Three new directors, two more women on board: the European Space Agency (ESA) has appointed Géraldine Naja, Simonetta Cheli, and Francisco-Javier Benedicto Ruiz as new directors at its helm, the agency said. Géraldine Naja has been appointed to the new position of Director of Commercialisation, Industry and Procurement (D/CIP), based at ESA Headquarters in Paris as of 1 November 2021.

The CEO of Eutelsat, Rodolphe Belmer, will leave the satellite operator at the end of this year and become CEO of the IT firm Atos, the company said yesterday. Belmer will replace 43-year old Elie Girard who suffered a row of setbacks this year that sent the company’s share price down

OneWeb launched another 36 satellites, bringing the constellation in orbit to 358, over half of the planned 648 satellites, the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite company said. The satellites were launched by Arianespace from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia.

Rocket Lab has acquired Advanced Solutions, a Colorado-based aerospace engineering firm, for $40 million, the company announced. Advanced Solution delivers mission proven space software, mission simulation and test systems, and Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) solutions.

Eutelsat raised its stake in OneWeb to 23%, the company announced, making it the second largest shareholder behind Indian Bharti with 30.0%. Eutelsat said it has exercised a call option on a portion of the latest OneWeb funding round subscribed by Bharti, for $165 million, taking its shareholding from 17.6% to 22.9%.

The U.S. startup Minerva Space Technologies secured $150 million to develop its satellite-based data and domain awareness network, the company said. The company founded this year expects to have $500 million in total to expand its core technology offerings.

A glimpse in the cleanroom: Airbus plans to demonstrate the European Service Module for NASA´s Orion missions to the Moon. The company invited media to join a virtual visit to the cleanroom on Wednesday, 6 October, watch the delivery of ESM-2 and look at ESM-3. The modules are key parts of Europe’s contribution to NASA´s Artemis missions to the Moon.

The Paris-based and listed satellite operator Eutelsat rejected an offer from the French telecoms and media tycoon Patrick Drahi. “The relevant governance bodies of Eutelsat Communications have unanimously decided not to engage in discussions based on the terms of this proposal,” Eutelsat said.

After eight years of work: the new launch pad for Ariane 6 in French Guiana has been inaugurated, the French space agency CNES said. "ESA and ArianeGroup now have the means to launch the future Ariane 6, whose first flight is expected in 2022", CNES said.

Isotropic Systems raised $37 million in its latest series B funding round to accelerate the development of its multibeam antenna terminal and its launch next year, the company said.   The financing round was led by Seraphim Space Investment Trust – the world’s first listed space tech fund – in the first significant investment since its IPO on the London Stock Exchange in July, Isotropic said.