North America

Kepler Communications raised $60 million to fund its satellite communications network, the company said. This Series B fundraising round was led by Tribe Capital and includes participation from existing investors like IA Ventures and Costanoa Ventures and new investors like Canaan Partners.

Sierra Space, a subsidiary of the aerospace and security group Sierra Nevada Corporation, announced a memorandum of understanding with Spaceport Cornwall in South-West England. The memorandum paves the way for sustained operations with UK’s horizontal launch spaceport at Cornwall Airport Newquay. The UK Space Agency is funding Sierra’s Dream Chaser concept.

During this week’s SpaceCafé, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Dr Cassandra Steer, a space law researcher from the Australian National University’s Institute of Space and College of Law. With an international (and intergalactic) academic career spanning two decades, Dr Steer specialises in space law, space security and international law,...

The 3D rocket printer Relativity Space raised another $650 million to fund its new fully reusable, entirely 3D-printed Terran R rocket. Relativity Space closed a $650 million Series E equity funding round led by Fidelity with participation from investors including Baillie Gifford, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Centricus, Coatue, K5 Global, Soroban Capital, ....

Space race between billionaires: “It looks like Richard Branson could beat fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos to space next month”, Parabolic Arc reported. Citing “a source who requested anonymity”, Parabolic Arc reported that Virgin Galactic is working on a plan to send Branson on a suborbital flight over the July 4 holiday weekend.

The launch company Astra wants to acquire Apollo Fusion for up to $145 million, the company said. Apollo Fusion manufactures electric propulsion engines. The acquisition allows Astra to provide launch and space services beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), to medium Earth orbit, geosynchronous, and lunar orbits, Astra said.

A space adventure for the Bezos brothers: Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of Blue Origin, wants to fly on New Shepard’s maiden crewed flight scheduled for 20 July, Bezos said. He invited his brother Mark to join, he said on Instagram. The first crewed New Shepard suborbital flight is planned

The U.S. Department of the Air Force (DAF) studies the use of large commercial rockets for military cargo missions. DAF’s fourth Vanguard program will focus on rocket cargo solutions and investigate the use of large commercial launchers for Pentagon logistics missions, DAF said.

The Venture Capital fund Seraphim prepares a flotation at the London Stock Exchange, Sky News reported. The “world's first dedicated space VC fund” is working with banks on plans for a London flotation”, Sky News said. An arm of Seraphim Capital is working with bankers on plans for a public share sale that could raise in the region of £250m, the news channel said.

The weather platform Climavision raised $100 million from TPG’s The Rise Fund, the fund announced. The San Francisco-based Rise Fund announced a $100 million strategic investment in Climavision, a pioneering weather services and intelligence platform powered by a private network of high-resolution radars, GPS-RO data, and proprietary software.