E-letter: Briefs

Japanese ground-segment-as-a-service (GSaaS) provider Infostellar closed its Series B financing round with $10.36 million in investment. The company announced Jan. 14 that it raised a $4.32 million expansion after closing […]

CesiumAstro has released an S-band inter-satellite link for commercial, government, and defense applications called the CommPack, the company announced Jan. 11.  The CommPack communications payload includes the software-defined radio (SDR-1001) […]

Loft Orbital contracted Airbus for more than 15 satellite platforms based on the Airbus Arrow platform, which serves the OneWeb constellation. The agreement brings together a traditional space manufacturer and […]

After announcing a deal with the Repsol Foundation to develop  technologies that will be applied to the reforestation sector to offset CO2 emissions, Hispasat plans to expand its joint satellite […]

Thursday was a big day for commercial space launch in the U.S., as Virgin Orbit followed SpaceX’s rideshare mission from Florida in the morning with a launch from California in […]

Ursa Space Systems is working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to make satellite data and insights available to AWS customers. Ursa announced Jan. 12 that it will list its image […]

SES Government Solutions (SES GS) launched a new X-band end-to-end managed service platform on Thursday for both fixed and mobile U.S. military and government end-users. The platform, tactiXs, allows customers […]

SpaceX performed its first rideshare mission of the year on Thursday morning, deploying 105 spacecraft on a Falcon 9 vehicle. The mission, dubbed Transporter-3, was the third in SpaceX’s dedicated […]

Earth imaging startup Pixxel has signed global mining group Rio Tinto as an early adopter of its technology. Rio Tinto plans to assess Pixel’s imaging satellites for mineral exploration, monitoring […]

Mangata Networks has closed a $33 million Series A funding round to advance its plans for a satellite and edge computing network. The round, announced Tuesday, was led by Playground […]

Astroscale U.S. has signed on as a customer for Orbit Fab’s “gas stations in space” refueling service. Orbit Fab’s fuel shuttle will refuel Astroscale’s fleet of Life Extension In-Orbit (LEXI) […]

Intelsat has ordered two software-defined satellites from Thales Alenia Space that will contribute to the operator’s plans for a 5G unified global network. The two satellites — Intelsat 41 (IS-41) […]

Hispasat has signed a new climate-related deal in Spain in the area of reforestation. The Spanish operator announced Jan. 12 that it is partnering with the Repsol Foundation to develop […]

Cloud software provider Senet has partnered with Eutelsat Communications, TrakAssure, and Wyld Networks to offer interoperable terrestrial and satellite LoRaWAN IoT connectivity. The organizations have formed the Multimodal IoT Infrastructure […]

The U.S. Air Force awarded a $15.5 million contract to HawkEye 360 on Tuesday to provide space-based radio frequency (RF) data, analytics, and research to the help the military demonstrate, […]

Telesat will work on 5G technology and demonstrations in partnership with Canadian program ENCQOR 5G. Under the agreement announced Tuesday, Telesat plans to conduct demonstrations, trials and pilots of 5G […]

Momentus announced Monday that the company’s president, Fred Kennedy, has resigned and will step down Jan. 21. The company’s CTO Rob Schwarz will serve as interim head of Engineering and […]

NASA announced on Monday that Dr. Katherine Calvin will serve as both chief scientist and senior climate advisor, effective immediately.  She succeeds Jim Green, who retired from his role Jan. […]

Arqit Quantum has received a contract to bring its Federated Quantum System Project (FQS), which uses satellites to distribute quantum keys to data centers, to Australia.  Arqit is based in […]

Isotropic Systems has appointed Rash Sahota as its new general manager and chief operating officer. The company announced the appointment Monday. Sahota will be responsible for ensuring the company delivers […]

Inmarsat‘s I-6 F1 satellite has begun its Electric Orbit Raising (EOR) process to reach Geostationary Orbit (GEO), 36,000 km above the Earth. Inmarsat gave an update on the satellite Jan. […]

Despite the continued effects of the pandemic, governments around the world invested more money into space programs than ever before in 2021, Euroconsult reports.  The consulting company released its “Government […]

In another development that moves the United Kingdom closer to having native launch capabilities, a local government in Scotland is planning for a spaceport in Prestwick, Scotland.  Local government South […]

RS21 is a data science company targeting the space sector to improve predictive maintenance and remote monitoring of satellite systems and networks. RS21 has been recognized for its autonomous technology […]

SpaceX kicked off 2022 with a Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral on Thursday afternoon. The first SpaceX launch of the new year sent 49 satellites to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).  The […]

Gilat Satellite Networks will help a mobile network operator in Japan expand its 4G cellular network with cellular backhaul system.  The MNO placed orders for Gilat’s SkyEdge II-c cellular backhaul […]

Leidos on Thursday said it will make a strategic investment in HawkEye 360, a commercial provider of Geospatial-Intelligence (GEOINT) solutions. Leidos said the move will improve its capabilities in national security […]

Arianespace has received launch contracts for four additional Galileo satellites, and two PLATiNO satellites, the French launcher announced Thursday.  This launch order for four Galileo satellites from the European Union […]

Loft Orbital has expanded its production agreement with LeoStella for multiple satellite buses under a contract announced Thursday. LeoStella will provide additional LEO-100 buses, based on its existing product line […]

Voyager Space has closed on its acquisition of a majority stake in Space Micro, which engineers satellite communications, digital, and electro-optic systems. The acquisition was first announced in November, and […]