Europe

The UK Space Agency and Cornwall Council intend to make available up to £20 million for Spaceport Cornwall and US launch operator Virgin Orbit to develop facilities and operational capabilities that would enable small satellite launch from Cornwall in the early 2020s.

Grass SAT, an innovative, new grass management service has been launched by Rezatec, a geospatial data analytics company, to provide dairy farmers with automated daily updates of grass cover per paddock, and other features, to optimise grazing management decisions throughout the year.

In December 2018, GomSpace signed a development contract with ESA for the initiation of a new GOMX-5 satellite mission.

Airbus has been selected to deliver Inmarsat’s newest fleet of satellites as part of a long-term strategy to develop an agile, flexible, diverse and cost-effective constellation.

The EMEA Satellite Operators Associations (ESOA) and the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance have joined forces to strengthen their relationship and to foster a closer co-operation in the area of integration of satellite solutions in the 5G ecosystem.

EUTELSAT 7C, Eutelsat Communications’ newest high-power broadcast satellite, has arrived at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana where it will be launched as a co-passenger on an Ariane 5 rocket on 20 June.

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has released an image showing the successful deployment of the de-orbit drag sail on-board TechDemoSat-1. 

The first half of 2019 has already proven to be a worthy time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon. With China’s Chang'e-4 mission to the far side of the Moon in January and its proactive approach to create a permanent Moon Base, Israel’s private lunar mission in February – which has paved the way for commercial lunar missions, India’s very first mission to the south pole, expected to be launched in September, and NASA’s U.S.$2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Service program and the American ambitions to send humans back to the Moon by 2024, the Moon race is on.

Kleos Space S.A., the space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data provider, advises that the Kleos’ Scouting Mission-1 launch is confirmed for August 2019 on a Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle.

Kleos Space S.A., the space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data provider, has been granted the Luxembourg Government Concession to establish and operate a Luxembourg satellite system (Concession).