Entrepreneurship

EU member states and the European Commission cut the budget of the Horizon Europe space research partnership, aimed to drive EU competitiveness in the global market, Science Business reported. Industry partners will have to decide now if it is worth going ahead with the project or not.

SpaceX can have Starship’s first orbital flight as early as January, pending regulatory approvals, CEO Elon Musk said at a joint meeting of the National Academies’ Space Studies Board and Board on Physics and Astronomy.  According to Musk, the company is in the final preparations of both the vehicle and their new launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.

During this week’s live Space Café hosted in Bremen, Northern Germany, SpaceWatch.Global Publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Professor Pascale Ehrenfreund, the President of both the International Space University and the International Astronautical Federation and Research Professor of Space Policy and International Affairs at George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute.

ICEYE announced having signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on developing advanced SAR products. The collaboration builds on G42’s recent agreement with Yahsat to develop a geospatial data fusion of different sensor modalities. Finnish Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite and analytics provider, ICEYE

Orbit Fab and Dawn Aerospace announced a collaboration to make on-orbit refuelling available to satellites utilising green propellants such as nitrous oxide and propylene. The collaboration was announced at Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen. The “Gas Stations in Space” company Orbit Fab offers refuelling services in space and developed a port known as RAFTI.

New Space company Leanspace, announced its launch out of stealth mode with several customers and a new product, Leanspace Cloud. The Seraphim Space backed start-up, has already raised over €2M in seed funding from institutional and angel investors. As a first offering, the company offers Leanspace Cloud, to be launched at Space Tech Expo Europe.

Rocket Lab acquires Planetary Systems, a spacecraft separation systems company based in Maryland, for $42 million in cash and a 1.7 million share package, Rocket Lab said. The deal includes a nearly one million Rocket Lab share option as a performance earnout. Planetary Systems is a provider of mechanical separation systems and satellite dispensers.

Astroscale Holdings revealed a universal docking device, the Docking Plate, at Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen. The technology works like a car “tow hook” and is designed to future-proof space missions. Over 12,000 satellites were launched in the last 6 decades and tens of thousands are to be deployed within the next 10 years.

In this Space Café Radio – on tour, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke in this episode with Thomas Gruebler, Co-Founder and CEO of OroraTech direct after Thomas and his team received The Spark award in Berlin. In this interview, they spoke about the award, the mission of OroraTech

Mayday.ai and ConstellR, developing agricultural, risk and disaster management monitoring technologies, have entered a partnership. Mayday users will thus benefit from a higher spatial and temporal resolution to reduce climate change disaster risks.  Mayday.ai provides real time risk and disaster intelligence.