Earth observation

Indian space-technology startup Pixxel said on Wednesday it has raised $5 million in seed round led by Blume Ventures, growX ventures and Lightspeed India.

Airbus has been contracted by Arabsat, one of the world’s top satellite operators, to build BADR-8, their new generation telecommunications satellite. BADR-8 will replace and increase Arabsat’s capacity and augment its core business at the BADR hotspot 26°E.

If AI (Artificial Intelligence) is the future, then AI plus Space equals future times two. According to Kenneth’s Research, AI in Space Exploration market was valued at approximately USD 2 billion in 2018 and is anticipated to grow at a rate of more than 7.25% by 2026.

On July 4, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) finished its primary mission, imaging about 75% of the starry sky as part of a two-year-long survey.

KSAT has signed a contract for ground station support of HYPSO-1, a Smallsat mission from the Norwegian university of science and technology (NTNU), aiming to detect toxic algaeblooms.

Fixed to a special device, simulating zero gravity conditions, the 12.3 metre wide and 860 kg SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) radar antenna of the Copernicus Sentinel-1C satellite has successfully spread its wings at the Airbus Integrated Technology Centre in Friedrichshafen (Germany) for the first time.

The name of the satellite mission speaks for itself: EnMAP, short for “Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program”, is intended to produce extended and in-depth findings about the state of and changes in ecological systems on land and water using new types of global data sets.

With the launch of the Geomatics on the Move 2020 competition, the European GNSS Agency (GSA), in collaboration with the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (CLGE), continues its drive to promote the use of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) - EGNOS and Galileo, and Earth observation - Copernicus - as engines of innovative growth for the European economy. A wide participation from all over the European Union is expected.

At least 100 people have died and 4,000 people have been wounded in a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon on Tuesday 4th August 2020.

PredaSAR Corporation, announced on 4 August 2020 that its first of 48 advanced commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites will launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc. is the launch integration provider in addition to manufacturer of the spacecraft