ALTADENA, Calif., January 25, 2022 (Honeybee Robotics PR – Honeybee Robotics (Honeybee) today announced that it will be acquired by Blue Origin. With major operations in Longmont, Colorado and Altadena, California, Honeybee will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Origin, headquartered in Kent, Washington. The deal between Honeybee’s parent organization, Ensign-Bickford Industries, and Blue Origin is expected to close in mid-February. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

Since 1983, Honeybee Robotics has delivered more than 1,000 advanced projects to government and industrial customers in the spacecraft, planetary exploration, defense robotics, medical devices, mining, oil and gas, and utility infrastructure sectors. Its innovative, reliable, and literally groundbreaking robotic systems operate throughout space: in commercial launch vehicles and satellites and doing innovative work on the Moon, Mars, and Titan. Honeybee’s extensive experience in planetary robotics and mechanisms, drills, motors, actuators, drive electronics, and specialized space mechanisms is complementary to Blue Origin’s system capability’s goal of making space flight routine, and vision of opening space resources to benefit Earth. 

RUAG Space and Stream Analyze collaborate to offer a platform for intelligent applications in space using Stream Analyze’ analytics platform sa.engine on the latest high performance satellite computer Lynx from RUAG Space.

GOTHENBURG/STOCKHOLM, Sweden (RUAG Space PR) – Swarms of hundreds or thousands of small satellites are increasingly used for bringing data and internet services to Earth. To position, communicate and dispose such large amounts of satellites, Artificial Intelligence is getting increasingly important. To enable a large-scale use of Artificial Intelligence in orbit, RUAG Space, Europe’s leading supplier to the space industry, and Stream Analyze, recognized as one of Sweden’s leading tech startups, are teaming up.

Companies seek to explore collaboration with RAFTI™ refueling system and Maxwell engines using both traditional and advanced propellants

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., January 24, 2022 (Phase Four PR) –– Phase Four, the creator of the radio-frequency thruster for satellite propulsion, announced today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Orbit Fab, the market leader for in-orbit refueling services and the creator of RAFTI, the industry standard satellite refueling interface. The companies seek to ensure that future Phase Four Maxwell engines may be refueled in-orbit to extend mission lifetimes and maximize ROI for spacecraft. The companies will evaluate RAFTI compatibility for refueling of traditional electric propulsion propellants such as xenon as well as advanced propellants such as ASCENT available to Phase Four’s propellant-agnostic core technology – the RF Thruster.

DALLAS (Jacobs PR) — Jacobs (NYSE:J) has been awarded the architecture and engineering phase one design contract by Axiom Space for the Assembly, Integration and Testing facility planned for the 400-acre Houston Spaceport in the heart of Space City at Ellington Airport. This new 100,000 sq ft facility will support Axiom Space’s mission to provide access to low Earth orbit and assemble the first commercial international space station.

Axiom Space’s vision is that commercial infrastructure and innovation in space can offer unique ways to improve life on Earth while advancing the human exploration of space. Once completed, the private space station will provide a central hub for research, to support microgravity experiments, manufacturing, and commerce in low Earth orbit missions.

• Isar Aerospace wins European Commission’s EIC Horizon Prize “Low-Cost Space Launch” for its launch service solution for independent space access and receives 10 million euros
• Isar Aerospace solidifies its position as Europe’s leading microlauncher company
• The prize marks an important moment in Europe’s path to achieving sovereignty in space

Munich, Brussels, 25 January 2022 (Isar Aerospace PR) – Isar Aerospace, the leading European launch service provider focusing on small and medium satellite deployment, announced today that it has won the European Commission’s EIC Horizon Prize “Low-Cost Space Launch”, receiving 10 million euros in prize money. The European Commission’s award was given to Isar Aerospace for its launch service solution using ‘Spectrum’, a two-stage launch vehicle that offers flexible and cost-efficient access to space for small and medium-sized satellites and constellations and drives the quest for European sovereignty in space.

Agency Seeks to Prevent World’s Largest Defense Contractor from Eliminating Last Independent U.S. Missile Propulsion Provider and Further Consolidating Markets Critical to National Security and Defense

WASHINGTON (FTC PR) — Today, the Federal Trade Commission sued to block Lockheed Martin Corporation’s $4.4 billion proposed vertical acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc, the last independent U.S. supplier of missile propulsion systems. Aerojet supplies advanced power, propulsion, and armament systems, which are critical components for the missiles made by Lockheed and other defense prime contractors. The agency’s complaint alleges that if the deal is allowed to proceed, Lockheed will use its control of Aerojet to harm rival defense contractors and further consolidate multiple markets critical to national security and defense. This is the agency’s first litigated defense merger challenge in decades.

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: Tuesday, January 25 — 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM EST): We welcome back DENNIS WINGO for news, views, commercial space happenings, policy and more. Wednesday, January 26 — Hotel Mars pre-recorded. See the Upcoming Show Menu at www.thespaceshow.com for details. Friday, January 28 — 9:30-11 AM PST; 11:30 AM- 1 PM CST; 12:30-2 PM EST: No live […]

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Umbra PR) – The NRO has selected Umbra for the first Focus Area—Commercial Radar—under the agency’s new Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Strategic Commercial Enhancements effort. Focused on commercial imagery and data, this initiative is specifically designed for the NRO to evaluate, leverage, and integrate new and emerging commercial phenomenologies like radar and radio frequency remote sensing.

“Supporting U.S. national security has always been core to Umbra’s mission and we are thrilled to be included in the NRO’s continued pivot towards a hybrid overhead architecture. We deeply believe that American companies in the commercial ISR space will make a very meaningful contribution to the U.S.’ ability to thrive.” said Jason Mallare, Vice President of Government Programs.

HOUSTON, January 24, 2022 (NASA PR) — SpaceX’s upgraded Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down at 4:05 p.m. EST off the Florida coast, marking the return of the company’s 24th contracted cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. The spacecraft carried more than 4,900 pounds of valuable scientific experiments and other cargo back to Earth.

M1 and M2 currently planned for launch as early as Q4 2022* and 2024*, respectively, and an early look at a new micro rover planned for first deployment on M2, among other updates

TOKYO – January 25, 2022 – Today, ispace, inc. (ispace), a lunar exploration company with its headquarters in Japan and regional offices in the United States and Europe, shared key developments related to the company’s HAKUTO-R program, which consists of its planned first and second lunar missions, Mission 1 (M1) and Mission 2 (M2).

ELaNa 41 Mission
NASA Fact Sheet

NASA is preparing to launch four small research satellites, known as CubeSats, that were developed by three universities and NASA’s John­son Space Center. The CubeSats, selected through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative  (CSLI), are fly­ing on the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa 41) mission. The launch of ELaNa 41 will be Astra Space Inc’s first operational satellite launch. The company is targeting January 2022 for liftoff of its Rocket 3.3 from Space Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

BOCA RATON, Fla. (PredaSAR PR) — PredaSAR, a Terran Orbital Corporation, has been selected for contract award under the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) Systems Acquisition Directorate’s Closed Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Strategic Collection Enhancements (SCE) in the Commercial Radar focus area.

PredaSAR is fielding one of the most technologically advanced commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) systems available in the satellite imaging industry. The PredaSAR constellation will offer robust capabilities to commercial and national security customers, including a flexible and responsive remote sensing platform, low latency, frequent revisit times, and the ability to host secondary payloads.