North America

PickNik Robotics, a robotics software and engineering service company, has won a SpaceWERX contract to work on robotics for the US Space Force. The company recently won a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract for continued work on supervised autonomy for space robotics, as well as a Colorado Advanced Industries Accelerator (AIA) grant for space robotics

Firefly Aerospace, a launch, spacecraft, and in-space services company, has announced the addition of Chris Emerson, a seasoned industry leader with decades of aerospace expertise, to the Company’s Board of Directors, effective immediately

The US Space Command (Spacecom) tracks over 47,000 objects in space currently, which responsibility is planned to be transferred to the Department of Commerce, the US Department of Defence said. The transfer of responsibility will allow Spacecom to focus on what is happening in Earth’s orbits.

Space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) and Mission-as-a-Service (MaaS) provider Kleos Space, has been awarded a contract from the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) as part of the Strategic Commercial Enhancements Broad Agency Announcement (SCE BAA) Framework, Kleos said.

In this Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global Editor in chief Emma Gatti spoke with Anousheh Ansari, the CEO of the XPRIZE Foundation,  the first astronaut of Iranian descent in space, first Muslim woman in space, and one of the first private astronauts to go to space as well. Emma sat down with Anousheh at this years  4th Secure World Foundation Summit for Space Sustainability to discuss the goals of her foundation, the new frontiers she is trying to break to help humanity to thrive, and the deep meaning of Space exploration for all. 

Our Space Café WebTalk “33 minutes with Dennis Stone about the World Space Week 2022: An insight into space and sustainability” took place on Tuesday, 4th October. Dennis is a volunteer president of the World Space Week Association, the global coordinator of the UN-declared World Space Week

Zimbabwe and Uganda are preparing to launch their respective first satellites into space on 6 November 2022. The satellites, ZimSat-1, and PearlAfricaSat-1 are launching into space as part of the BIRDS-5 constellation which also includes a 2U CubeSat from Japan

Laser communications products provider Mynaric, has been chosen to provide Northrop Grumman with optical communications terminals for 14 satellites as part of the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 1 Tracking Layer program, Mynarix said. 

Astra, an American launch vehicle company, is celebrating cumulative committed orders for more than 200 engines and two complete programs of Astra Spacecraft Engines, already delivered.

Software-as-a-service provider Kayhan Space, along with partners Astroscale US and the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin), has won a US Space Force award to develop an intelligent platform that autonomously enables spacecraft to safely engage with on-orbit support vehicles for services such as refueling, maintenance, debris removal and national security. Kayhan Space said.