On Aug. 11, the mission will perform its “Matchpoint” rehearsal – the second practice run of the Touch-and-Go (TAG) sample collection event. The rehearsal will be similar to the Apr. 14 “Checkpoint” rehearsal, which practiced the first two maneuvers of the descent, but this time the spacecraft will add a third maneuver, called the Matchpoint burn, and fly even closer to sample site Nightingale – reaching an altitude of approximately 131 ft (40 m) – before backing away from the asteroid.

Myriota, the world leader in low-cost and long battery life satellite connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT), has announced a new partnership with Future Fleet International, an Australian telematics provider that delivers advanced fleet management solutions.

Isotropic Systems, a leading developer of transformational broadband terminal technologies, today announced it has appointed antenna development veteran and former Phasor CTO John-Paul (JP) Szczepanik as Senior Vice President of Engineering to spearhead the engineering development of the company’s multi-beam terminal leading to commercial launch in government, aero, maritime and telco markets.

Momentus , provider of in-space transportation services for satellites, and Astrogate Labs, a space technology startup from Bengaluru, developing optical communication terminals and a ground network for smallsats, announced a launch service agreement for a 3U satellite to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), to be launched in December 2021 on the second Vigoride commercial mission, as well as a 6U option.

The name of the satellite mission speaks for itself: EnMAP, short for “Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program”, is intended to produce extended and in-depth findings about the state of and changes in ecological systems on land and water using new types of global data sets.

Join SpaceWatch.Global for an interesting and informative Space Café WebTalk featuring Jean-Jacques Dordain, Former Director General of the European Space Agency.

Airbus has been awarded a contract by the Bundeswehr for the provision of media services for the next 2 years, with the option of another 2 year extension. With this contract, several thousands of soldiers and sailors will get access to connectivity services for their private use on a global scale whether they are on land or at sea.

Benchmark Space Systems, a leading provider of in-space propulsion systems for small satellites, today announced a permanent licensing partnership to integrate Tesseract Space intellectual property, assets, and staff to elevate Benchmark’s major expansion in the development, deployment and support of its exclusively non-toxic chemical propulsion solutions for global rideshare markets.

The United Arab Emirates will launch a navigation satellite next year aimed at demonstrating the country’s technological capabilities, a top official told Emirates News Agency, WAM."The first satellite will be launched in 2021 and the second – a technologically enhanced one – the following year," said Dr. Khaled Al Hashmi, Director of the National Space Science and Technology Centre, NSSTC, in UAE University in Al Ain.

Thales Alenia Space, a joint-venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), announced that it has signed a contract with SES to build SES-22 and SES-23, geostationary communications satellites. These two new satellites are designed to provide digital broadcasting services over North America.