A space adventure for the Bezos brothers: Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of Blue Origin, wants to fly on New Shepard’s maiden crewed flight scheduled for 20 July, Bezos said. He invited his brother Mark to join, he said on Instagram. The first crewed New Shepard suborbital flight is planned
Read More »Europe to present EU Space Programme on 22 June
The European Commission will launch the EU’s new space program in a virtual conference on 22 June, the commission said. The conference is cohosted by the European Commission/DG DEFIS (Directorate General for Defence, Industry and Space), the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Read More »U.S. studies use of commercial rockets for military cargos
The U.S. Department of the Air Force (DAF) studies the use of large commercial rockets for military cargo missions. DAF’s fourth Vanguard program will focus on rocket cargo solutions and investigate the use of large commercial launchers for Pentagon logistics missions, DAF said.
Read More »Seraphim arm eyes London listing, Sky News reports
The Venture Capital fund Seraphim prepares a flotation at the London Stock Exchange, Sky News reported. The “world's first dedicated space VC fund” is working with banks on plans for a London flotation”, Sky News said. An arm of Seraphim Capital is working with bankers on plans for a public share sale that could raise in the region of £250m, the news channel said.
Read More »UNOOSA works with Philippines on peaceful use of space
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) cooperates with the Philippines Space Agency on the peaceful use of outer space, the agency announced. UNOOSA said it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Philippines Space Agency (PhilSA) to deliver joint capacity-building activities
Read More »TPG’s Rise Fund invests $100 million in weather platform Climavision
The weather platform Climavision raised $100 million from TPG’s The Rise Fund, the fund announced. The San Francisco-based Rise Fund announced a $100 million strategic investment in Climavision, a pioneering weather services and intelligence platform powered by a private network of high-resolution radars, GPS-RO data, and proprietary software.
Read More »LeoLabs raises $65 million for its LEO data services
The Californian startup LeoLabs has closed a $65 million Series B financing round, led by Insight Partners and existing investor Velvet Sea Ventures. With this round, LeoLabs has raised over $100 million in total capital, the company said. LeoLabs provides commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) mapping and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services.
Read More »China’s CAS Space to develop powerful solid propellant rocket
The Chinese rocket company CAS Space started to develop what it expects will be "the world's most powerful solid-propellant carrier rocket", the company's chairman told China Daily. Yang Yiqiang, a senior rocket scientist and founder of CAS Space, told China Daily that the rocket - ZK 2 - will be ready for its debut flight before the end of 2022.
Read More »IIAS sends researcher Kellie Gerardi on Virgin into space
The International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) will send its bioastronautics researcher Kellie Gerardi to space on a dedicated research mission with Virgin Galactic, the institute said. “The contract marks the world’s first industry-sponsored, human-tended research spaceflight on a commercial vehicle”.
Read More »NASA sends two missions to Venus: Davinci+ and Veritas
As part of its Discovery program, NASA has selected two new missions to Venus, Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor, the agency said. NASA is awarding approximately $500 million per mission; they are expected to launch in the 2028-2030 timeframe, NASA said.
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