Entrepreneurship

Roscosmos and Space Adventures has launched and successfully docked the Soyuz MS-20 space tourism mission with two space tourists on board, NASA reported. The spacecraft docked with the ISS’ Poisk module six hours after launch. The crew of three, including two Japanese space tourists will stay on the Space Station for 12 days.

Loft Orbital raised US $140M in a new round of funding led by investment company BlackRock, CNBC reports. Loft launched its first two commercial ride-share satellites in Earth orbit earlier this year. The company is to use the new capital to extend its business and double its team.

The space system startup GomSpace and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a contract for the ESA SCOUT Earth Observation mission to be launched in 2024. The contract value is € 24 million, GomSpace said. The mission will consist of three 12U cubesats and will become the first “climate mission” of its kind, GomSpace said.

Rocket Lab announced it has signed a deal with Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective to carry out three Electron launches. The missions are dedicated to Synspective which means that the StriX satellites will be the only payload, giving the company control over launch schedule. Last year, Rocket Lab launched ‘The Owl’s Night Begins’ mission

Fleet Space Technologies announced they will establish a satellite Hyper Factory in the new Australian Space Park in Adelaide, to develop a constellation of 3D printed small satellites. The South Australian Government will invest AUS $20M into the project.   The Hyper Factory, established in the Space Park, will be Australia’s first dedicated space manufacturing hub.

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 42nd episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast #042: Barbara Belvisi, Interstellar Lab and the future of plant growth in space and on earth. As if taken from a science fiction movie, Barbara Belvisi and her team at Interstellar Lab are developing growth containers for every kind of plant. Be it on earth or in space.

Astra Space announced plans to deploy its first orbital satellite for NASA in January 2022. They will launch out of Space Launch Complex 46, which will be Astra’s first launch from Cape Canaveral. The company delivered its first commercial payload into orbit in 2021, just five years after it was founded.

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket is scheduled to launch the U.S. military Space Test Program-3 (STP-3) mission later today after a two-day delay, ULA announced. The launch scheduled for Sunday had to be postponed after discovering a leak in the ground system storing rocket propellant.

Euroconsult expects 17,000 satellites to be launched in the next ten years. The fourfold increase over the past decade reflects structural changes in the space ecosystem and a limited short-term impact of the pandemic. “New Space is no longer the driving force in the industry. It's all about Fast Space now,” Euroconsult concludes.

NASA announced they have awarded the Booster Production and Operations Contract to build boosters for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to Northrop Grumman. The $3.19 billion contract will support nine SLS flights, through to Artemis 9 in 2031, NASA said.  Northrop Grumman produced the boosters for the first three, and is currently working on the motors for the fourth Artemis mission.