North America

Paris, 16 April 2021. – A step into GEO: The San Francisco-based Astranis, a company that wants to offer satellite internet via small and light geostationary satellites, raised $250 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion, in a round led by BlackRock, RockAstranis CEO John Gedmark told CNBC. The new round brings Astranis’ total funding to more than $350 million since its founding in 2015, according to the business channel.

During this week’s Space Café episode, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening had the opportunity to speak with a former colleague – renowned space industry expert, President and Founder of Clarkebelt Space, Robert Feierbach. Having worked in space business development across Europe and the United States,

Paris, 14 April 2021. – Northrop Grumman and Intelsat succeeded with an in-orbit docking of a life extension module to one of Intelsat’s commercial satellites, the companies said. Northrop Grumman’s wholly-owned subsidiary, SpaceLogistics, successfully completed the docking of the Mission Extension Vehicle-2 to the Intelsat 10-02 commercial communications satellite.

Paris, 14 April 2021. - ArianeGroup will supply ultra-light Sprint antenna reflectors to Airbus for its OneSat satellite, the group said. The first Sprint reflectors will equip Inmarsat, Optus, Intelsat, and SKY Perfect JSAT satellites produced by Airbus, ArianeGroup said. ArianeGroup developed the latest generation of ultra-light Sprint antenna reflectors “in just two years”, the company says

Paris, 14 April 2021. – Indonesia adopts Iridium’s Push-to-Talk across the widespread country, Iridium said. The Republic of Indonesia’s government has adopted Iridium Push-to-Talk (PTT) devices and will deploy 500 Iridium PTT handsets to support communication efforts across the country, Iridium said.

Many of us were made aware of an alleged near-miss between two satellites in low earth orbit, one operated by SpaceX and the other by OneWeb. With the growing number of participants in the space domain, the issues of coordination and planning of space activities, as well as the development of common space operation practices, protocols, or norms of behavior are increasingly critical. 

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 25th episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast: Alice Gorman - Space Archaeologist and why Elon Musk will never call her back. Episode 025 features a special guest Alice Gorman. Alice Gorman has brought together astrophysics and archaeology to create the fascinating field of space archaeology. She talks about what exactly it is and why it could be crucial to the future of space travel in this fascinating episode of the Space Cafe Podcast.

Paris, 13 April 2021. – Looking for another hero: Space Hero, “the World‘s first ever global casting show” for a trip to the International Space Station (ISS), signed an agreement with NASA for a feasibility study of a such a mission, Space Hero said. The agreement was signed at a significant date in human history, Space Hero said, as April 12, 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin.

Paris, 13 April 2021. – The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded General Atomics, Blue Origin, and Lockheed Martin as prime contractors to demonstrate a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) system in 2025. The agency selected the industry team to design, develop and demonstrate a nuclear thermal propulsion system in space, above low Earth orbit, DARPA said.

by Blaine Curcio and Jean Deville As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Orbital Gateway Consulting we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “DFH Episode 8 – Chinese Space from a US Perspective (feat. Ian Christensen & Rob Ronci)", originally published 12 April 2021 here.