Entrepreneurship

LightSail-2, a crowd-funded spacecraft that aims to be the first propelled only by sunlight, was launched successfully from Kennedy Space Center on 25 June on board a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket as part of the U.S. Air Force's STP-2 mission.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is currently developing plans for Space Hub Sutherland, which is expected to begin vertical launches of small satellites from the A’Mhoine peninsula, near Tongue, early in the next decade.

Kleos Space S.A., a space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data provider headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), has announced that the Luxembourg Space Agency has approved an additional €1,000,000 (AUS$1,631,900; U.S.$1,138,395) financial grant (non-equity) support for data product development. The company also announced a number of pre-orders.

Kinéis, a CLS Group spin-off, a subsidiary of the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), has announced the signing of two strategic partnerships, one with Objenious, a public IoT operator part of Bouygues Telecom, and another with the Wize Alliance (SUEZ, GRDF, Sagemcom, etc.).

Bellatrix Aerospace, an SID (Indian Institute of Science) incubated company, has raised U.S.$3 million in a pre-Series A round led by IDFC-Parampara, StartupXseed, Karsemven Fund (KITVEN) and Survam Partners (Suman Kant Munjal family office).

GomSpace A/S has been selected by UnseenLabs SAS to develop and deliver their second-generation space system. The collaboration will result in further enhancement of the capabilities to provide disruptive spectrum monitoring services from space, featuring unique hardware and software.

Spacewatch.Global's Chairman Dr. John B. Sheldon was fortunate enough to sit down with Dr. Moriba Jah of the University of Texas and a pioneer in Space Situational Awareness to talk about what's wrong with the current approach and how this growing problem can be tackled. 

SSC is currently developing Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden with new capabilities and services. A testbed for reusable rockets is currently being established, and SSC aims at launching small satellites in a couple of years.

exactEarth Ltd., a leading provider of Satellite-AIS data services, and MarineTraffic, a leading global provider of ship tracking and maritime intelligence, announce that they have entered into a three-year channel partner agreement.

Europe is part of a new era in space transportation with new commercial initiatives offering services to space, in space, and back from space springing up within the privately led and funded space sector. ESA welcomes this development towards further European industrial growth and competitiveness.