Government

Space Systems Command’s Assured Access to Space (AATS) office have awarded a $15 million contract to ABL Space Systems to demonstrate responsive launch capability. The Small Launch and Targets Division at Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, part of AATS, awarded the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Strategic Funding Initiative (StratFI) to develop a launch mission design that incorporates planning for numerous satellites to multiple orbits from a variety of locations and conduct a proof-of-concept responsive launch.

ICEYE, a provider of natural catastrophe solutions and insights, have been selected by the Federal Government of Australia to supply flood and bushfire hazard data for all states and territories across the country. Several states and territories across Australia have experienced record-breaking flood and bushfire events in recent years due primarily to persistent La Ninã or El Niño weather patterns. These weather patterns have resulted in either extensive periods of extreme rainfall or drought.

The UK can now participate in Horizon Europe and Copernicus programs through a bespoke new agreement with the EU. The deal that the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, secured comes with improved financial terms for the UK's participation. It allows UK researchers to apply for grants and bid to take part in projects under the Horizon program, with certainty that the UK will be participating as a fully associated member for the remaining life of the program to 2027.

UK space agency announces vital US/UK partnership in electric space propulsion between Britain’s Pulsar Fusion and the University of Michigan. Pulsar is seeking ways to leverage the unique test capabilities of the University of Michigan for Hall thrusters. Therefore, the focus of this preliminary Phase I effort is to identify export-compliant paths for allowing this.

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has announced the awards of two prototype agreements with a total value of approximately $1.5 billion to build and operate the Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) – Beta variant prototype constellation. The constellation consists of 72 satellites and will form the foundation of Tranche 2 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The UK Space Agency announced on the 8th of August the recipients to receive the first phase of its £20 million International Bilateral Fund investments. These investments are intended to help UK organisations to link up with the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, Singapore, South Africa and form collaborations that will progress space research and investment in new technologies. The International Bilateral Fund is the Agency’s first fund dedicated to building and strengthening international relationships to help advance the UK’s goals in space. Some projects will focus on enhancing relationships to unlock future economic opportunities for the UK, and others will focus directly on science missions and technologies with strong commercial potential. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has, through its Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA) office has announced the modification of operating licenses of multiple commercial satellite systems. These license conditions had previously restricted the operations of commercial satellites, preventing them from offering their full remote sensing capabilities to the public. On July 20, 2020, NOAA implemented new, specific regulations on private remote sensing systems.

In this Space Café Radio -  SpaceWatch.Global's Dr. Emma Gatti  spoke with Piotr Sitek,  governmental and new components, security governance officer in the security authority department of EUSPA. This radio episode is part of a joint collaboration between SpaceWatch.Global and EUSPA, the EU Agency for the Space Programme.

Pixxel has won a multi-crore grant from iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence under the Ministry of Defence) for the Mission DefSpace Challenge under iDEX Prime (Space) to manufacture miniaturized multi-payload satellites for the Indian Air Force. Oixxel received this grant as part of the SPARK grants by iDEX. As a result, this grant will equip Pixxel to develop small satellites of up to 150 kgs for Electro-Optical, Infrared, Synthetic Aperture Radar, and Hyper Spectral purposes. 

The Cook Government announced on the 25th of July that it has invested $800,000 to advance the State’s Earth Observation (EO) capabilities through the collection, processing, analysis and application of high-resolution satellite data.