Positioning Navigation and Timing

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Joint Air Power Competence Centre, we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Modular Satellite Manufacturing to Enhance Space Assets Resiliency” by Mr Tal Azoulay, Ms Giulia Federico, and Mr Ran Qedar, originally published on the Joint Air Power Competence Centre website.

Connecting sensors and soldiers: the U.S. Army has contracted Iridium to develop a smallsat GPS payload, the company said. The contract is worth up to $30 million. Iridium will develop a smallsat payload that supports navigation and GPS systems for the army, Iridium said.

GNSS.asia, a support platform for international cooperation in GNSS as well as an outreach arm for European GNSS, launches its Hub for industry collaboration on 16 June 2021. The Hub makes it easy to network with senior professionals and decision-makers across all industry, institutions, and academia, anytime and anywhere. Register to the Hub and start connecting today.

Mauritius has its first own satellite. The first-ever Mauritian nanosatellite MIR-SAT1 has docked at the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX cargo Dragon rocket, the Ministry of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation of the Republic of Mauritius announced.

The Californian startup LeoLabs has closed a $65 million Series B financing round, led by Insight Partners and existing investor Velvet Sea Ventures. With this round, LeoLabs has raised over $100 million in total capital, the company said. LeoLabs provides commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) mapping and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed the contracts with Airbus and Thales to build the next generation of Galileo satellites for €1.47 billion, ESA said. “Following an intense process of open competition”, the contracts have been awarded to Thales Alenia Space Italy and Airbus Defence & Space Germany to build 12 Galileo Second Generation satellites, the agency said.

This Space Café Spain featured Carlos Entrena, founder and CEO of Plus Ultra Space Outposts in conversation with Izan Peris, a friend of SpaceWatch.Global and fellow space entrepreneur. Does Spain have a role in the new lunar economy? Space Café Spain held its inaugural episode with Carlos Entrena, a Madrid-based entrepreneur who is building Harmony.

The European Court of Justice rejected a request by OHB System to suspend a decision by the European Space Agency (ESA) to exclude the German satellite company from a Galileo public contract, which went to its rivals Airbus and Thales Alenia Space, Reuters and other newswires reported. The court also dismissed OHB's application for interim relief, the reports said.

Iridium invests in the Scottish navigation service provider DDK Positioning, the Nasdaq-listed company said. Iridium has made a strategic investment in the Aberdeen, Scotland based provider of enhanced Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) accuracy solutions, the company said. DDK uses the Iridium network to provide global precision positioning services.

Paris, 19 May 2021. – York Space Systems wants to open a new “mega” manufacturing facility at its headquarters in Denver, to meet the growing demand from government and commercial customers, the company said. York's Manufacturing Technology Center will be the hub of the company's next phase to expand its production capacity by four times, the space mission solution provider said.