Entrepreneurship

Space logistics and orbital transportation company D-orbit signed a contract with US launch provider Spaceflight to deploy the Kleos Patrol Mission (KSF2) satellites aboard D-orbit’s next ION Satellite Carrier mission, the company said. The four satellites of Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data-as-a-service company, Kleos Space, will launch with SpaceX’s Transporter 4 mission.

Rocket Lab has successfully deployed a second Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite to orbit for data and solutions provider Synspective, bringing the total number of satellites deployed by the company to 110, Rocket Lab said. Electron successfully deployed the StriX-β spacecraft, adding a second satellite to Synspective’s SAR constellation.

In this Space Café Radio, SpaceWatch.Global Evenkoordinator and Space Cafe Benelux Host Chiara Moenter spoke with Ricardo Mesquita, Director of Innovation & Business Transformation at Nova School of Business and Economics Lisbon, Portugal about the upcoming Space for Business course and the need for more and better education in the space sector.

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 21 – 28 February 2022. Welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Space Updates! I’m Jean Deville, joined as always by my co-host Blaine Curcio.

Elon Musk confirmed that SpaceX would get involved if the ISS fell out of orbit and came crashing down to Earth. Russian space chief, Dmitry Rogozin, said that they would not save the ISS from an uncontrolled de-orbit due to new US sanctions against the country. 

Satellite servicing company Astroscale announced that former ESA Director General Jan Woerner, and Yuko Noguchi, an experienced lawyer specializing in technology law and intellectual property, have been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Woerner served as the seventh ESA Director General between 2015-2021.

In this Space Café Radio – on tour in Brussels at the 14th European Space Conference in the Egmont Palace, SpaceWatch.Global Event coordinator and Space Cafe Benelux Host Chiara Moenter spoke with Will Marshall, Co-Founder and CEO of Planet, about the European green space initiative, satellites in orbit and sustainability as company purpose.

Although the sustainability of all future space activities depends on the development of In-Orbit Servicing (IoS), there is currently no official or universal definition of IoS, sometimes also referred to as in-space services and on-orbit services. The European Space Policy Institute’s In-Orbit Services report mentions that IoS operations comprise mainly three activities

The Australian Federal Government announced its Space Infrastructure Fund of AU $65 million, which was welcomed by Southern Launch, as the country’s only licensed company with launch facilities. The announcement confirms that Australia wants to establish a vibrant space launch capability.

Intelsat announced that it has emerged from its financial restructuring process as a private company with a strengthened capital structure to support its growth in the satellite communications market. The company managed to reduce its debt from approximately US $16 billion to US $7 billion.