Space

In this Space Café Radio – our Review 2021 series, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Jenni Tapio, Chief Specialist, Head of the Space Office at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland, Delegate to UN COPUOS, ESA and EU Space Programme about her space highlights in 2021 and what to watch out for the upcoming year in space.

Virgin Orbit deployed seven cubesats for three customers on LauncherOne’s third successful operational flight that took off from air-launch platform Cosmic Girl, a Boeing 747 aircraft. The rocket carried the satellites into low Earth orbit, at an inclination of 45 degrees.

Aerospace engineering startup, Hypersonix Launch Systems, has signed a Master Research Collaboration Agreement with the University of Sydney to research and manufacture the components of a zero emissions, hypersonic spaceplane capable of deploying small satellites into low earth orbit, the University said.

During this week’s Space Café, SpaceWatch.Global Publisher Torsten Kriening sat down – virtually – with Professor Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, Chair of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Centre – otherwise known simply as the abbreviated “DLR”. A German materials scientist and mechanical engineer by trade,...

The Spanish satellite operator Hispasat partners with the Repsol Foundation to develop technologies for the reforestation sector to offset CO2 emissions. Hispasat and Repsol signed a strategic partnership agreement to use the satellite operator’s technology in Repsol’s Green Engine project, Spain’s largest reforestation program for offsetting emissions.

SpaceX successfully launched 105 spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 launch vehicle yesterday during its third dedicated smallsat rideshare mission, Transporter-3. The rideshare program was announced in 2019, offering small satellite operators to launch for a combined price of US $1M. Transporter-3 carried CubeSats, microsats, PocketQubes,

SpaceX is to launch the Transporter-3 rideshare mission later today, with Brazilian newspace startup, Pion Labs’ PION-BR1 satellite on board, Pion announced. The launch will make history in the Brazilian space sector. PION-BR1 is a 1P pocketqube satellite measuring only 5x5x5 cm, the smallest Brazilian satellite developed to date.

Euroconsult, the space consulting and market intelligence firm, estimates the Earth Observation (EO) manufacturing market to grow to US $76.1B in revenue by 2030. The data were released in the company’s ''Earth Observation Satellite Systems Market'' report. Between 2011-2020, 65% of EO satellite launches were commercial but only captured a negligible 4% of the market value.

Intelsat buys two software-defined satellites from Thales Alenia Space, the satellite operator said. The two satellites will advance Intelsat’s software-defined 5G GEO network and enables “greater agility, flexibility and orchestration across edge, satellite and core”, Intelsat said.

Rotoiti interviewed several finance experts in the space industry. This brief, based on those conversations, summarizes the risks and benefits that venture capital poses to space firms. Many firms assume that they must attract venture capital (VC) in order to succeed, but it is important to first define success and then assess if VC is necessary to achieve that success.