News

Launch and space systems company Rocket Lab USA, has announced that it will attempt a mid-air helicopter capture of the Electron launch vehicle for the first time during its next launch, a commercial rideshare mission scheduled for 19th April with a 14-day launch window.

U.S. Space Command and the United Kingdom Space Command signed a Memorandum of Understanding concerning Enhanced Space Cooperation (ESC MoU). The agreement was signed at the 37th Space Symposium by U.S. Army Gen. James Dickinson, USSPACECOM Commander, and Royal Air Force Air Vice-Marshal Paul Godfrey, Commander of UKSpaceCom.

Space4Impact, EPFL’s Space Center eSpace, E2MC Ventures, and Space Innovation joined forces to launch an online course on the New Space Economy. The program is available on edX as a free EPFLx course. Learners can watch more than 30 video lectures by space experts from various domains within startups, academia, the private sector, and public institutions in Switzerland.

Digital transformation company Atos, and the European multi-national space technology company OHB, have been awarded a contract by the German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support to supply the "Space Situational Awareness Center Expansion Stage 1" to the German Federal Armed Forces. 

After an earlier issue with delays of gaseous nitrogen supply required for tanking preparations and resolving an issue with malfunctioning fans that caused the first wet dress rehearsal to come to a halt, the second attempt had to be cancelled halfway through as well. The Artemis I team ended Monday's attempt after partially loading liquid oxygen into the Space Launch System’s core stage tank.

Amazon announced it signed launch service contracts with three commercial launch companies, ArianeSpace, Blue Origin and ULA (United Launch Alliance) for 83 launches altogether over a five year period.  Arianespace will perform 18 Ariane 6 launches for Amazon’s Project Kuiper over a period of three years under the contract.

Lockheed Martin has released an open-source, non-proprietary interface to help standardize on-orbit docking. The company published the Mission Augmentation Port (MAP) interface standard online to support industry approaches to on-orbit servicing and mission augmentation, Lockheed said.

Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) has signed a £22 million contract with Defence Equipment and Support on behalf of UK Space Command for a 150 kg satellite based on SSTL’s Carbonite+, SSTL said. The project is named TYCHE and it is the first satellite procurement for the MINERVA programme.

On the 31st of March Space Cafè GBA - China re-opened its doors, this time with a new format. Blaine Curcio, Senior Space Consultant and Space Tech expert from Euroconsult based in Hong Kong is back in the show, this time on the guest chair. During the 45 minutes live interview with co-hosts Torsten Kriening and Dr. Emma Gatti,

Polaris has secured a pre-series-A investment from the newly created Polaris Space Ventures (PSV) investment company, Polaris said. The investment enables the firm to increase the number of employees, as well as enlarge company facilities, and to prepare for rapid upscaling.