North America

Simon van den Dries is the General Manager at Spire Maritime. Spire is a space-to-cloud data and analytics company that specializes in the reaching of global data sets powered by a large constellation of nanosatellites. This past week, space-interested students Bano Barzingi and Chiara Moenter, sat down with Simon to discuss his work at Spire, as well as the factors of space sustainability trends

Thales Alenia Space will provide the optical intersatellite links for Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation. As prime contractor for the construction of Telesat’s new LEO constellation, it will provide its Swiss Optel-C product to connect the 298 satellites, the company said.

The electric propulsion producer Phase Four closed a $26 million Series B investment round, pushing ahead with the development of its plasma propulsion engine Maxwell, the Californian startup said. The round was led by the venture capital firm New Science Ventures, Phase Four said.

The G7 nations committed to a safe and sustainable use of space at their leaders’ summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, the UK government said. Delegates from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the USA, the UK and the EU pledged to take action to tackle the growing hazard of space debris as our planet’s orbit becomes increasingly crowded, the UK said.

Blue Origin sold a seat on its first human spaceflight in July for $28 million, the company said. Jeff Bezos’ space venture auctioned off a seat for $28 million on its first crewed spaceflight scheduled on July 20, it said; the winning bidder will fly to space with the Amazon founder and his brother Mark on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

Virgin Orbit is close to merging with a SPAC, valuing Richard Branson’s company at $3 billion, Sky News reported. Virgin Orbit is close to finalising a deal to combine with NextGen Acquisition II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) set up by George Mattson, a former Goldman Sachs banker, Sky News reported.

This Thursday’s Space Café "Moriba’s Vox Populi" was hosted by University of Texas academic Associate Professor Moriba Jah, an American astrodynamicist, space scientist and aerospace engineer known for his work in spacecraft navigation, space sustainability and space situational awareness.

ESA goes to Venus with EnVision, the European Space Agency said. The mission was selected by ESA’s Science Programme Committee as the fifth Medium-class mission in the Agency’s Cosmic Vision plan, targeting a launch in the early 2030s, ESA said. EnVision follows ESA’s Venus Express (2005-2014)

Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) will support and service Intuitive Machines (IM) for all its Moon missions, the company announced. KSAT has entered a long-term agreement with IM to support every stage of IM’s missions to the Moon, from launch and early operations, through transit, including lunar operations, KSAT said. IM will use KSAT services for its 2022 IM-1 mission.

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.