Entrepreneurship

Space industry startup, Space Impulse, has assembled a team of veteran technologists and orbital-class aerospace leaders with a mission to lower costs and accelerate times to orbit by streamlining supply chain integration on a comprehensive, global business-to-business (B2B) platform.

Rocket Lab, the U.S. headquartered New Space launch company with a launch complex in New Zealand, has now also established an assembly facility for its launch vehicles in Auckland, New Zealand. The facility was officially opened by Star Trek actor William Shatner.

Pioneering NewSpace company, Satellite Vu, will take part in GITEX Future Stars, the fastest growing start-up event in MENA and Southeast Asia.

At UNISPACE50+, held earlier this year to celebrate 50 years of space, a new competition was launched by NewSpace 2060 in collaboration with the Moon Village Association (MVA) to encourage everyone to engage with the vision of a NewSpace economy by 2060. The competition encourages interested parties from entrepreneurs and start-ups to seasoned NASA scientists to give a 3-minute pitch on any aspect of going to the Moon and what they would like to do there.

U.S. New Space investment company Space Angels has released its Space Investment Quarterly for the third quarter of 2018, and the report reveals that China is now the leading investor in New Space companies, expanding its market share more than any other country.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc., a developer of orbital launch vehicles for the small to medium satellite market, announced on 10 October 2018 the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with York Space Systems for the development of integrated launch services and spacecraft mission solutions.

Sky and Space Global (SAS), the New Space narrowband satellite communications company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), made a number of announcements this week that mark the company’s progress in its aim to provide operational services to customers.

Thai Space entrepreneur James Yenbamroong, founder and CEO of Thai New Space company mu Space, announced on 9 October 2018 a plan to establish a venture unit in 2019 in a move to go international and to create opportunities other than satellite communications.

The International Astronautical Congress held in Bremen, Germany last week welcomed a record 6,500 delegates and 83 registered countries, reaffirming a global love affair with space. In addition, more than 10.000 participants attended the public day on Wednesday 3 October to tune-in live to the International Space Station (ISS) for a live session with Alexander Gerst, the second ESA and first German commander of the ISS in the twenty years of its existence.

Audacy, a space communications service provider based in the U.S. and Singapore and deploying the first commercially licensed inter-satellite data relay network, has announced that it had achieved a significant milestone by securing pre-service commercial agreements valued at over U.S.$100 million.