Entrepreneurship

The Earth imaging company Planet acquires the Haarlem/ Netherlands based ag data specialist VanderSat, Planet said. Planet acquires VanderSat, a leading provider of advanced earth data and analytics, for approximately $28 million, in a mix between $18 million in Planet Labs PBC shares and $10 million in cash, the company said. 

Virgin Galactic reported a strong interest in suborbital flights from customers as the company sold approximately 100 tickets for US $450,000 each after reopening ticket sales in August. This makes the total number of bookings about 700. Virgin Galactic said the new customers had previously paid a deposit of US $1,000 to be the first in line when ticket sales resumed.

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 1-7 November 2021”. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup! A special shout-out to our friends at SpaceWatch.Global,

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts safely splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, NASA reported. The agency’s second long-duration commercial crew mission set the record for the longest spaceflight by a U.S. crewed spacecraft. 

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 40th episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast: Luc Piguet, ClearSpace or how to solve an impossible mission. Luc Piguet is co-founder and CEO of Clear Space, a Swiss-based startup that cleans up space debris. ESA's hottest attempt is to develop a solution to a global problem.

In the new episode of our Space Café Scotland by Angela Mathis on 4th November 2021, Angela discussed with Craig Clark, Chairman of Space Scotland and founder of Clyde Space the launch of Scotland's Space Strategy and the ongoing UN COP26 Glasgow event in terms of leading by example and sustainable space.

Twenty Polish companies advancing the Polish space industry united to create the Space Technologies Cluster. The initiative was announced during the Kongres590 economical summit in Jasionka, Poland. The Cluster will be an organisational framework and support new initiatives in the space sector.

Viasat wants to buy Inmarsat from private investors for $7.3 billion, the satellite operator announced. The takeover creates the largest satellite operator in the world, with a combined revenue of probably close to $4 billion. Inmarsat was acquired by a consortium consisting of Apax Partners, Warburg Pincus, the CPP Investment Board and the Ontario Techers´ Pension Plan in December 2019.

The return of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission to Earth is scheduled for tonight with a splashdown off the coast of Florida. Mission teams decided to postpone the undocking from the ISS on 7th November due to unfavourable weather conditions, NASA reported.

Yesterday we kicked off the second of Spaceport Norway 2021: The Life Sessions, at the startup-hub DIGS in Trondheim. 119 had registered for the event before we shut down the ticket sales, 15 of them attended the event from a computer screen. Our working title for the session in Trondheim was "Technology & Talent", and that is what we got!