News

Welcome to our special reports from a special space event: the inaugural Space for Island Nations Conference, held here at the Maldives, in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Starting tomorrow, we will look at how space benefits the people of the world's island nations. Space supports these often vulnerable parts of the world in their fight against the effects of climate change. Space also provides opportunities for these nations, to develop a space economy and reap the new benefits that the new space economy can offer to students, entrepreneurs and businesses alike. The #SINC2023 conference provides a unique, new angle to space. Follow us this week to find out what this means.

CisLunar Industries has received a patent for its Space Foundry from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on April 25, 2023, under the number 11,634,241. As a result, the patent grants CisLunar Industries the exclusive rights to use and license the technology covered by the patent for a period of 19 years

Voyager has announced three executive appointments as the Company aims to continue growing its team. The new appointments include Phil De Sousa as Chief Financial Officer, Abby Dickes as Chief Marketing Officer, and Ashley Donlon as Chief Human Resources Officer. 

The JUICE (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany, along with partners in science and industry, is still working on the JUICE spacecraft as its ice-penetrating Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) antenna has not deployed as expected. This is as an issue arose with the 16-meter-long RIME antenna, preventing it from releasing from its mounting bracket.

Terran Orbital Corporation has announced the receipt of a further milestone payment alongside the completion of the screening of the industrial partners as well as trade studies that will support the acquisition process and system engineering for the Company’s 300 spacecraft, $2.4 billion contract with Rivada Space Networks.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced the general availability of Wideband Digital Intermediate Frequency (DigIF) for satellite operators using Software Defined Radios (SDRs) with AWS Ground Station. With Wideband DigIF, satellite operators can use an SDR of their choice to perform demodulation and decoding of data in their Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), resulting in more control and flexibility of downlink data.

AALTO HAPS, manufacturer and operator of Zephyr, the solar-powered High Altitude Platform Station set to enter commercial service in 2024, has appointed Hassan Kabbani as its Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

ICEYE has announced the Beta release of its Wildfire Insights product, the ICEYE Wildfire Insights. It provides building-level impact data for a wildfire event in near real-time based on satellite imagery and a combination of advanced analytics and machine learning. Furthermore, the product captures data for any wildfire that impacts communities throughout the United States. As part of the Beta phase, ICEYE will also invite select insurers to participate in the final testing of the product functionality prior to the planned General Availability release in Q3 2023.

Hydrosat has announced $20 million in new funding, including a $15M Series A round and more than $5M in non-dilutive funding. The funding will enable the Company to grow and develop its constellation of satellites and analytics to measure water stress and climate impact. Statkraft Ventures led the latest round of funding, and it included new investors Blue Bear Capital and Hartree Partners. All three firms have an interest in climate tech. 

Virgin Galactic has announced a successful suborbital test of the VSS Unity spaceplane and will begin rocket-powered spaceflight tests in the coming months. The Spaceplane completed its final glide test during a flight in New Mexico. During the test, VMS Eve took off from Spaceport America with Unity between its twin fuselages at 12:35 UTC. After reaching an altitude of 47,000 feet (14.3 kilometers), Eve released Unity at 13:47 UTC, with the spaceplane subsequently gliding back to the runway in New Mexico, testing modifications to the spacecraft's flight controls and handling.