Finance

Global-IP Cayman announced it has signed a launch services agreement with SpaceX for its first communication satellite GiSAT 1. GiSAT 1 is a High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) with 150 Gbps of capacity, currently under construction by Boeing. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch GiSAT1. The deployment, scheduled for Q4 2018, will launch the satellite into its...

SpaceX successfully launched the SES 10 communications satellite into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) yesterday...

Arianespace shareholders voted unanimously to convert the launch operator to a Simplified Joint-Stock (SAS) company at its annual general meeting held in Paris. The modification aims to streamline and modernize Arianespace’s governance to achieve greater responsiveness, facilitate relationships with industrial prime contractors, and be coherent with the new shareholder structure of Arianespace’s holding company, Arianespace...

As labor protests continue to roil in Kourou, French Guiana, Arianespace has placed its Ariane 5 VA236 launch, originally scheduled for March 21, on indefinite hold. According to the company, the launch vehicle (along with its dual payload) remains in stand-by mode and is being maintained in safe conditions. Workers from the French territory are...

NASA successfully tested an RS-25 rocket engine with a new flight-model engine controller and flight configuration software was successfully tested for the first time at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Four RS-25 engines, manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne, will help propel NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the agency’s next generation heavy-lift launch vehicle, and the controller...

PacSci EMC announced the release of its new Modular Architecture Propulsion System (MAPS) for the small satellite market. According to the company, the compact design of MAPS reduces cost of integrating the propulsion system with the satellite and launch vehicle, and shortens the time from fabrication and testing to integration on the launch vehicle by...

Rocket Lab announced closing a Series D financing round of $75 million. Data Collective led the round, with additional investment from Promus Ventures and an undisclosed investor, and with renewed participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures and K1W1. The closure of the round brings the total funding Rocket Lab has received to date to $148 million,...

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 rocket carrying the ninth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS-9) satellite for the United States Air Force (USAF) lifted off from Space Launch Complex-37 on March 18. “This launch commemorates the 70th anniversary of the USAF,” said Laura Maginnis, ULA vice president of government satellite launch. “We are absolutely honored to play...

After a small delay due to inclement weather, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 successfully launched Hughes’ EchoStar 23 satellite early March 16...

Marshall Kaplan, principal of LaunchSpace Technologies, is determined to play a key role in solving the growing crisis of orbital debris — but also sees it as a business opportunity. With plans to orbit multiple debris collection devices, Kaplan hopes to tackle two birds with one stone: cleaning up the mess space travel has left...