The 6th CASSINI Hackathon, titled “Space for International Development and Humanitarian Aid,” is gearing up to tackle pressing global issues with innovative solutions. The event hosted by N3XTCODER in Germany will take place from November 3rd to 5th across 11 locations in Europe. The Hackathon will focus on innovative solutions to advance international development and humanitarian aid. 

Astrobotic have begun work on two NASA Small Business Innovation Research contracts that will further research on lunar plume-surface interactions (PSI), a key area of risk and uncertainty for lunar landing. This testing will generate valuable new data about how lunar dust stirred up by a lander's rocket plumes will affect landing systems, onboard payloads, landing sites, and nearby surface infrastructure on upcoming missions. The first project, 'Floatinator,' aims to control and eliminate a significant testing variable – namely, Earth gravity – that has limited ground-based lunar PSI tests.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. announced it signed a multi-launch agreement with L3Harris Technologies [NYSE: LHX] for three dedicated launches on Firefly's Alpha vehicle in 2026. The agreement further encourages Firefly, a small-lift launch services company, to ramp up production of its Alpha vehicle to support the growing needs of both Government and commercial customers. Firefly will provide rapid launch capabilities for L3Harris to achieve direct access to low Earth orbit at a lower cost and support the responsive space needs of the U.S. Government. The three missions will launch from Firefly's SLC-2 launch site at the Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Vodafone and Project Kuiper, Amazon’s low Earth orbit satellite (LEO) communications initiative, announced a collaboration through which Vodafone and Vodacom plan to use Project Kuiper’s network to extend the reach of 4G/5G services to more of their customers in Europe and Africa. In addition, Vodafone and Vodacom plan to use Project Kuiper’s high-bandwidth, low-latency satellite network to bring the benefits of 4G/5G connectivity to areas that may otherwise be challenging and prohibitively expensive to serve via traditional fiber or microwave solutions.

UK space agency announces vital US/UK partnership in electric space propulsion between Britain’s Pulsar Fusion and the University of Michigan. Pulsar is seeking ways to leverage the unique test capabilities of the University of Michigan for Hall thrusters. Therefore, the focus of this preliminary Phase I effort is to identify export-compliant paths for allowing this.

Space Tango, a provider of automated microgravity solutions for research and manufacturing, announces the appointment of S. Sita Sonty as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective September 1, 2023. Sonty succeeds Co-Founder and current President, Twyman Clements. Prior to joining Space Tango, Sonty led the space industry practice for the Boston Consulting Group. She was also the Head of Human Spaceflight Sales at SpaceX, where she executed the first private spaceflight sale on the Crew Dragon on a Lower Earth Orbit Free Flyer and to the International Space Station.

Fleet Space Technologies announces its collaboration with Thor Energy Plc (Thor) to redefine its mineral exploration approach through space-enabled technology. As a result, the collaboration has seen Fleet Space Technologies take an equity stake in Thor Energy, signifying both parties' long-term commitment to the project. This latest major commitment for Fleet follows the successful completion of the company's institutional Series C fundraising round and the signing of landmark contracts with some exploration companies, including Rio Tinto and Barrick Gold.

Andøya Spaceport has hired Vincent Ciccarelli as its Commercial Director of North America and Asia as it aims to expand to the US. His main task will be to make sure that launch operators outside of Europe recognize the opportunities Andøya has to offer. Until now, Andøya Spaceport had mainly focused on the European market for the spaceport that is currently under construction in Northern Norway. However, this has changed with Ciccarelli joining as the first US-based employee of Andøya Spaceport.

TNO, the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), and a consortium of other European partners join forces in the LaiQa-project to develop space internet for cities and continents. Signal losses in fiber over distance are a major hindrance to the future of global quantum internet. Therefore, the project focuses on using satellites to connect cities and continents to eventually become a part of the global quantum internet and fully benefit from its promising applications.

Lockheed Martin has successfully deployed ten of its satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO) in support of the Space Development Agency's (SDA) Tranche 0 Transport Layer (T0TL) mission. SDA's T0TL is a proliferated LEO constellation that will demonstrate low-latency communication and provide a resilient network of integrated capabilities. The company's 10 small satellites successfully separated from the launch vehicle and are now in orbit.