REDMOND, Wash., February 24, 2022 (Xplore PR) — Xplore Inc. announced it has received $16.2 million in funding to date. The company has aligned itself with exceptional strategic and veteran space sector investors, including: Alumni Ventures, Brightstone Venture Capital, KittyHawk Ventures, Private Shares Fund, Starbridge Venture Capital, Helios Capital, Lombard Street and Gaingels. Notable investors also include Tremendous View, Kingfisher Capital and Dylan Taylor – commercial astronaut and CEO of Voyager Space.

Lynk will begin commercial services in 2022

FALLS CHURCH, Va., February 23, 2022 (Lynk Global PR) — Lynk Global, Inc. (Lynk), the world’s leading satellite-direct-to-phone telecoms company, today announced that it has signed multiple commercial contracts with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) covering seven island nations in the Pacific and Caribbean, including with Telikom Limited in Papua New Guinea- (PNG) and bmobile in the Solomon Islands. Lynk has seen a clear acceleration of contract signings with island nations in response to the recent disaster in Tonga. 

Islands create many difficult challenges for mobile connectivity, including hard to reach locations that drive up the cost of tower construction, exposure to the harsh maritime environment that constantly degrades towers, increasing maintenance costs, and reducing reliability, and populations that are dispersed across large geographies. 

SpaceX Update
Feb. 22, 2022

SpaceX was founded to revolutionize space technology towards making life multiplanetary. SpaceX is the world’s leading provider of launch services and is proud to be the first private company to have delivered astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), and the first and only company to complete an all-civilian crewed mission to orbit. As such, SpaceX is deeply committed to maintaining a safe orbital environment, protecting human spaceflight, and ensuring the environment is kept sustainable for future missions to Earth orbit and beyond.

• Sierra Space recently completed a record-setting $1.4 billion capital raise
• The 1,000 new positions will support the development of Dream Chaser®, the world’s first commercial spaceplane

LOUISVILLE, Colo., February 24, 2022 (Sierra Space PR) – Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company with 1,100 employees, more than 500 missions and over 30 years of space flight heritage, today outlined plans for an extensive recruitment drive that will see the company significantly increase its headcount by nearly doubling its labor force and creating 1,000 net new jobs this year. 

The $143 million contract is the largest spacecraft bus order placed with Rocket Lab to date, encompassing the design and manufacture of 17 state-of-the-art spacecraft for Globalstar’s newest satellites

LONG BEACH, Calif., February 24, 2022 (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a global leader in launch services and space systems, today announced that it has been awarded a subcontract by MDA Ltd (TSX: MDA), a leading provider of advanced technology and services to the rapidly expanding global space industry, to lead the design and manufacture of 17 spacecraft buses for Globalstar’s new Low Earth Orbit satellites. Globalstar, Inc. (NYSE American: GSAT) is a leading provider of Mobile Satellite Services including customizable satellite IoT solutions for individuals and businesses globally.

SAN DIEGO, February 23, 2022 (Voyager Space PR) — Voyager Space Inc. (Voyager), a space technology company with nearly 20 years of spaceflight heritage, and Space Micro, Inc., powered by Voyager and a provider of digital, electro-optic and communications systems for satellites, deep space exploration and other space equipment, today announced an award from the Space Development Agency (SDA) for a 24-month development contract for advanced one-to-many optical communications using Managed Optical Communication Array (MOCA) technology to support Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations. Space Micro partnered with BridgeComm Inc., a global leader in optical wireless communications solutions and services.

“We are thrilled that SDA has selected Space Micro, along with our outstanding partners at BridgeComm,” said David Strobel, Executive Chair of Space Micro. “We are looking forward to further testing our technology to enhance the overall architecture in LEO.”

Video Caption: Stratolaunch Lead Systems Engineer Stu Yun discusses preparation for the carrier aircraft’s fourth flight test, in which the team will retract and extend all of the aircraft landing gear for the first time. Editor’s Note: The video spotlights some of the tradeoffs with advanced flying machines built by Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites. They are capable of very innovative designs that push the outside of the envelope on […]

LAS CRUCES, NM (Virgin Galactic PR) — Virgin Galactic today announced the first students to be awarded scholarships in the Galactic Unite Black Leaders in Aerospace Scholarship and Training (BLAST) program.

BLAST is a scholarship, mentoring and fellowship program for college Sophomore through to Senior year Black scholars pursuing STEM education with a focus on aerospace in the U.S.

CLEVELAND, February 23, 2022 (HeroX PR) — HeroX, the leading platform and open marketplace for crowdsourced solutions, today launched the NASA’s Watts on the Moon Phase 2 Challenge prize competition on behalf of NASA. In support of the agency’s return to the Moon under Artemis, which will  establish a long-term human presence at the Moon, NASA seeks innovative engineering approaches that will integrate power transmission and energy storage to support astronauts, hardware, and systems in the extremely challenging thermal and lighting conditions on the lunar surface. 

“Challenges like Watts on the Moon give us the chance to utilize the creativity of industry, academia, and the public to power our return to the Moon,” said Jim Reuter, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “I look forward to seeing how their solutions may also have important applications here on Earth and help advance similar technologies for terrestrial application and commercialization.” 

The consortium led by Thales Alenia Space signs the feasibility study contract with Italian Space Agency

ROME, February 21, 2022 (Thales Alenia Space PR) — Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed a contract with the Italian space agency (ASI) to conduct a feasibility study for the PRISMA Second Generation (PSG) hyperspectral Earth observation system. It will be leading a consortium that includes Leonardo, Telespazio (the joint-venture between Leonardo (67%) and Thales (33%), e-GEOS and SITAEL.

Translated from French by Google Translate

PARIS (CNES PR) — The advent of NewSpace has profoundly upset the space industry and prompted traditional players to review their strategies in the face of multiple initiatives from new private players over the past twenty years. This sector, now more accessible, opens up a considerable number of opportunities and French space players must face up to rapidly changing challenges in order to remain in the international race.

A collective of space players, fully convinced of the need to accelerate the transformation of the ecosystem – 3i3s Europa, Alliance NewSpace France, ASTech Paris Region, CNES, ESA, Eutelsat, Geodesic, GIFAS, ISAE SUPAERO, NewSpace Club, Paris-Saclay Hardware Accelerator, SAFE, Toulouse Capitole University (Sirius Chair) – has therefore decided to organize the first NewSpace Meetings, on July 7 and 8, 2022 at Station F, Paris. It is in this context that a major public consultation has been launched for all interested natural or legal persons.

Ground-based radar system designed to continuously detect, track and maintain custody of deep space objects

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Feb. 23, 2022 (Northrop Grumman PR) – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has been awarded a $341 million contract by the U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) to develop, test and deliver a Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) in support of its Space Domain Awareness mission.