News

Axiom Space has announced that it secured $350 million in its Series-C round of growth funding, lifting the total funds it raised to over $505 million from investors and achieving more than $2.2 billion in customer contracts. Aljazira Capital and Boryung Co., Ltd. led the round, with support from various backers, including deep-tech venture capital funds and strategic brand partners. .

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has announced that it signed a deal to launch an Earth observation satellite on Electron for the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS), a Japan-based Earth imaging company. The mission will tentatively lift off in September 2023 and will carry iQPS’s QPS-SAR-5 satellite "TSUKUYOMI-I" into orbit. Furthermore, it will be a dedicated Electron mission and launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. iQPS named the mission "The Moon God Awakens" in acknowledgement of Tsukuyomi, the Japanese God of the Moon.

In this  Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Maxime Puteaux, Principal Advisor at Euroconsult in Paris, about 40 years of Euroconsult, current market trends, and the forthcoming World Satellite Business Week in September 2023. Space Café Radio brings you talks, interviews, and reports from the team of SpaceWatchers while out on the road. Each episode has a specific topic, unique content, and a personal touch. Enjoy the show,

The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) is ready to launch on 26 August 2023 to observe the most energetic objects and events in the cosmos. In doing so, it will unveil the evolution of the Universe and the structure of spacetime. XRISM will tentatively launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 09:34 JST / 01:34 BST / 02:34 CEST. The mission is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, with significant participation from ESA. In return for providing hardware and scientific advice, ESA will also receive 8% of XRISM’s available observing time.

Russia’s State Space Corporation, Roscosmos, has announced that the Luna-25 automatic lunar station collided with the moon's surface and subsequently perished. The agency pointed out that on August 19 that the lunar probe would have received propulsion thrust to descend into its landing trajectory on the Moon's elliptical orbit. However, the Agency lost contact with the probe "at about 2:57 p.m. Decree time." The Russian space agency disclosed that all measures regarding the spacecraft's location and establishing communications with it on August 19 and 20 yielded zero results.

Nature data specialist Space Intelligence will map two African nations to support integrity and transparency in the carbon markets. The maps for Kenya and Tanzania will help to provide a baseline for all Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) projects which aim to stop unplanned deforestation in the countries. Furthermore, the standards agency, Verra, will approve the maps. To ensure accuracy and validity, the maps will comprise two levels of data: a set of Forest Cover Benchmark Maps covering 2010-2020 and point-based Activity Data showing the precise location of deforestation.

Greetings, SpaceWatchers, and welcome to Summer Listening Week Three! Summer is upon us, and as our gaze shifts towards the stars during those warm, clear nights, SpaceWatch.Global brings you its third collection or the Summer Listening Series. Based on the vote by our newsroom, we have mapped out an interstellar journey across five categories. After the Moon, Climate, Space and Earth this week is the turn of  “Trendsetters in the Space Sector.”

As reviewed in Part 3, LambdaVision, based in Farmington, Connecticut, USA, was founded in 2009 by its President and CEO Dr. Nicole Wagner and co-founder chemist Jordan Greco. Dr. Robert Birge, distinguished chair in chemistry at the University of Connecticut, a renowned expert in the incorporation of light-activated proteins into biomolecular electronic and therapeutic applications, is a Member of the Board of Directors of the company.

Telesat, a Canadian satellite communications company, announced on the 11th of August that MDA Ltd., a space technology company, will build 198 advanced satellites for the Telesat Lightspeed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) program. Telesat also announced that Telesat Lightspeed is now fully funded through global service delivery, by the company’s own equity contribution, certain vendor funding, and aggregate funding commitments from its Canadian federal and provincial government partners. 

Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) has signed a multi-year, multi-launch contract with INNOSPACE for orbital launches from the Australian spaceport. The agreement will consequently see the launch of several INNOSPACE rocket variants, each carrying between 50kg and 500kg payloads into low earth orbit from the Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) across five years until Dec 2028. ELA believes the signing of this contract has validated its business concept and development plans by securing INNOSPACE as the first commercial company to become a ‘resident launcher’ (long-term tenant and regular launcher) at the Australian spaceport.