North America

Xplore Inc., a commercial space company providing Space as a Service TM today announced on 3 June 2020 that space industry leader Dylan Taylor plans to reserve payload space on Xplore's first mission beyond Earth orbit.

NASA has finalized the contract for the initial crew module of the agency’s Gateway lunar orbiting outpost.

Telesat, a leading global satellite operator, and Telefónica International Wholesale Services (TIWS), the international wholesale services provider of the Telefónica Group, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, have completed live in-orbit testing across a wide range of applications on Telesat’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Phase 1 satellite.

Momentus, provider of in-space transportation services for satellites, and OrbAstro, a UK company focused on developing the technology to enable tiny satellites to operate in large flocks, announced on 4 June 2020 a launch contract to fly a 3U to SSO onboard the SpaceX Dedicated rideshare mission in 2021.

The heads of the space agencies from the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, and the European Space Agency (ESA) are scheduled to meet on 9 June 2020 via video conference in order to discuss cooperation on lunar exploration and the International Space Station (ISS).

The COVID 19 pandemic has ripped apart all sectors of the world’s societal fabric and rendered economies to a state of paralysis. Multilateral space diplomacy has not been immune to this chaos.

Astroscale U.S. Inc., the US unit of Astroscale Holdings Inc., a market leader in securing long-term orbital sustainability, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the intellectual property and other assets and to hire certain members of the staff of Effective Space Solutions R&D Ltd. (ESS), an Israeli satellite life-extension and servicing company.

NASA has selected Astrobotic for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II award to continue its development of UltraNav, a low-cost, autonomous, visual navigation system for spacecraft. The system has wide-ranging applications, from the servicing of Earth satellites to journeys to challenging space destinations such as the lunar poles or Martian mountains.

MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) announced on 2 June 2020 that retired astronaut Tim Kopra will join its leadership team as Vice President of Robotics and Space Operations, effective immediately. As the leader for this business area, he will be responsible for the work of the robotics and space operations teams at MDA sites in Brampton, Ottawa, Saint-Hubert and Houston.

The rapidly growing New Space startup company Rhea Space Activity (RSA),  has been tapped by the United States Air Force (USAF) to develop a telescopic mirror that can be built and deployed in Earth's orbit, thus eliminating the need to launch detection equipment from the Earth's surface, potentially saving millions in taxpayer dollars.