Constellations, Launch, New Space and more…
Pixxel Announces $25M Investment Led By Radical Ventures To Advance The World’s Most Detailed Imaging Satellites for Earth Health Monitoring

PALO ALTO, Calif. & BANGALORE, India (Pixxel PR) — Pixxel, a leader in cutting-edge earth-imaging technology, announced a $25 million Series A led by Radical Ventures, a Toronto-based firm known for investing in entrepreneurs that use artificial intelligence to transform massive industries. Additional participation in Pixxel’s Series A comes from Jordan Noone, Seraphim Space Investment Trust Plc, Lightspeed Partners, Blume Ventures, and Sparta LLC. The new funding enables Pixxel to expedite production of the world’s highest resolution hyperspectral satellite constellation and to offer industry AI-powered insights that discover, solve, and predict climate issues at a fraction of traditional satellite costs.

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  • March 28, 2022
Terran Orbital Begins Trading On The New York Stock Exchange Under Ticker Symbol “LLAP” And Announces Revenue Backlog Now Exceeds $200 Million

BOCA RATON, Fla., March 28, 2022 – Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP) (“Terran Orbital” or the “Company”), a leading small satellite manufacturer primarily serving the United States aerospace and defense industry, announced that its common stock and warrants will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange today, March 28, 2022, under the ticker symbols “LLAP” and “LLAP WS”, respectively. 

Terran Orbital has made significant progress over recent months as it prepared to emerge as a public company. Some of the Company’s recent accomplishments include:

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  • March 28, 2022
SES Adds Third Satellite from Thales Alenia Space to Extend Services across Europe, Africa and Asia

Innovative, flexible, software-defined satellite to replace NSS-12 at 57 degrees East to deliver content and connectivity to hundreds of millions at the crossroads of three continents

LUXEMBOURG, 28 March 2022 (SES PR) -– SES announced today it has ordered SES-26 a fully software-defined geostationary (GEO) satellite from Thales Alenia Space, joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%). SES-26 will maintain and expand the wide range of content delivery and connectivity services to broadcasters, media companies, telco operators, internet service providers and governmental organisations across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

The digital satellite with both Ku-band and C-band frequencies will replace SES’s NSS-12 satellite at 57 degrees East, one of SES’s longest-held and most valuable orbital positions. From this key location at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, SES will continue to deliver content and connectivity solutions to some of the world’s fastest-growing markets.

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  • March 28, 2022
SpaceX to Cap Crew Dragon Production at 4 Capsules

Reuters reports that SpaceX will build only four Crew Dragon capsules as it shifts resources to its Super Heavy/Starship program. Capping the fleet at four Crew Dragons adds more urgency to the development of the astronaut capsule’s eventual successor, Starship, SpaceX’s moon and Mars rocket. Starship’s debut launch has been delayed for months by engine development hurdles and regulatory reviews. It also poses new challenges as the company learns how […]

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  • March 28, 2022
French Startup Gama Raises $2.2 Million to Develop Solar Sails

PARIS (Gama PR) — Gama, a French aerospace company, has raised 2 million euros [USD $2.2 million] with the French Public Investment Bank (BPI), the French Space Agency (CNES) and leading international angel investors to deploy a solar sail in space and revolutionize space transportation.

A solar sail allows a spacecraft to be powered solely by sunlight. This new propulsion technology enables speeds never reached before to explore our Solar System and beyond.

This first round of funding will finance a demonstration mission: the deployment of a solar sail from a satellite launched by SpaceX. Other missions will follow.

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  • March 28, 2022
Momentus’ Vigoride Vehicle Completes Thermal Vacuum Testing
Vigoride (Credit: Momentus)

SAN JOSE, Calif. –- Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS) (“Momentus” or the “Company”), a U.S. commercial space company that plans to offer transportation and other in-space infrastructure services, recently completed Thermal Vacuum Testing (TVAC) on its Vigoride vehicle in preparation for its inaugural mission.

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  • March 28, 2022
Putin, Justinian and the Revival of Empire
Mosaic of Emperor Justinian I in the Basilica di San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. (Credit: By Petar Milošević – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40035957)

After decades of relative peace, a full-scale war has broken out in Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Angered by the former Soviet republic’s efforts to integrate with Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin has rolled the dice and unleashed hell on his nation’s neighbor.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but there are patterns that echo down through time. Sixteen centuries ago, another European leader launched a similar invasion designed to restore past glories. He succeeded — to a point.

All this has Happened Before

In late June 533, an expeditionary force under the command of Gen. Flavius Balisarius set sail from the Eastern Roman Empire capital of Constantinople. After a voyage of several months along the coasts of Greece and Italy, the force landed at Caputvada on the North Africa coast in early September.

The expeditionary force’s target was the Vandal Kingdom, centered in the former Roman capital of North Africa, Carthage. Emperor Justinian I had dispatched the expedition with two objectives in mind, one short term and limited, the other expansive and long term.

The Vandals had been part of a wave of barbarian tribes that, pushed out of their homelands by marauding Huns, had overrun the Western Roman Empire in the early fifth century. (The empire had split into east and west in 395, with separate capitals at Ravenna and Constantinople.) Vandals and other barbarians had crossed the Rhine, pillaged their way across Gaul (modern day France and Belgium), and seized control of Iberia (present-day Spain and Portugal). For a period, life was good as the invaders soaked up the Mediterranean sun and lives off the tax revenues that used to go to the Western Roman Empire.

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  • March 27, 2022
Tianzhou-2 Cargo Ship Departs China’s Tiangong Space Station

The Tianzhou-2 cargo ship departed the Tianhe core module of China’s space station on Sunday after 10 months in space, the Xinhua news agency reported. Controllers plan to send the vehicle to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere at an unspecified time. Tianzhou-2 was launched with 6.6 metric tons of supplies and fuel from Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on May 29, 2021. The vehicle was the first cargo ship sent […]

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  • March 27, 2022
Canvas GFX Partners with Voyager Space Services to Make Canvas Envision Available to Broad Network of Space-Focused Start-ups

BOSTON, March 24, 2022 (Canvas GFX PR) — Canvas GFX, Inc, the leading provider of visual communication solutions to the manufacturing and technical industries, today announced that it has partnered with Voyager Space Services, a Voyager Space Company, to make Canvas Envision available through the Voyager Space Services MarketSpace platform.

Voyager Space Services provides a curated portfolio of business and technical solutions to entrepreneurs and early-stage NewSpace companies that supports and accelerates their development. Voyager Space Services’ easy-access solutions enable company founders and executives to focus on innovation and product development, rather than time-consuming business operations tasks.

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  • March 27, 2022
NASA to Host Briefings, Interviews for Agency’s SpaceX Crew-4 Mission
Official portrait of Crew-4 astronauts Bob Hines, Samantha Cristoforetti, Jessica Watkins and Kjell Lindgren. (Credit: NASA-J.Valcarcel/ R.Markowitz/N.Moran)

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — A pair of news conferences on Thursday, March 31, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston will highlight the agency’s upcoming SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station. The mission will be NASA’s latest crew rotation flight involving a U.S. commercial spacecraft carrying astronauts.

The agency will hold a mission overview news conference at 10:30 a.m. EDT and a crew news conference at noon. Both news conferences will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

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  • March 27, 2022
Rocketing Aussie Space Manufacturing into the Future

GOLD COAST, QLD, March 25, 2022 (Gilmour Space Technologies PR) – A $157 million bid led by Queensland-based Gilmour Space Technologies to grow sovereign space manufacturing in Australia has been awarded the largest Modern Manufacturing Initiative Collaboration (MMIC) grant for Space by the Federal Government.

Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor MP said in a statement that the Government’s $52 million co-investment in the Australian Space Manufacturing Network (ASMN) project will help unlock further collaboration between small and medium businesses and researchers to see launch vehicles and satellites take off to space.

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  • March 27, 2022
Impulse Space Propulsion Names Industry Veteran Barry A. Matsumori Chief Operating Officer
Barry Matsumori

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (Impulse Space Propulsion PR) — Impulse Space Propulsion – a Space 2.0 pioneer providing agile, economical last-mile space payload delivery capabilities – is pleased to announce the appointment of Barry A. Matsumori to Chief Operating Officer (COO). An industry veteran with decades of experience in mobile wireless and Space 2.0 sectors, Barry will be a key member of Impulse’s executive team, instrumental in driving Impulse’s mission to become the go-to leader for in-space transportation of satellites to optimal orbits.

“We are super excited to welcome Barry to the team,” says Impulse Founder Tom Mueller, a renowned industry visionary who was a founding member of SpaceX. “Barry brings it all: inspirational leadership qualities, deep industry experience and high energy. His unique ability to create momentum out of thin air and motivate people to ride the wave will be a tremendous contribution to Impulse as we accelerate the transition to the use of inner solar system resources to protect Earth.”

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