ISU MSS 2024

Asia Pacific

Malaysia Airlines Selects Viasat for In-Flight Experience

Viasat

Viasat Inc. has announced that Malaysia Airlines, the national carrier of Malaysia, has selected the company to outfit the airline’s new Boeing 737-8 fleet with its wireless In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system. In the pipeline, as part of its connectivity strategy, Malaysia Airlines will also introduce high-quality internet connectivity on its 737-8 aircraft.

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Rocket Lab Signs Dedicated Launch Deal with iQPS

Electron lifts off from Launch Complex 1 for the 'rocket like a hurricane' launch for TROPICS constellation. Credit Rocket Lab

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.

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XRISM to Launch on Saturday From Japan

XRISM

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.

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ELA Signs Multi-Launch Contract With INNOSPACE

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.

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SpeQtral selects Kongsberg NanoAvionics and Mbryonics

SpeQtral, a leading quantum communication technology company, has chosen Kongsberg NanoAvionics (NanoAvionics) as the satellite bus provider for its upcoming SpeQtral-1 mission. Furthermore, the mission also has a second partner in Mbryonics, producing the satellite’s optical terminal. Using the technical expertise of NanoAvionics as a leading smallsat bus manufacturer and mission integrator and Mbryonics’s state-of-the-art optical terminal hardware, SpeQtral-1 aims to serve as a pathfinder commercial demonstrator, defining future quantum key distribution (QKD) services.

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Worldwide space partnerships to boost UK innovation

International Bilateral Fund image. Credit UK Space Agency

The UK Space Agency announced on the 8th of August the recipients to receive the first phase of its £20 million International Bilateral Fund investments. These investments are intended to help UK organisations to link up with the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, Singapore, South Africa and form collaborations that will progress space research and investment in new technologies. The International Bilateral Fund is the Agency’s first fund dedicated to building and strengthening international relationships to help advance the UK’s goals in space. Some projects will focus on enhancing relationships to unlock future economic opportunities for the UK, and others will focus directly on science missions and technologies with strong commercial potential. 

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Rocket Lab to Launch Climate Change Research Mission

Electron lifts off from Launch Complex 1 for the 'rocket like a hurricane' launch for TROPICS constellation. Credit Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has announced it has signed a double-launch deal with NASA to deliver the Agency’s climate change research-focused mission, PREFIRE, to low Earth orbit in 2024.  The launches will consequently be the 7th and 8th missions Rocket Lab has launched for NASA since 2018.

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#SpaceWatchGL Summer Listening Series: Week Two – Climate, Space and Earth

Summer is upon us, and as our gaze shifts towards the stars during those warm, clear nights, SpaceWatch.Global brings you its second collection or the Summer Listening Series. Based on the vote by our newsroom, we have mapped out an interstellar journey across five categories. This week we are starting with “Climate, Space and Earth.”

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RIKEN and others collaborate to launch NinjaSat X-ray observatory 

RIKEN, Japan’s largest research institution, Mitsui Bussan Aerospace, and Kongsberg NanoAvionics announced on the 7th of August their collaboration on the NinjaSat1 X-ray observation mission. The aim of this two-year mission in low Earth orbit (LEO) is to observe X-ray photons from bright X-ray objects in the universe. The NinjaSat team intends to observe black holes and neutron stars that brighten suddenly in X-rays and coordinate with on-ground optical observatories to study how matter accretes to these compact objects. 

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Warpspace Selected for NEDO’s “SBIR Program” for FY2023

Warpspace

Warpspace has announced that the National Research and Development Agency New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) has accepted its proposal, "Development of a modem and router to realize a multi-protocol platform for optical communications in space,"  for the Japanese "SBIR Program" (one-stop-shop type) for fiscal year 2023.

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