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Thales Alenia Space will build an Earth observation constellation with radar and optical sensors for the Indonesian Ministry of Defence (MoD), under a deal announced Thursday. State-owned technology company PT Len awarded Thales the contract and will operate the Defense Satellite System for MoD sovereignty requirements.  The satellites will be built on the existing Thales...

Comtech has hired former iDirect Government executive John Ratigan as the company’s first chief corporate development officer (CCDO). In this role, Ratigan will oversee new business initiatives aligned with Comtech’s strategic pursuits. Comtech announced the appointment on Wednesday.  Ratigan is the former CEO and president of iDirect Government and was on the executive committee of...

Viasat and Airbus equipped two Irish Defence Forces C295 MSA aircraft with a Viasat terminal for managed satcom service, the companies announced this week. Airbus delivered the C295 MSA multirole surveillance aircraft earlier this year.  The aircraft were delivered to the Irish Air Corps (IAC), a division of the Irish Defence Forces focused on the...

Momentus said it is unable to confirm the deployment of three out of five satellites launched on the recent SpaceX Transporter-9 mission in November.  Momentus used a third party deployer on this mission instead of its Vigoride orbital service vehicle. In an update published late Tuesday, Momentus confirmed the deployment of two satellites for Hello Space....

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) said on Dec. 5 that it has awarded Airbus‘ U.S. space and defense division, Albedo Space, Hydrosat, Muon Space, and Turion Space Strategic Commercial Enhancements (SCE) contracts “to assess and leverage commercial electro-optical (EO) capabilities.” In May, NRO released a draft solicitation on commercial EO and related phenomenologies to include infrared and non-Earth imagery. In April, NRO...

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) has allocated 820,000 pounds ($1.03 million) to support the development of a new Space Technology Test Centre (STTC) in Wales. The Snowdonia Space Centre secured this funding under the Agencies Space Clusters Infrastructure Fund. The Snowdonia Space Centre will develop the STTC, in partnership with Newton Launch Systems at the...

Eutelsat OneWeb has revealed details of an interesting collaboration in the space weather arena. It will work with Imperial College London to enable global space weather monitoring to help protect satellite operations as well as power, communications, navigation and transport systems. Eutelsat OneWeb, part of Eutelsat, announced details of the partnership, Dec. 5. Dr. Martin...

Amazon tapped constellation competitor SpaceX to launch some of its Kuiper satellites. Amazon announced a deal on Dec. 1 for three Falcon 9 launches on Friday, targeted to start in mid-2025.  This adds to Amazon’s massive deal for up to 83 launches with ULA, Arianespace, and Blue Origin. Those contracts cover launches on the Vulcan...

U.S leaders launched the new U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center this week as part of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP28), to serve as a hub for public and private partnerships on greenhouse gasses. The center is led by NASA with initial parters, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and...

Spire Global will build and operate a six-satellite IoT constellation for Lacuna Space under a new Space Services contract announced Tuesday.  Spire will build six initial satellites at its facility in Glasgow in the United Kingdom. These satellites will scale Lacuna’s constellation, in addition to its existing 10 satellites. Lacuna has the option to scale...