VIENNA, 26 October 2021 (Airbus PR) — The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and Airbus Defence and Space have selected the winner of their joint opportunity for a free one year mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The climate mission supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals will fly on Bartolomeo, the Airbus external payload hosting platform.

Editor’s Note: The satellite will replace Nusantara-2, aka Palapa-N1, which was destroyed during the failed launch of China’s Long March 3B rocket on April 9, 2020.

DJAKARTA, Dubai, October 28, 2021 (Thales Alenia Space PR) – Thales Alenia Space announced that it has signed a contract with the leading satellite service provider in Indonesia, PT Telkom Satelit Indonesia (Telkomsat) as subsidiary of PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (Telkom) a state-owned digital telecommunication company in Indonesia, to build HTS 113BT, a new High Throughput Satellite telecommunications satellite in C-band/Ku-Band from its orbital position at 113° East.

SpaceX has won a contract to launch to launch the United Arab Emirates first largely domestically produced satellite as a rideshare payload aboard a Falcon 9 rocket in 2023. MBZ-Sat will be the UAE’s fourth imaging satellite, with nearly double the resolution of the earlier KhalifaSat. MBZ-Sat is named after Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE […]

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., October 26th, 2021 (Hedron PR) — Analytical Space (the “Company”) today announced that it has closed a $17.8M Series A equity funding round, enabling the firm to accelerate the development of the initial operating capability of the world’s first hybrid optical/RF data relay network. In addition, the Company is officially rebranding to Hedron, effective immediately. Hedron represents a shortening of the polyhedron shape, a reference to the Company’s network topology and core optical communications technology design.

The round was led by Fine Structure Venture, joined by Lockheed Martin Ventures, Republic Labs, Lime Street, and Explorer 1, and existing investors: The Engine, Flybridge, Yard Ventures, NKM Capital, and Space Angels. These funds enable Hedron to expand its U.S. operations to support the company’s growing pipeline of government and commercial business.

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — New findings from NASA’s Juno probe orbiting Jupiter provide a fuller picture of how the planet’s distinctive and colorful atmospheric features offer clues about the unseen processes below its clouds. The results highlight the inner workings of the belts and zones of clouds encircling Jupiter, as well as its polar cyclones and even the Great Red Spot.

NASA is looking into whether mixed reality technology could help with repairs and upgrades on the cutting-edge Cold Atom Lab aboard the space station.

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA’s Cold Atom Lab is a first-of-its-kind physics laboratory operating in Earth orbit. About the size of a mini-fridge, it hosts multiple experiments that explore the fundamental nature of atoms by cooling them down to nearly absolute zero (the coldest temperature matter can reach). The ultracold atoms provide a window into the quantum realm, where matter exhibits strange behaviors that underpin many modern technologies.

Agreement Signed to Conduct Yearly Consumer Zero-Gravity Parabolic Flights from the Canary Islands, as well as Future Orbital Rocket Air-Launches of Satellites for the NewSpace Industry.

MADRID, Oct. 27, 2021 (0-G Launch PR) — 0-G Launch, an innovative Washington DC-based provider of the Space Jet™ horizontal rocket air-launch and microgravity service aircraft, and the Canary Islands Aeronautic and Aerospace Cluster -CAAC, an international center of excellence dedicated to promoting companies in the aeronautical-aerospace sector in the archipelago, today announced the signature of an agreement to initiate consumer zero-gravity parabolic flights from the islands in 2023.

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFNS) —  The Air Force Research Laboratory has partnered with ThermAvant Technologies and Maxar Technologies to develop and deploy the next generation of spacecraft thermal control technology.

The groundbreaking technology, Oscillating Heat Pipes (OHPs), provides lightweight and highly-efficient temperature control on higher-power, yet smaller spacecraft. The OHP was recently launched in the second quarter of 2021 on a Maxar-built satellite.

• $345 million cash-in-trust from Tailwind Two
• $50 million PIPE with participation from AE Industrial Partners, Beach Point Capital, Daniel Staton and Lockheed Martin
• $75 million of additional financial commitments from Francisco Partners and Beach Point Capital
• Transaction expected to close in first quarter of 2022

New York, NY. and BOCA RATON, FL. (October 28, 2021) — Tailwind Two Acquisition Corp. (NYSE:TWNT) (“Tailwind Two”), a special purpose acquisition company, and Terran Orbital Corporation, the global leader and pioneer in the development, innovation and operation of small satellites and earth observation solutions, jointly announced today that they have entered into a definitive business combination agreement.  Upon the closing of the transaction, the combined company (the “Company”) will operate as Terran Orbital Corporation, with plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol LLAP. The pro forma total enterprise value of the combined companies is approximately $1.58 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., October 27, 2021 (NewSpace New Mexico PR) — NewSpace New Mexico (NewSpace), a 501(c)(3) non-profit that is uniting and igniting the business-focused commercial space ecosystem, is creating a data-driven platform intended to facilitate partnerships and accelerate innovation. The platform, developed in partnership with data science and analytics firm RS21, will improve virtual collaboration, learning environments and co-innovation for its more than one hundred members in government, industry and academia.

The platform will support a public-facing website, a real-time stakeholder engagement dashboard and a membership management application that centralizes NewSpace membership sign-up, access and security features. As it develops, the platform will also incorporate open source and procured data of interest to the NewSpace community to enhance knowledge management and connect members to national and international opportunities.

Finalists of this Sustainability Challenge may have the opportunity to launch flight projects to the orbiting laboratory under the sponsorship of the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (FL), October 28, 2021 – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS), manager of the ISS National Lab, today announced a sustainability challenge in partnership with leading global prestige beauty brand Estée Lauder. The ISS National Lab Sustainability Challenge: Beyond Plastics aims to utilize the orbiting laboratory to advance sustainability research that addresses the plastics dilemma.

DUBAI, UAE, 28 October 2021 (Plus Ultra Space Outpost/RFA PR) – Plus Ultra Space Outpost (Plus Ultra) and Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) have jointly signed an agreement for launching a demonstrator mission to the Moon.

RFA will launch Plus Ultra’s demonstrator mission towards the end of 2023 on the RFA ONE launch system. Plus Ultra’s first satellite will launch into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO), from where it will use its own propulsion to reach lunar orbit and become the first satellite to initialise Plus Ultra’s cis-lunar constellation “Harmony”. The satellite will also be the first private orbiter with electric propulsion going to and orbiting the Moon.