Entrepreneurship

In a bid for Europe, through the European Space Agency (ESA), to significantly increase its autonomy in human and robotic space exploration, a 12-person High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) has presented an independent report on the state of European space exploration to the 315th session of the ESA Council at ESA Headquarters in Paris on 23 March 2023. The HLAG, which includes leaders across industry, Government, academia and civil society, came about in the summer of 2022 at the request of ESA’s Council.

Heron AirBridge has announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to join Inmarsat's Velaris Partner Network (VPN) to collaboratively develop regulatory and operational frameworks and technologies for the safe management of drones in urban environments and complex airspaces. The parties signed the MoU during Drone Asia 2023 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center. Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Transport, Sustainability and the Environment, also attended the signing event as the Guest of Honour.

ANYWAVES, the European equipment manufacturer announced on the 23rd of March that they have signed a contract with Maxar Technologies, an American company specialising in manufacture of telecommunication, Earth observation and other related services. 

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded six study contracts for commercial hyperspectral imagery (HSI). Companies receiving awards under NRO’s Strategic Commercial Enhancement’s (SCE) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Framework, include BlackSky Technology, HyperSat, Orbital Sidekick, Pixxel, Planet, and Xplore.

In light of Virgin Orbit's pause operations amidst financial uncertainties, the Launch Company will partly resume operations after nearing a $200 million deal with Venture capital firm Matthew Brown Companies. According to Reuters, the Texas-based company will prevent Virgin Orbit's rocket from bankruptcy via a private share placement. 

mu Space has reached an exclusive deal with OneWeb to provide Low Earth Orbit (LEO) connectivity solutions across mainland Southeast Asia including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Malaysia this year. The deal aims to provide internet connectivity to underserved remote areas. With mu Space being a player in Mainland Southeast Asia's aerospace industry, the company intends to provide satellite internet connectivity to remote areas for both commercial and civil governmental use.

In this  Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Victor Danchev, Chief Technical Officer at Endurosat, about the Toliman mission, together with the University Of Syndey and the Breakthrough Initiatives

This Space Café Israel will feature Arie Halsband , Senior Advisor at Astroscale, in conversation with Meidad Pariente, correspondent of SpaceWatch.Global for Israel. Moving from the the classical space industry to New Space.

E-Space has received Nigerian landing rights for E-Space’s impending low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation from the Nigerian Communications Commission. The E-Space satellite system will provide communications services and connect Internet of Things (IoT) devices throughout Nigeria in many of the hardest-to-reach parts of the country, particularly those areas currently unserved by terrestrial providers.

The Satcoms Innovation Group (SIG) has announced the winners of the 2023 SIG Awards. The awards celebrate the standout innovative technologies and solutions from individuals, companies, and institutions within the SIG membership. This year’s winners are Ashram (Engineering Program Manager, Micro-Ant), Atheras Analytics' SGD Design Tool, Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) Consortium, and Valentin Eder (Space Analyses). The categories were: Cooperation of the Year, Innovation of the Year, and Young Engineer of the Year.