North America

On 6 April 2020, US President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) on Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources. This order addresses US policy regarding the recovery and use of resources in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies. Today SpaceWatch.Global publishes the …

Spire Global, a global data service provider and leader AIS data solutions and weather forecasting, announced today the year-over-year results for its maritime business unit. Spire Maritime expanded into Asia and celebrated a four-fold increase in bookings in 2019. It continued to build on its successes after launching in January …

Firefly Aerospace, Inc., a leading provider of economical and dependable launch vehicles, spacecraft, and in-space services, and Spaceflight Inc., the leading launch services and mission management provider, announced on 22 April 2020 that they have signed a Launch Services Agreement (LSA). The agreement confirms that Spaceflight will secure the majority …

SpaceX launched its seventh batch of 60 Starlink communications satellites on board one of its Falcon 9 satellite launch vehicles on 22 April 2020. The launch took place at 3:30pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, United States. The launch vehicle successfully released …

The Space Foundation is seeking nominations for induction into the prestigious Space Technology Hall of Fame® in 2021. This international program honors innovations by organizations and individuals who transform space technology into commercial April 20, 2020 products that improve life on Earth. The Space Technology Hall of Fame recognizes the …

A consortium of Norwegian and Dutch research centres announced on 20 April 2020 hat it has selected satellite integrator NanoAvionics to build two nanosatellites, ‘Birkeland’ and ‘Huygens’. The purchase order is part of a military use of space (MilSpace) project under a bilateral strategic mutual assistance in research and technology …

This week’s Space Café WebTalk took place on 21 April 2020, featuring Dr. Brian Weeden, Director of Program Planning for Secure World Foundation in conversation with Torsten Kriening, co-publisher of SpaceWatch.Global and COO of ThorGroup GmbH.

Ball Aerospace conducted a critical design review (CDR) of the Weather System Follow-on (WSF) satellite mission, which it is building for the U.S. Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC). With CDR concluded, Ball Aerospace begins full production of the satellite.

Magellan Aerospace Corporation announced on 16 April 2020 that it would provide Black Brant sounding rocket motors to The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. or “DLR”) estimated to generate revenue of up to US$9.4 million over the term of the agreement

The Space Dynamics Laboratory announced on 15 April 2020 that satellite operators are flying NASA spacecraft from their homes to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.