MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — On Monday, December 20, 2021, the crew of the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft returned to Earth from a space expedition. For the Hero of Russia, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, she was the third in a row and the shortest – only twelve days. The crew commander was tasked with delivering to the ISS and then returning to Earth the Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano, who made space travel as tourists.

WESTMINSTER, Colo. (Maxar Technologies PR) — Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR) (TSX:MAXR), provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, today announced contract extensions with three long-standing international defense and intelligence customers.

The three agreements total more than $100 million and extend these customers’ ability to directly task and download 30 cm-class satellite imagery to their ground stations from Maxar’s current constellation under Maxar’s Direct Access Program. This program enables defense, intelligence and commercial customers to access the world’s most advanced Earth imaging satellites, with encrypted downlinks, committed availability and data distribution rights that fit mission needs.

New contract advances CAES Gaisler product portfolio to include a 16-core RISC-V platform that will enable the next generation of space-grade fault- and radiation-tolerant microprocessors.

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, DECEMBER 22, 2021 (CAES PR) – CAES, a leader in advanced mission-critical electronics, has been awarded a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop a fault- and radiation-tolerant system-on-chip. Funded by the Swedish National Space Agency, the project will improve performance and power efficiency in satellite and spacecraft applications by developing a 16-core, space-hardened microprocessor based on the open RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA).

Deal is part of DEWA’s Space-D programme

COLUMBIA, Ill. (NanoAvionics PR) — Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has selected NanoAvionics, a leading smallsat manufacturer and mission integrator company, to design, build, test, and manage the launching of two nanosatellites 3U and 6U. The services supplied by NanoAvionics also include operation, knowledge transfer and training. This is part of DEWA’s space-D programme that seeks to enhance operational efficiency and reliability, and promote preventive maintenance for the planning, generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and water networks.

Through this programme, DEWA will lead the industry in improving the operations, maintenance and planning of its networks with the support of nanosatellite technology. Space-D supports DEWA’s grid digitalisation programme by using IoT and remote sensing technologies.

Virgin Orbit and Arqit Quantum announce an extension to their collaboration that will accelerate space-based encryption services to private, defense, and intelligence customers globally.

• Arqit has contracted exclusively with Virgin Orbit for Arqit’s launch needs for up to 5 launches from Spaceport Cornwall beginning in 2023.
• Virgin Orbit has acquired a quantum cloud encryption license from Arqit to provide encryption protection for its launch and space solutions businesses.
• The two companies have previously announced a $5 million investment from Virgin Orbit into Arqit’s SPAC.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (Virgin Orbit PR) — Virgin Orbit, the responsive launch and space solutions company that has announced a planned business combination with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II (“NextGen”) (NASDAQ: NGCA), has signed a new launch contract covering two dedicated launches for Arqit Quantum, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQQ), a global leader in quantum encryption technology, plus additional commitments. The two Arqit satellites delivered to Earth orbit by Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne air-launched system will be the core component of Arqit’s Platform-as-a-Service, delivering the root source of randomness to all Arqit data centres using Arqit’s ground breaking Quantum protocol ARQ19.

SPOCS team members from NASA, DreamUp, and Nanoracks with the University of Idaho and Columbia University SPOCS teams at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA Kennedy Space Center CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., December 21, 2021 (DreamUp PR – At 5:07 AM ET today, Tuesday, December 21st, the 24th cargo resupply mission from SpaceX lifted off carrying six student experiments from DreamUp in its Dragon capsule, alongside about 6,500 pounds of cargo, equipment, experiments, and […]

FAA’s plan to complete work on the preliminary environmental assessment for SpaceX’s expanded operations at Boca Chica by the end of December has been pushed back at least a month to end of January. This is due to the need for additional interagency consultation on the Endangered Species Act relating the impacts of Super Heavy/Starship launches and landings at the south Texas site. ESG Hound, who has been following the […]

MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — Today, December 23, 2021, at 02:03 Moscow time, the instrument-assembly compartment of the Progress M-UM cargo module undocked from the Prichal module of the International Space Station in the normal mode. Thus, he freed the airlock for subsequent docking of Russian manned and cargo ships.

LUXEMBOURG, DECEMBER 17, 2021 (NorthStar Earth & Space PR) – The Luxembourg Future Fund (LFF) will be investing in NorthStar Earth & Space. The investment is building on the announcement made in December 2019 of a partnership between Luxembourg’s Ministry of the Economy and the Canadian-based company.

For nearly four decades, Luxembourg has been at the forefront of commercial and co-operative initiatives that have shaped a vibrant space economy by attracting ground-breaking companies in this sector. NorthStar is the first commercial service aiming at monitoring space, from space, via a constellation of satellites with dedicated optical sensors to deliver timely and precise Space Traffic Data, Collision Avoidance and Navigation Services. Monitoring of space objects has, so far, mainly been done using ground-based data. This method gives information on the distribution of space objects but has limitations when it comes to small objects, which can also cause serious damages due to their velocity.

TOKYO, 23 December 2021 (MHI PR) – Inmarsat, the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd (MHI), one of the world’s leading launch services providers, announce the successful launch of Inmarsat’s first satellite in the Inmarsat-6 series (I-6 F1) by MHI’s H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 45 (H-IIA F45).

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (SpaceX PR) — On December 21, 2021, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched Dragon on the 24th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-24) mission for NASA from historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, completing our 31st and final launch of the year. Dragon separated from Falcon 9’s second stage about twelve minutes after liftoff and will autonomously dock to the space station on Wednesday, December 22.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — While the International Space Station was traveling more than 260 miles over the South Pacific Ocean, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft autonomously docked to the space-facing side of the orbiting laboratory’s Harmony module at 3:41 a.m. EST, Wednesday, Dec. 22. NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Thomas Marshburn were monitoring docking operations for Dragon.