Entrepreneurship

Isar Aerospace and Astrocast announced they have signed a launch services agreement according to which Isar will launch Astrocast’s satellite by 2024. The rideshare mission will take the nanosatellite company’s spacecraft to Sun synchronous orbit from its launch site in Andøya, Norway. The contract includes options for the launch of additional satellites.

Ororatech announced it has signed a pilot contract with the Green Triangle Fire Alliance (GTFA) for satellite-based Wildfire Intelligence Service over the 2021/22 fire season. The GTFA is located along the border of South Australia and Victoria. It represents 17% of the country’s plantations, comprising over 320,000 hectares of pine and eucalypt trees.

UN:IO consortium members will conduct a feasibility study to create a sovereign communications network for Europe by 2025, the company announced. The European Commission funded the project with €1.4M. The consortium comprises 14 NewSpace companies led by satellite manufacturer Reflex Aerospace, launch provider Isar Aerospace and laser specialist Mynaric.

Launch service provider Isar Aerospace and the German Space Agency at DLR have announced they selected the institutional payloads for Spectrum’s first flight. The rocket launch is planned for the end of 2022 as part of the microlauncher competition.  Five institutions from Germany, Norway, and Slovenia with a total of seven small satellites won the Announcement of Opportunity.

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Orbital Gateway Consulting we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Dongfang Hour China Aerospace News Roundup 6 - 13 December 2021”. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup!

The recently established consortium of 22 European companies from 8 countries, New Symphonie, has won a concept study for the European Commission (EC) aiming to develop new ideas for an innovative European broadband constellation, Euroconsult reported. The project is called “New Space solutions for long-term availability of reliable, secure, cost-effective space-based connectivity”.

Blue Origin conducted its third space flight on Saturday, after high winds forced a delay on the Thursday launch. The roughly 11-minute trip on the reusable, automated capsule carried four paying customers and two guests just beyond the Kármán line. The four paying customers were space industry executive and philanthropist Dylan Taylor,

The data analytics provider Spire Global received approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to fly its Adler-1 satellite on Virgin Orbit’s upcoming, the company said. The satellite, which was integrated at Virgin Orbit’s Long Beach facility in the U.S. within 36 hours, will fly as the third customer in the “Above the Clouds” mission,

No SPAC mergers with space companies in November, but a blockbuster round of US$1.4 billion for Sierra Space. We also had ‘traditional’ public listings by Telesat and Mynaric (of ADSs). It was also an interesting month on the M&A front with deals including Redwire / Techshot, Inmarsat / Viasat, Planet / VanderSat, and Rocket Lab / Planetary Systems Corp

Astranis announced it has signed an agreement with Grupo Andesat to provide broadband capacity using Astranis MicroGEO communications satellites. The partnership will bring broadband internet access to communities in the Peruvian jungles, deserts and mountains for the first time.