth over $2 million. Astroscale UK, a subsidiary of Astroscale, has secured a 1.95 million pound ($2.55 million) contract from the UK Space Agency (UKSA) to continue development of its Cleaning Outer Space Mission through Innovative Capture (COSMIC) spacecraft. The deal was announced Sept. 11....

Astroscale Japan’s ADRAS-J mission recently completed a controlled fly-around of a rocket upper stage in orbit, taking pictures of the object. Astroscale reports this is the world’s first attempt to safely approach and survey an existing piece of large debris through rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO). This is a critical milestone in the commercial debris...

Astroscale secured $15 million to support the final phase of its End-of-Life by Astroscale-Multiple (ELSA-M) in-orbit demonstration. The contract from the UK Space Agency (UKSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) is another key milestone for the company. It was announced July 22. The funding was released following the securing of the contract with Eutelsat...

Thales Alenia Space recently received contracts for space-based carbon monitoring and an in-orbit capture and inspection service, both supported by the France 2030 national investment plan.  On July 18, Thales announced a deal with French space agency CNES and Bpifrance to lead a consortium along with Magellium Artal Group to demonstrate an in-orbit capture and...

LeoLabs was selected to support the launch and operations of the United Kingdom Space Command‘s Project Tyche to deliver space tracking and monitoring and collision avoidance services. Tyche is the first satellite built under UK Space Command’s ISTARI program. The satellite is scheduled to launch this summer and will  test and demonstrate technologies that will...

For at least two decades, there has been rising recognition and concern about a problem for our industry. Not a little problem. A big, hairy bodacious problem that could put our entire business out of business. It’s the problem of keeping things in Earth orbit from smashing into other things. Space, with the support of...

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...