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Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has announced it has signed a double-launch deal with NASA to deliver the Agency’s climate change research-focused mission, PREFIRE, to low Earth orbit in 2024.  The launches will consequently be the 7th and 8th missions Rocket Lab has launched for NASA since 2018.

Spire Global, provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, announced on the 9th of August that it was awarded a $6.5 million, 12-month contract renewal to continue participation in NASA’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program. The contract represents a $500,000 increase from the previous award of $6 million in June 2022. Spire will continue to deliver its comprehensive catalogue of Earth observation data, associated metadata and ancillary information from its fully deployed satellite constellation to NASA.

Orbex, the UK-based spaceflight company, has announced the appointment of Lesley Still as its new Chief of Spaceport Operations. This key appointment comes as Orbex advances its preparations for the UK mainland's inaugural vertical rocket launch.

The UK Space Agency announced on the 10th of August a partnership between Britain’s Pulsar Fusion and the University of Michigan. The trans-Atlantic project will develop an international relationship concerning electric propulsion research with the USA. This collaboration will develop a relationship with the Plasma dynamics and Electric Propulsion Lab at the University of Michigan alongside Hall thruster companies: Electric propulsion and Hall effect thrusters are a key technology enabler for spacecraft.Pulsar Fusion (UK) and Starlight Engines (US), and the University of Southampton. 

The first companies have joined ScaleUp Invest, a new ESA commercialisation programme, which aims at accelerating the growth of the private space ecosystem. The companies in order of acceptance are: Isar Aerospace, Rocket Factory Augsburg, Orbex, Aerospacelab, and Space Cargo Unlimited. ScaleUp will support NewSpace developments by stimulating companies to take more risks, hit the market faster, attract private and institutional investors, and introduce game-changing business innovation by providing external support to business development. This could include technical consultancy, access to facilities, in-orbit demonstration and validation opportunities.  

Axiom Space, a Houston-based space infrastructure developer, and Poland, with support from ESA have signed an agreement to send an ESA astronaut to space on a future Axiom space mission. The mission and name of the Polish astronaut will be officially announced at a later date, following approval by NASA and its international partners. In April 2023, Axiom Space and the Swedish National Space Agency signed a letter of intent to send an ESA astronaut to the ISS. Through this agreement, the upcoming Axiom Space mission, Ax-3 expected to launch in January 2024, will be the first commercial mission to the ISS to include an ESA project astronaut. 

Michèle Flournoy, former U.S. Under Secretary of Defense, has joined the Board of Directors of Rivada Networks, Inc. Flournoy was Under Secretary of Defense for Policy during Barack Obama’s first term, serving as principle adviser to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. I

OneWeb has announced that it signed a distribution partnership agreement with IP Access International to deliver high-speed, low-latency broadband connectivity across the United States. Under this partnership, IP Access International will seamlessly blend OneWeb’s satellite services with all major terrestrial cellular providers in the U.S., providing resilient mobile communications through a single service plan and support center.

Anzen Engineering, a Spanish aerospace engineering company announced on the 11th of August that it will participate in the ARIEL mission (Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey). It will carry out different safety and reliability engineering works in collaboration with Airbus Defence and Space, for its end consumer ESA. 

ARQUIMEA and Aerospacelab have announced the signature of a collaboration agreement at the 37th edition of the Small Satellite Conference at Utah State University. The new co-developed satellite will highlight optimized reliability and power management. Furthermore, it will deliver 1.5 kW of peak power and will be able to integrate payloads of 40 kg (~90 pounds). The satellite performance will also meet the demand for LEO missions, such as telecommunications constellations, synthetic aperture radar, Earth observation, and other applications requiring high reliability and onboard satellite processing capabilities.