Entrepreneurship

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) and Axiom Space have signed an agreement to set out plans for the two organizations to work together to pursue a commercially sponsored UK astronaut mission. On this future flight, the UK astronauts would launch to space, spending up to two weeks in orbit to carry out scientific research, demonstrate new technologies, and participate in education and outreach activities.

United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, plans to launch the inaugural flight of its Vulcan rocket on Christmas Eve, reports CNBC. Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA, spoke at the CNBC Technology Executive Council Summit where he shared that the target window will run from the 24th to 26th of December. Currently, ULA is working to build and qualify the upper stage of the rocket which is expected to be completed in November. If the December window is missed the launch will be moved to January. 

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has announced that it has received authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resume Electron launches from Launch Complex 1. The authorization comes after Rocket Lab experienced an in-flight anomaly on September 19th during the Company’s 41st Electron launch and the FAA has now confirmed that Rocket Lab’s launch license remains active, which is the first step to enable launches to resume

NASA, on behalf of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), has awarded a delivery order under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV (Rapid-IV) contract to Southwest Research Institute of San Antonio for the QuickSounder spacecraft. Furthermore, the total value of the order is $54 million, with the period of performance beginning Wednesday, Oct. 25, and scheduled to run until May 2029.

Lockheed Martin has awarded Terran Orbital Corporation a contract to build 36 satellite buses for the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) Beta constellation. Terran Orbital will consequently deliver the buses to Lockheed Martin, which will conduct payload integration and jointly operate the satellites with SDA.

Kongsberg NanoAvionics announced on the 24th of October that Vytenis J. Buzas has stepped down from his role of CEO. He will maintain his involvement with NanoAvionics, serving as a member of the board. Under Buzas’ stewardship NanoAvionics originated as the first national satellite mission in Lithuania and has gone on to commercialise its technology. Žilvinas Kvedaravičius, previously the CSO, is taking on the role of Interim CEO. 

Varda Space Industries and Southern Launch have announced a partnership to conduct re-entry operations at the Koonibba Test Range, with the goal of making South Australia a hub for an in-space manufacturing industry. As a result, Southern Launch will support Varda Space Industries in conducting high-cadence re-entry operations at the Koonibba Test Range to meet a wide range of Varda’s customer needs.

Fugro's Space Automation, AI and Robotics Control Complex (SpAARC) in Perth, Western Australia (WA), is to receive an additional AUD 5 million in funding from the WA Government. Roger Cook, the WA Premier, made the announcement at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Perth on the morning of the opening of IPSEC 2023, Perth’s Indo-Pacific Space and Earth Conference for leaders in space and cross-sector technologies.

PLD Space has announced the success of its MIURA-1 rocket launch after analyzing the data the rocket gathered. The Company consequently achieved 100% of its main objectives and successfully validated its in-house technologies in flight. The suborbital mission went according to all the necessary parameters, both in the behavior of all the subsystems and the execution of the operations

StarWin has announced that it has successfully tested its Electronically Steered Phased Array Antenna (ESA) terminal for Communications on the Move (COTM) on Avanti Communications’ (“Avanti”) high-speed HYLAS 4 Ka-band satellite. This achievement aims to provide seamless broadband connectivity for Government, military, and enterprise customers across Africa. During testing, StarWin’s ESA terminal demonstrated impressive capabilities, ensuring high-speed data and reliable communications while on the move.