North America

The space SPAC market took a breather in April, with no announced transactions, but we did have a traditional IPO (remember those?) by MDA in Canada. SpaceX and OneWeb also helped pick up the slack and together raised more money than last month’s three SPAC transactions combined, without even counting Astranis’s US$250 million round.

Following complaints by competitors, the U.S. space agency NASA suspended SpaceX’s work on the Human Landing System (HLS). Pursuant to protests of Blue Origin and Dynetics to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), NASA “instructed SpaceX that progress on the HLS contract has been suspended”, NASA said.

Luxembourg, 3 May 2021. – Brazil will launch on Virgin Orbit, the company announced. The Brazilian Space Agency (Agência Espacial Brasileira; AEB) and the Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira, FAB) selected Virgin Orbit “to bring orbital launch capability to Brazil, a country which has never successfully completed a domestic launch to orbit”, the company said.

This is without a doubt the best fundraising moment in history for space startups. Many experts believe that all companies will become space companies, the same way all companies are now tech companies. In 2019, a company called PitchBook published an article entitled

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 26th episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast: Torsten Kriening - Mastermind behind one of the fastest growing space industry news outlets. Episode 026 features a special guest Torsten Kriening. Torsten Kriening is your point of contact when you need information about whoever you want in the space industry.

China has successfully launched the core element of its new space station, officials and media reported. The 16.6 meters long core called Tianhe (which means “harmony of the heavens”) was successfully deployed in low Earth orbit. It is the core element of China's T-shaped new space station.

A 100 day track record: “In just the first 100 days of their administration, President Biden and Vice President Harris have expressed strong support for NASA’s goals and missions – and have laid out a vision that will guide the agency for the years to come,” said acting NASA Chief of Staff Bhavya Lal.

Luxembourg, 28 April 2021. – Eutelsat invests in OneWeb and acquires a 24% stake for $550 million, “becoming a leading shareholder of the company alongside the UK Government and Bharti Global”, Eutelsat announced. OneWeb will operate 648 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), offering “significant” regional coverage by the end of 2021 and global coverage in 2022, Eutelsat said.

Luxembourg, 28 April 2021. – The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in the U.S. accepted to modify SpaceX’s Starlink license in the low Earth orbit (LEO), the commission said. Subject to a couple of conditions, the FCC granted SpaceX to change the primary operational altitude for 2814 satellites from the original 1100 to 1300 kilometer range to the new 540 to 570 kilometer range.

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Laura Seward Forczyk, owner of space consulting firm Astralytical, Atlanta, USA, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global. My Ticket to Space! This Space Café will focus on the status of commercial human spaceflight. We will try to answer questions on suborbital vs orbital flight or commercial space stations.