Space

Luxembourg, 14 October 2020. – Rideshare provider Spaceflight will execute three customer missions on two upcoming launches in the next weeks, the Seattle-based company announced today. Spaceflight will execute two launches on two different continents, the company said, one aboard a Rocket Lab Electron and the other on NewSpace India …

Luxembourg, 14 October 2020. – Airbus has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for its ambitious five-year mission to go to Mars and bring the first samples from the Red Planet back to Earth, the company announced in Toulouse. Airbus acts as ESA’s prime contractor for the Earth …

Luxembourg, 14 October 2020. – NASA has calculated the economic impact of its activities on the U.S. economy in 2019 at a stunning $64.3 billion, the U.S. space agency said in a recently published report. The first-ever agency-wide economic impact report shows that, through all NASA activities, the agency generated …

Luxembourg, 14 October 2020. – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced that nearly 400 applicants are qualified to bid in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction in the U.S. Beginning on 29 October 2020, 386 applicants may bid for up to $16 billion in support to bring …

Luxembourg, 13 October 2020. – Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit is looking to raise up to $200 million of funding, valuing the company at around $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. “The fundraising comes as the British billionaire’s sprawling travel-to-finance empire and the wider commercial space industry have been …

Luxembourg, 13 October 2020. – Astroscale raised an additional funding of $51 million from a group of investors, bringing the total capital raised to $191 million, the Japanese orbital debris removal company said today. This latest round makes Astroscale the most funded on-orbit services and logistics company globally and most funded space …

Luxembourg, 13 October 2020. – The Finnish space start-up ICEYE released its rapidly growing archive of tens of thousands of radar satellite images to the public, the company announced in Helsinki today. The ICEYE archive includes nearly 18,000 radar images in various modes taken with ICEYE’s SAR satellite constellation between …

Luxembourg, 13 October 2020. – Seven countries around the world plus the United States have now signed the U.S. space exploration Artemis accords, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. “The Artemis program will be the broadest and most diverse international space exploration coalition in history,” Bridenstine said on Twitter today. “With …

On 1 July 2020, Germany has taken its term in the EU Presidency. Space and space-related initiatives were on the agenda in the preparation. Now, halfway through the term, SpaceWatch.Global Editor-in-Chief Markus Payer had the opportunity to talk with Prof. Dr. Kai-Uwe Schrogl who is seconded from the European Space …

Paris, 12 October 2020. – The Norwegian government has endorsed the country’s budget for the European Space Agency (ESA) as well as for continued participation in the EU space programs, Norway’s Space Agency said. “The new national budget for 2021 expands Norway’s participation in ESA’s and EU’s space programs as …