India

August 2020 sure proved that a lot of private capital can flow into the space sector, with a total of US$2.2 billion. Sure, SpaceX represented over 80% of this total – the company’s latest filing shows $1.9 billion raised of a potential total of $2.066 billion – but even without it, the sector total would have come to almost $400 million, distributed across geographies and subsectors.

Russia’s company Glavkosmos (an affiliate of Roscosmos corporation) has handed over to Indian customers the results of its research into the possibility of using Russian flight equipment on India’s crewed spacecraft Gaganyan, Glavkosmos CEO Dmitry Loskutov told TASS on the sidelines of the forum Army-2020.

Indian space-technology startup Pixxel said on Wednesday it has raised $5 million in seed round led by Blume Ventures, growX ventures and Lightspeed India.

Momentus , provider of in-space transportation services for satellites, and Astrogate Labs, a space technology startup from Bengaluru, developing optical communication terminals and a ground network for smallsats, announced a launch service agreement for a 3U satellite to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), to be launched in December 2021 on the second Vigoride commercial mission, as well as a 6U option.

During recent dinner table discussions around the tear down of historic statues, I found myself to have an unusual pragmatic view: History is to be captured in books, detailing both its glory and its gruesomeness.

As orbital traffic continues to expand and flourish, on-orbit sustainability efforts must also evolve. On-Orbit Servicing (OOS) possesses the power to renovate degrading space assets and advance space sustainability through in-space manufacturing, orbit modification, refurbishment, and resource replenishment.

OneWeb, the communications company whose mission is to bring connectivity to governments, businesses, and people everywhere, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with a consortium led by HMG (through the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy) and Bharti Global Limited (“Bharti”) for the acquisition of the OneWeb business in connection with its court-supervised sale process.

In this week's Space Cafe Web Talk Dr. Raji Rajagopalan discussed how India’s approach to outer space has changed over the last decade and how it is now driven increasingly by national security concerns.

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the third episode in our new podcast series, The Space Cafe Podcast.

The Indian finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced on 16 May 2020 that the Indian government will enact all necessary measures to create a level playing field for the private sector to take part in all Indian space activities.