News

Sidus Space, a multi-faceted Space and Data-as-a-Service satellite company has announced the successful launch and deployment of its LizzieSat™ satellite as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-10 Rideshare mission. Liftoff occurred at 2:05 p.m. PDT from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The successful deployment of LizzieSat™ signifies a monumental achievement for Sidus Space, marking its entrance into the next era of its space technology and data services.

In-space propulsion solution provider Agile Space Industries has received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract from SpaceWERX. SpaceWERX is part of the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force and a part of AFWERX, and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Agile was one of 19 company winners of the 2023 SpaceWERX Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) Challenge. The Space Safari program office at USSF Space Systems Command, which identifies cutting-edge TacRS, sponsored the challenge.

Terran Orbital Corporation has announced winning a $15.2 million contract to supply Ambassador Class satellite platforms complete with solar arrays and support equipment to the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The contract, managed through Axient Corporation, will integrate payloads onto these ESPA-Grande size space vehicle platforms to support specific United States Space Force missions. Delivery is tentatively in the 4th quarter of 2024.

The Creative Destruction Lab Oxford (CDL-Oxford) is hosting a unique meeting featuring 30 promising space startups and Colonel Chris Hadfield, former commander of the International Space Station, to help put Europe at the forefront of space exploration. The event will hold from 6-8 March 2024 at the Saïd Business School. The unique meeting will consequently see CDL-Oxford bring together a global mentor community of astronauts, entrepreneurs, investors, and scientists. 

BlackSky Technology Inc. has won a multi-million dollar contract in support of the U.S. Department of Defense to collect and annotate thousands of BlackSky multi-frame burst images to train moving target artificial intelligence models for commercial motion imagery.

Iridium Communications Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire Satelles, Inc., a provider of satellite-based time and location services (STL) that complement and protect GPS and other GNSS-reliant systems. This acquisition continues Iridium's philosophy of investing in differentiating technologies uniquely suited to its network that significantly outperform competing solutions. STL will consequently become a new business line of Iridium, led by Satelles CEO Dr. Michael O'Connor, who will report to Iridium CEO Matt Desch. 

If the space-tech industry was lumbering towards the launchpad in January ($475m globally), then February was liftoff: space-tech startups raised a whopping $1.7b in funding in February.The month was bolstered by a massive $932m public-private investment into China’s Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), but also featured a $355m investment into RocketLabs (US) and a €85m investment into UnseenLabs (France). These megadeals join 30 smaller deals in a historically strong month for spacetech startups worldwide.

ispace Europe S.A. (ispace), the Luxembourg-based subsidiary of ispace, inc., and Control Data Systems SRL (CDS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) related to payload services and strategic cooperation on future lunar missions. The agreement aims to leverage ispace’s lunar transportation services and CDS’s advanced localization (position measurement) and telecommunications capabilities to promote further exploration of the lunar surface aimed at supporting long-term human habitation and infrastructure on the Moon.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc., an end-to-end space transportation Company, has opened a Rocket Ranch expansion in Briggs, Texas, more than doubling the size of its manufacturing facilities. The space transportation Company also added two new test stands and installed machinery to support the production of Northrop Grumman’s Antares 330 and the Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV) the companies are co-developing together.

The UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) has granted Rivada a license that enables the company to provide satellite communications services in Great Britain. This is as Rivada is launching a constellation of low-earth orbit satellites to provide government communications, maritime and aviation connectivity, enterprise networking and backhaul services for telecommunications networks.