Latest News

Innovative Rocket Technologies, the launch startup known as iRocket, plans to enter the U.K. market with a new member of its board of directors. Paul Stein, former chief technology officer of Rolls-Royce, has joined the company’s board of directors.  Stein is the former director general for Science and Technology of the UK Ministry of Defence...

Thales Alenia Space placed a follow-on order with Redwire Corporation for additional Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) wings for the manufacturer’s Space Inspire line of satellites.  The follow-on order increases the total number of shipsets that Redwire will deliver based on its existing agreement with Thales Alenia Space, announced in June. Redwire announced the deal on...

The United States and Saudi Arabia signed a framework agreement to open the door to cooperation with NASA in space science, exploration, aeronautics, space operations, education, and Earth science. NASA announced the agreement on July 16. The agreement, signed by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Saudi Space Agency CEO Mohammed bin Saud Al-Tamimi, establishes the...

Thales Alenia Space and Exotrail will develop a surveillance, command and control (SCC) ground segment solution designed for constellations of small satellites. The two companies have signed an MoU in order to work together and develop this solution, announcing the MoU on July 12. This collaboration intends to integrate Exotrail’s spacetower flight dynamics system (FDS)...

EchoStar Corporation has opened a new Open RAN (O-RAN) testing and evaluation lab at the company’s data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The the Open RAN Center for Integration and Deployment (ORCID) is a site where vendors can test and validate O-RAN solutions using EchoStar’s live O-RAN network. The facility was supported by a $50 million...

The U.S. Space Force delivered two laser retroflector arrays built by NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGIA) to Lockheed Martin for upcoming GPS satellites.  Space Force announced last week that the laser retroflector arrays (LRAs) were delivered in May under a directed program to rapidly integrate hosted payloads on GPS satellites ahead of launch...

Planet Labs has signed a new seven-figure pilot program with an international ministry of defense (MoD) customer for PlanetScope data enhanced with SynMax artificial intelligence. Planet announced the deal with the unnamed customer on July 15.  Planet and SynMax are providing a maritime domain awareness solution for vessel detection and monitoring. The customer also expanded...

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) has won a new contract from US Space Force’s (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) in the area of space weather. The deal aims to help alleviate U.S. government on-orbit risks through delivery of a second weather satellite and to provide three years of operations services for each of the two...

Booz Allen Ventures invested in Quindar, an early-stage startup focused on automating satellite operations.  Quindar has built a virtualized platform that the company says improves the ability to command cooperative fleets of spacecraft using non-proprietary technologies. The mission management platform currently operates multiple customers and assets in space. Quindar previously raised $8.5 million seed funding. ...

A group of Spanish banks have backed PLD Space with a 31.2 million euro ($34 million) loan to fund the company’s Miura 5 space launch program. Banco Santander and EBN Banco are co-lead banks for the syndicated loan, which includes participation from the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO).  This financing is earmarked for the Miura...