E-letter: Briefs

Xona Space Systems has secured another $25 million in financing, the company announced late last week. The company, which is developing navigation technologies from Low Earth Orbit (LEO), revealed that […]

Propulsion startup Benchmark Space Systems is acquiring electric propulsion technologies from Alameda Applied Sciences Corporation (AASC) to develop a hybrid propulsion system with chemical and electric propulsion. AASC’s technology is […]

Lockheed Martin said that it plans to launch three company developed satellites next year to help demonstrate Joint All-Domain Operations (JADO). The effort is part of the company’s Space-Augmented JADO Environment […]

Astra Space is ending use of its Rocket 3.3 iteration after two launch failures and moving to the next version of its launch system.  The rocket, part of Space Launch […]

Private equity firm Affiliates of Antarctica Capital has acquired a controlling interest in geospatial intelligence company Descartes Labs.  The deal was announced on August 4, and financial terms were not […]

The U.S. Space Force on Aug. 4 launched the sixth Lockheed Martin Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO)-6 satellite, the final planned SBIRS missile warning satellite, from Cape Canaveral […]

Launch for Hughes Network Systems Jupiter-3 satellite is now expected to launch in the first half of 2023. The satellite has been delayed multiple times, and was most recently expected […]

South Korean satellite data and technology company Hancom inSpace (Hancom) has signed its second contract with Spire Global to host an additional optical payload on a Spire 6U satellite that […]

Rocket Lab successfully launched the second of two back-to-back national security missions for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on an Electron rocket that took off early Thursday morning from Pad […]

Space simulation software company Slingshot Aerospace has acquired two companies — Numerica’s Space Domain Awareness (SDA) division and Seradata — to increase its space situational awareness (SSA) capabilities.  The company said […]

The FCC and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) signed an MoU on Tuesday to strengthen collaboration between the agencies on spectrum coordination. There was an existing MoU on this […]

Virginia-based geospatial intelligence and satellite imagery provider BlackSky Technology secured reseller rights to 23 different tasking and archive imagery products owned by Airbus under the terms of a new partnership […]

ESA and the European Commission confirmed Wednesday that they have lost the Copernicus Sentinel-1B Earth observation satellite after it experienced a power supply failure in December that left it unable […]

Commercial in-space transportation services company Momentus has identified the root cause of anomalies that created power and communications issues for its Vigoride-3 orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) during its May 27 […]

Adventure travel company Lindblad Expeditions has expanded its multi-year contract with service provider Speedcast, increasing connectivity services and adding five additional ships.  Lindblad offers small ship expeditions and adventure travel […]

Globalstar has hired IoT industry veteran Chirag Patel as director of Product Management to lead the company’s vision for industrial IoT. He will be responsible for product vision, strategy, roadmap […]

Amazon Web Services (AWS) will provide cloud storage for Sidus Space‘s new Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation, LizzieSat, under the terms of a new contract the operator announced on Tuesday. Sidus […]

Seven space companies joined the Digital IF Interoperability Consortium (DIFI) on Monday, bringing the independent industry group’s membership to more than 50 companies. DIFI named CesiumAstro, Communications & Power Industries […]

Ball Aerospace secured two contracts with NASA to support the NOAA’s next-generation geostationary weather satellite constellation under the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) program. The space systems manufacturer said on Monday […]

SES has completed its acquisition of DRS Global Enterprise Solutions (DRS GES) and will combine the business with subsidiary SES Government Solutions to serve U.S. government customers.  SES expects the […]

Inmarsat has released new research which looks at how businesses and the general population view the potential for space. The report — What on Earth is the Value of Space […]

Rocket Lab will supply solar cells for three missile warning satellites Lockheed Martin is building for the U.S. Space Force. Rocket Lab announced July 27 it will supply Coverglass Interconnected […]

Lockheed Martin and Maxar Technologies have been tasked with developing the concepts for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) next-generation GeoXO program. NASA awarded the companies $5 million, 10-month firm-fixed-price […]

While L3Harris logged a dip in revenues in the second quarter of 2022, citing supply-chain constraints, the company also reported a $53 million increase in Space revenue. Overall, L3Harris revenue […]

Viasat has now reached the 50,000 sites mark in Brazil, a market in which it has been operating since 2018. Viasat announced this milestone July 27. While Viasat’s customers are […]

Axess Networks signed a multi multi-year, multi-million agreement to serve its mining sector users with SES’s smart mining service via O3b mPOWER.  SES’s smart mining service — Onshore Energy & […]

AST SpaceMobile has signed a five-year 5G deal with Nokia to jointly work to expand universal coverage with AST SpaceMobile connectivity and Nokia hardware. The companies have been collaborating for […]

President Biden nominated Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman to be the U.S. Space Force’s next Chief of Space Operations, succeeding Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, who is projected to retire later […]

Thales Alenia Space is partnering with Italian startup Miprons to develop a satellite propulsion system that uses water as fuel. Miprons, based in Rome, has a proprietary technology for a […]

Satellite IoT company Astrocast has signed a deal with IoT company Soracom to provide a solution that integrates satellite and cellular IoT connectivity. Under the agreement announced Wednesday, Soracom will […]