Entrepreneurship

NewSpace company, Satellite Vu, has scooped first prize in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Ocean x Space competition.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted U.S.-Singaporean New Space company Audacy a licence for the first commercial inter-satellite relay network, and the implications of this are transformational for space communications as LEO operators, for the first time, can be in constant contact with their satellites.

On 23rd June 2018, Rocket Lab’s launch window for the ‘It’s Business Time’ mission will open. During this 14-day window, the company will launch its groundbreaking Electron rocket and will transform access to space for the small satellite market.

SatSure Analytics, the Bengaluru-headquartered New Space company that is one of the leading satellite data analytics companies in India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Antrix Corporation – the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

U.S.-based New Space launch provider Firefly has announced that it has signed a Launch Services Agreement (LSA) with the UK small satellite manufacturer Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) to launch six satellites between 2020 and 2022.

Luxembourg-based Kleos Space, a private satellite intelligence-gathering space technology operator that will launch and operate its first earth observation satellite system by mid-2019, is completing the administrative details in order to be ready for its impending listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) with the change of its legal name.

Gilmour Space Technologies, the Australian and Singaporean New Space commercial launch company, conducted its second static test-firing of its proprietary hybrid rocket engine on 28 May 2018, the company announced.

Japanese New Space startup, PD Aerospace, has successfully raised U.S.$4.78 million in funding from five investors that include ANA Holdings, parent company of Japanese airline All Nippon Airlines (ANA), and H.I.S., one of Japan's largest travel agencies.

InfoStellar is an innovative Japanese start-up with a vision: to extend the Internet that we know on Earth into outer space by creating the largest space communications infrastructure in history. This vision is set to be achieved through a unique antenna-sharing platform and also a one-stop small satellite shop that aims to connect customers from all over the world to Japanese manufacturers, universities, and service providers.

It’s amazing to think that humanity is actually about to take its first true foray into space tourism. Achieving weightlessness is a reality through Zero Gravity flights, but now travelling around Moon and even a stay in a space hotel appears to be well within reach. Helen Jameson, Editor-in-Chief, SpaceWatch Global takes a look at just some of the developments in space tourism that could eventually see many of us foregoing our Earthly holiday for an experience that is truly out of this world.