Focus: In-Space Services

Slingshot Aerospace is bringing the benefits of AI into the satellite arena. The company confirmed Wednesday that it, alongside the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), rolled out a new AI system, called Agatha, that identifies anomalous spacecraft within large satellite constellations. Slingshot’s Agatha was trained on over 60 years of simulated constellation data that...

In-space security observation service provider Scout Space commissioned and captured the first in-space calibration image from its recently launched “Sparrow” optical payload, the company announced Thursday. SpaceX launched Scout’s Sparrow – the company’s second optical payload – aboard the Apex Aries bus on the SpaceX Transporter-10 mission in March 2024. The successful image capture took...

Satellite operator Intelsat has signed with Northrop Grumman‘s SpaceLogistics to utilize its two Mission Extension Vehicles (MEVs) and service its satellites for at least another four years. The contract agreement, announced Thursday, is itself a life-extension of a six-year-long partnership between the two companies that has showcased how the MEV-1 and MEV-2 vehicles can extend...

U.S. Space Systems Command (SSC) on Monday said it has awarded Starfish Space a $37.5 million contract in which the company’s Otter space vehicle will dock with, and augment maneuvers of, national security space assets in a first of its kind mission. Under the $37.5 million Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) contract, Seattle-based Starfish is required to provide...

Space and Data-as-a-Service satellite company Sidus Space and L3Harris Technologies announced Tuesday that they will continue working together to support the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP) for another year. The DoD Mentor-Protégé Program was designed to foster partnerships between established defense contractors and smaller, emerging businesses, and to help smaller firms expand...

Starfish Space executed a successful in-space rendezvous between its Otter Pup satellite and D-Orbit’s ION SCV006 satellite. The companies announced the milestone on May 7.  This was a backup mission for the Otter Pup, which faced a number of challenges on orbit. After launch deployment last year, the spacecraft fell into an uncontrollable rotation and...

New startup Portal Space Systems, led by SpaceX’s former vice president of propulsion Jeff Thornburg, emerged from stealth mode last week with plans to build capabilities for in-space maneuverability.  The company is developing the Supernova satellite bus, designed to maneuver from Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to Geostationary Orbit (GEO) in hours, LEO to Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO)...

The ClearSpace-1 debris removal mission changed its objective after detecting a space debris collision of the target with untraceable debris. In-space debris removal company ClearSpace announced the decision on April 24. ClearSpace pivoted to the next stage of the ClearSpace-1 mission following a technical and programmatic review with the European Space Agency (ESA). The debris...

The global space economy could be worth close to $2 trillion by 2035. This is according to a new World Economic Forum report released this week. The report says it expects the sector’s valuation to surge up to $1.8 trillion by 2035 and be roughly rival the size and reach of the global semiconductor industry...

Spire will deploy Neuraspace’s space traffic management (STM) platform to its constellation of 100+ multipurpose satellites. This combined setup will allow Spire to track and monitor potential conjunctions across its constellation and at the same time focus on its more critical assets. All satellites will be monitored using Neuraspace’s software. Spire announced the deal, April...