Geopolitics News

True Anomaly, Inc. has announced that it has come out of stealth and raised $30M in funding to date, including its recent $17M Series A led by Eclipse in partnership with Riot Ventures, Champion Hill Ventures, Space.VC, and Narya.

Space Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1983, offering information, education, and collaboration for the global space ecosystem, has announced the selection of Major General Heather Pringle, U.S. Air Force, as its new chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2023. Presently serving as Commander, Air Force Research Laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Major General Pringle will be retiring in Summer 2023 after 32 years of military service.

ITU Member States have approved a major report on the technical, operational, and regulatory materials for the preparation of the World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23). The report summarizes and analyses the results of extensive technical studies which members of the ITU Radiocommunication Sector conducted.

ICEYE US Inc., a subsidiary of ICEYE, has announced a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) with NASA. The contract is a five-year agreement for the purchase of synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) data for evaluation to determine their suitability for advancing NASA’s science and application goals. Since 2020, NASA’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program has been identifying, evaluating, and acquiring data from commercial sources aligned with NASA’s Earth Science Division objectives.

RAND researchers have assessed the progress that the commercial spaceflight industry has made in adopting voluntary safety standards, the industry’s progress in meeting key metrics set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2017, and whether the industry has matured such that areas identified in FAA reports are ready for regulatory action. The Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 imposes a moratorium on safety regulations until the 1st of October, 2023. The FAA will be authorised to propose and issue regulations upon expiration of the moratorium. 

The Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) has announced that Antonino Salmeri has been elected as the new Co-Chair for 2023. Dr Antonino Salmeri is a space lawyer who specialises in the governance of lunar and space resource activities. He holds four advanced degrees in law and currently works as Lead of the Lunar Policy Platform Initiative.

While this 2023 update to the Best Practices for Sustainability of Space Operations is a momentous step forward for space operations safety, Astroscale believes certain elements within it still merit further improvement and fall short of what it can fully endorse without reservations. As a result, the Company endorses these updated Best Practices, with three exceptions: clauses 5.a., 7.a., and 8.j.

Lockheed Martin, an Australian aerospace company, announced on the 3rd of April that it has been selected by the Commonwealth of Australia as the perfect bidder for Project JP9102, the Australian Defence Satellite Communications System.

Spire Global, a space-to-cloud data and analytics company based in Virgina US, announced on the 3rd of April that they have been awarded a contract by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) for commercial radio frequency (RF) remote sensing. This contract is part of the NRO’s Strategic Commercial Enhancements (SCE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) program in September 2022. 

Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy after the satellite launch firm was unable to secure the funding necessary to keep operating and cut about 85% of its staff. The company listed $243 million in assets and $153.5 million for its total debt in a Chapter 11 petition that it filed in Delaware. However, Virgin Investments Ltd has committed to offering an additional $31.6 million to keep the Company's operation going while it seeks a buyer.