Welcome to this week’s edition of S-SPACⁱ.

Spire Global’s (NYS: SPIR) weather data is being integrated into myairops’ aviation software in a deepening of the two companies’ strategic data partnership. The updated software will provide customers with additional situational awareness and data insights.

SpaceX has postponed a planned launch of a Falcon 9 rocket with 49 Starlink communications satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base until Monday morning due to the need complete pre-flight checks. The launch is scheduled at 8:34 a.m. PST (11:34 a.m. EST/16:34 UTC), with a backup launch opportunity later in the day at 12:30 p.m. PST (3:30 p.m. EST/20:31 UTC). SpaceX will webcast the launch.

Also news about Anuvu & Starlink, AAC Clyde Space, Space Forge, Mynaric, Orbital Assembly Corporation & ESA’s 5G/6G Hub Expansion

Contracts & Deals

Intuitive Machines Announces Agreement to Deliver AstroForge’s Asteroid Mining Payload

Houston-based Intuitive Machines, LLC has signed an agreement to deliver AstroForge’s Brokkr-2 spacecraft to deep space to observe an asteroid the California company is targeting for mining operations. Brokkr-2 is expected to launch during Intuitive Machines’ second lunar mission in the second half of 2023.

There’s good news and bad news in the latest scientific assessment of Earth’s vital ozone layer, which helps to protect life on Earth by absorbing the Sun’s ultraviolet light.

A pair of Chinese companies recently announced they were teaming up to build a massive new spaceport in Djibouti. If you were like me, you probably wondered: where is Djibouti? And why is China building a spaceport there?

Great questions. Let’s find out.

China had a highly successful 2022 in space as it completed initial construction of its Tiangong space station, launched two crews to occupy it, and set a new national record with 64 launch attempts.

Rocket Lab completed its first launch from U.S. soil as an Electron rocket roared off its launch pad in Virginia and placed three signal collection satellites into orbit.

Welcome to S-SPACⁱ.

Shares of SatixFy Communications (NYS: SATX) plunged by $4.94 (68.3 percent) to $2.29 on Tuesday following the announcement that the Israeli satellite communications equipment manufacturer is looking to sell up to 28.4 million shares and $1 million in redeemable warrants.

Down at Starbase in Texas, SpaceX completed a “flight-like wet dress rehearsal” by filling Starship and its Super Heavy Booster with propellants for the first time.

When Shri S. Somanath assumed the chairmanship of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) last January, he took over a space agency that had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. ISRO conducted only four launches in 2020-21, one of which failed. The pandemic had wrecked an ambitious plan to launch Indian astronauts into orbit before the 75th anniversary of the nation’s independence from Britain in August 2022.

Rocket Lab is scheduled to launch its Electron rocket from U.S. soil for the first time on Tuesday. The window for the launch three signal collection satellites for HawkEye 360 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) in Virginia runs from 6-8 pm EST (23:00-01:00 UTC). The company will webcast the launch on YouTube.

Welcome to this week’s business roundup. In today’s edition: ClearSpace, Stell and Magnestar complete raises; World View is set to become the world’s first space SPAC; CesiumAstro acquires an UK startup; Thales Alenia Space, Spaceflight Inc., Sidus Space announce new business deals; and multiple companies make executive appointments.