The European space start-up Pangea Aerospace said it raised €3 million to develop and test its low-cost, 3D printed and reusable aerospike rocket engine. The company founded in 2018 and based in Barcelona announced the completion of its Series Seed round of €3 million, bringing the total funding to more than €6 million, including public financing.
Read More »ArianeGroup develops reusable engine and light upper stage
Lighter, less expensive and reusable: the European Space Agency (ESA) signed two contracts with ArianeGroup to develop the reusable low-cost Prometheus engine and the lighter Ariane 6 upper stage called Phoebus. The contracts have a value of €135 million and €14.6 million respectively.
Read More »NASA invests $105 million in 127 high-tech hot shops
NASA invests more than $100 million in more than 100 American small high-tech businesses to “help them move their innovations to market”, the U.S. space agency said. Under its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, NASA grants 140 new awards to 127 small businesses located across 34 states and Washington, D.C., the agency said. The investment totals $105 million.
Read More »Rocket Lab’s 20th Electron fails and loses BlackSky payloads
After 17 successful launches, Rocket Lab’s 20th Electron mission ‘Running Out Of Toes’ failed, the company announced on Sunday. Following a successful lift-off, first stage burn, and stage separation, Rocket Lab experienced an anomaly, the company said. The issue occurred following second stage ignition, resulting in the loss of the mission, it said.
Read More »Axelspace funds five of its ten Earth observation satellites
Give me five: The Japanese Earth observation startup Axelspace raised $24 million to fund a half of its planned ten satellite constellation, the company announced. Axelspace said it completed its series C funding round raising $ 23.8 million; the round allocates new shares to The Space Frontier Fund and several other venture capitals and corporate investors.
Read More »China lands Tianwen-1 with Zhurong rover on Mars
A historic step: China landed a rover on Mars on Saturday, making it the second space-faring nation after the United States to land on the Red Planet, China’s state media and the worldwide media reported. The uncrewed Tianwen-1 spacecraft landed on a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia.
Read More »Register Today For Our Space Café Russia by Elina Morozova On 4 June 2021
This Space Café Russia will be hosted by Elina Morozova, Executive Director of the Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications and friend of SpaceWatch.Global in conversation with Dr Victor Strelets, a high caliber expert in the field of radio frequencies and satellite orbits
Read More »Register Today For Our Space Café “33 minutes with Prof. Thomas Schildknecht” On 1 June 2021
This Space Café WebTalk will feature Prof. Thomas Schildknecht, Director of Swiss Optical Ground Station and Geodynamics Observatory Zimmerwald and Vice-Director of Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern, Switzerland, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global.
Read More »Chinese Space Sector Continues World-Leading Post-Covid Rebound: Euroconsult Quarterly Report released
The Chinese space sector has seen rapid commercialisation over the past 7 years, with well over 100 companies established and around ¥40B (US$6.5B) raised by commercial space organisations. While still only representing a small percentage of the US$35B in annual revenues of the country’s state-owned space industry giants,
Read More »Register Today For Our Space Café Australia On 03 June 2021
This Space Café Australia will feature Dr Tim Parsons in conversation with Annie Handmer, a friend of SpaceWatch.Global. Mission to Planet Earth. Space is often framed as being outward-looking; about exploration, pushing boundaries, and crossing new frontiers.
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