Space solutions company, Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales and Leonardo, has signed an agreement with Italian space propulsion startup, Miprons, to develop an innovative water propulsion system for satellites, Thales Alenia said. The project will leverage Miprons’ proprietary technology, a miniaturized, high-thrust thruster using a green, cost-effective propellant: water.

The UK branch of global communications company Viasat, was selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to conduct a multi-layered Satellite Communication (SATCOM) study focused on evaluating the use cases, market segments and technical aspects of these future systems, the company said. 

Yuri Borisov, head of the Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, said the country will withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) program after 2024 to focus on building its own orbiting station. The announcement was made less than two weeks after Roscosmos and NASA signed a seat exchange agreement on spacecraft traveling to and from the station.

Optical inter-satellite communication service provider, Warpspace, chose to utilize Amazon Web Services (AWS) for secure, flexible and cost-effective operation of its upcoming middle Earth orbit (MEO) Optical Inter-Satellite Data Relay Constellation, Warpaspace said.

Lunar resource development company, ispace’s subsidiary, ispace technologies U.S. will join a team, led by Draper, that has been awarded US $73 million to deliver payloads, including two communication relay satellites, to lunar orbit as well as a suite of scientific experiments to the lunar surface, ispace said.

Satellite operators Eutelsat Communications and OneWeb have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create a leading global connectivity company through a merger between them in an all-share transaction, Eutelsat said. Eutelsat will combine its 36-satellite geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) fleet with OneWeb’s constellation of 648 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. 

China has successfully docked Wentian, the second module of its Tiangong space station to the first, Tianhe section, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said. The rendezvous and docking process with the forward port of Tianhe went smoothly, taking approximately 13 hours. Wentian will be moved to a side port with the help of the module's 10-meter-long robotic arm.

Airbus and Northrop Grumman have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to address the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Skynet Enduring Capability (SKEC) military satellite communications requirements as a joint team, Airbus said. The merging of the experience, knowledge, and capabilities of the two companies will enable optimal solutions for the space and ground segments of Skynet.

Satellite technology company, Satellite Vu (SatVu), has commissioned a new clone of its original satellite in collaboration with small satellite supplier, Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL), to double its data collection capacity, SatVu said. The second thermal imaging satellite will collect thermal data utilizing SatVu’s Mid Wave Infra-Red (MWIR) technology.

NASA is postponing the fifth commercial crew mission, Crew-5, to the International Space Station (ISS) by several weeks due to damage caused to the Falcon 9 booster during transport, the agency said. The launch was originally planned for early September but NASA said it will now not take place before 29th September.