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A NASA team in Utah’s West Desert is in the final stages of preparing for the arrival of the first U.S. asteroid sample. A mock-up of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample capsule was dropped on Wednesday from an aircraft and landed at the drop zone at the Department of Defence’s Utah Test and Training Range in the desert outside Salt Lake City.

EnduroSat will partner with the University of Berkley and NASA in the Solar PolArization and Directivity X-Ray Experiment (PADRE). It is a NASA CubeSat mission designed to study the Sun. The X-ray polarimeter and Directivity sensor will be hosted on EnduroSat’s 12U satellite scheduled for launch in 2025. It will enable observation of the Sun in hard X-rays (HXRs) from LEO to determine the angular distribution of accelerated electrons from standalone and joint SOLO/STIX observations. 

Spire Global, a provider of space-based data, analytics, and space services, announced it was awarded a $4.6 million, 12-month contract by NASA reports Business Wire. The contract has been awarded on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The contract is to participate in NOAA’s Sounder for Microwave-Base Applications (SMBA) Phase A study. 

ReOrbit, a Helsinki-based provider of software-enabled satellites, has completed an oversubscribed Seed funding round for US $7.4M, led by Inventure VC alongside participation from 10xFounders, Icebreaker.vc, Expansion, and YesVC. ReOrbit provides real-time data flow in space and provides Earth Observation and SatCom operators with flight software, satellite platforms, and complete systems.

GITAI USA Inc. and GITAI Japan Inc. (GITAI) has raised an additional US$15 million for the Series B Extension round. Together with the US$30 million funding from May of this year, the total amount of the Series B Extension round is now US$45 million. The Company will leverage the additional funds it has raised in this round primarily to expand its business in the U.S., as well as establish partial coverage of the lunar surface demonstration.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Rider program has begun its validation and testing phase, as it prepares for its first flight in the third quarter of 2025. Space Rider is a reusable uncrewed robotic laboratory that will provide an end-to-end integrated space transportation system for commercial customers. When Space Rider has been launched into space it will spend two months in orbit whilst experiments and technology demonstrations take place before returning to Earth. 

The Board of Directors at Space Florida has selected U.S. Space Force Col. Robert Long to succeed Frank DiBello, as president and CEO of Space Florida. Before leading the agency, DiBello was president and CEO of Florida’s Aerospace Finance Corporation. The board, chaired by Lt. Gov. Jeannette Nunez, opted to move forward with contract negotiations with Col. Robert A. Long, one of three finalists to replace Frank DiBello.

In this compelling episode, host Markus delves deep with Alex Fielding, the co-founder of Privateer Space and tech industry veteran, exploring not just the future of space technology but its profound implications for social evolution, climate change, and the very fabric of our human experience. Set against the harrowing backdrop of the Hawaii wildfires, this conversation serves as a poignant and urgent reminder of the interconnected challenges we face. Get ready for a multi-faceted discussion that transcends the boundaries of science, touching the heart of ethical and existential dilemmas we can no longer afford to ignore.

Space in Africa, a media, consulting, and analytics company, has published the 2023 edition of its African Space Industry Report. The report projects the African space economy to grow by 16.16% to USD 22.64 billion by 2026, and with the remarkable spurt in the economy in 2022, the industry is on track to reach this target.

Japan Manned Space System Corporation (JAMSS) used an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Snowcone SSD onboard the International Space Station (ISS) to transmit large volumes of data from space into AWS.