News

Leaf Space, a ground segment service provider, is adding three stations to its global Leaf Line Network, the company based in Washington, D.C., said. The new stations will be installed in Sri Lanka, the Azores and Scotland, the company said, "enhancing Leaf Space’s capability to provide solutions and services to its growing list of customers".

The smallsat manufacturer LeoStella delivered its first satellite to Loft Orbital Solutions, a payload service company, for a rideshare launch on Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, the company said. LeoStella delivered the “Yet Another Mission-3” (YAM-3) satellite, the company said.

Airbus will continue to provide the UK Royal Navy with satellite-based maritime surveillance services, the company said. The UK Royal Navy has awarded a 12-month contract extension to Airbus covering the continued provision of satellite-based maritime surveillance services for the Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC), Airbus said.

Paris, 28 June 2021. – Virgin Galactic obtained a license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to allow it to fly customers to space, the company said. The FAA expanded Virgin Galactic’s license as a commercial space transportation operator to allow it to carry people – or ”space flight participants”, as it said. 

Paris, 28 June 2021. – NASA proceeds to repair the computer on board the Hubble Space Telescope, the U.S. agency said, but was not able, so far, the reboot the backup computer. NASA is continuing to diagnose a problem with the payload computer on the Hubble Space Telescope, the agency said, after completing another set of tests on June 23 and 24. 

In this week’s Space Café Brazil, Ian Grosner talked with Andre Rypl, his career as a Brazilian diplomat and gave some advice to the students who want to pursue this post at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He talked about his first contact with the space sector and his first meeting at the Legal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).  

Connecting sensors and soldiers: the U.S. Army has contracted Iridium to develop a smallsat GPS payload, the company said. The contract is worth up to $30 million. Iridium will develop a smallsat payload that supports navigation and GPS systems for the army, Iridium said.

Swissto12 and SatixFy cooperate to develop and sell telecom payloads for satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geostationary Orbit (GEO), the companies said. SatixFy contributes its software defined, high bandwidth product portfolio; Swissto12 contributes its active antenna technology that leverages 3D printing.

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 30th episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast: Yvette Hopkins, Shetland Space Center. Episode 030 features a special guest Yvette Hopkins. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a little north of Scotland, there is a small island that you can cross by car in just two and a half hours.

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Joint Air Power Competence Centre, we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Looking for a Few Good Operators: Oppurtunnities for Space Force to Fulfil the Women, Peace and Security agenda” by Dr Kyleanne Hunter, originally published on the Joint Air Power Competence Centre website.