• OneWeb Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to service NEOM, the Kingdom and MEA, transforming connectivity to businesses and rural communities
• High-speed connectivity will be a vital enabler of groundbreaking ecosystem of cognitive technologies

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, 26 October 2021 (OneWeb PR) — NEOM Tech & Digital Holding Company – the first holding company to be established as a subsidiary of NEOM – and OneWeb, the global communications network powered from space, have signed a $200 million (SAR 750m) joint venture agreement to bring high-speed satellite connectivity to NEOM, Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East and neighboring East African countries.

• Strategic collaboration aims to pair Verizon’s terrestrial mobile network with Amazon’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network, Project Kuiper.
• Project Kuiper to deliver cellular backhaul solutions to extend Verizon’s 4G/LTE and 5G data networks, connecting rural and remote communities in the U.S.
• Verizon and Project Kuiper to explore joint connectivity solutions for domestic and global enterprises across agriculture, energy, manufacturing, education, emergency response, transportation and other industries.

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. (Verizon PR) — Today, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) and Project Kuiper, an advanced low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network from Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced a strategic collaboration to develop connectivity solutions for unserved and underserved communities. As part of the collaboration, Project Kuiper and Verizon have begun to develop technical specifications and define preliminary commercial models for a range of connectivity services for U.S. consumers and global enterprise customers operating in rural and remote locations around the world.

Space Adventures says it was forced to cancel a reservation with SpaceX to send four paying passengers on a multi-day tourist trip to Earth orbit. Agence France-Presse reports: “Ultimately our reservation with SpaceX expired and that’s not a mission that we are going to be executing in the immediate future,” Shelley said, but did not rule out future partnerships with the company. Space Adventures was not about to work out […]

• Another $2 Million in Research Fund Available for Viable Proposals
• Applications Accepted Until February 21, 2022

EXPLORATION PARK, FL and JERUSALEM, ISRAEL, October 25, 2021 (Space Florida PR) – Space Florida and the Israel Innovation Authority have issued a new joint call for project proposals valued at $2 million in research and development funding.

This is the ninth year that Space Florida and the Israel Innovation Authority are conducting the competition. In October 2013, Florida and Israel initiated an annually recurring $2 million joint program to support research, development and commercialization of aerospace and related technology projects that benefit both Israel and the State of Florida. The projects approved to date encompass a wide range of promising research, including the development of next generation 3D printed circuit systems, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), innovative radiation shielding technology, next-generation capacitors to power spacecraft, and identifying specific changes in human muscle and immune cells to model disease in reduced gravity environments.

TOKYO, October 25, 2021 (ispace PR) – Today, ispace, inc. (ispace) announced that it raised additional financing from Airbus Ventures, as part of an extension of the lunar exploration company’s Series C investment round, following its initial Series C funding announced on August 4, 2021, and its Series C extension round funding announced on October 20th.

With this latest investment, ispace’s total amount raised since seed investment is approximately $200 million (USD).^[i] The funds from ispace’s Series C investment round are planned to be applied toward ispace’s second lunar mission, which is planned to launch in 2023^[ii], as well as to support the development of its Series 2 lunar lander for its third mission, which is currently planned to launch in 2024^[iii]. The Series 2 lander for the third mission is currently being developed in the United States.

Company completes in orbit commissioning and will begin customer use case demonstration

Luxembourg, 25 October 2021 (OQ Technology PR) – 5G satellite operator OQ Technology has successfully completed the in orbit commissioning (IOC) of its Tiger-2 nanosatellite, and is ready to commence customer demonstrations. The company is already in talks with several potential customers interested in using the company’s satellite-based 5G IoT services and will start commercial services for “latency-tolerant” low-power devices this beginning next year.

“Completing the IOC phase and the successful tests with our terminals in remote locations was a crucial step to start generating revenue via the satellite and progress the constellation with more satellites to be launched in early 2022,” said Omar Qaise, founder and CEO of OQ Technology. “In addition to potential customers, we are also negotiating with cellular chip partners to scale up the satellite access capability to existing cellular IoT chips globally. Our next step is starting service demonstrations with our potential customers and their use cases.”

DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 26, 2021 (RFA PR) – SENER Aeroespacial and Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) have agreed on a launch service contract. As a result, SENER Aeroespacial will launch its E.T.PACK technology demonstrator with the RFA ONE micro launcher.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission is set to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon on Sunday, Oct. 31. The mission includes three NASA astronauts – mission Commander Raja Chari, Pilot Tom Marshburn, and Mission Specialist Kayla Barron – as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, who will also serve as a mission specialist.

Aboard Dragon with the crew will be more than 400 pounds of supplies and hardware, including over 150 pounds of which they will use to conduct experiments aboard the space station. Here is some of the research riding with them into low-Earth orbit.

DUBAI, UAE (NASA PR) — Poland has joined a growing list of nations affirming their commitment to ensuring sustainable space exploration by signing the Artemis Accords, which establish a common set of principles benefiting all of humanity. Grzegorz Wrochna, president of the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), signed the document Oct. 26 during a ceremony attended by NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melory at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: Monday, October 25 — SPECIAL DAY AND TIME: 7 PM PDT (9 PM CST; 10 PM EDT): We welcome back BOB ZIMMERMAN for news and policy updates. Tuesday, October 26 — 7 PM PDT (9 PM CST; 10 PM EDT): We welcome back DR. JIM DEWAR for his latest on space nuclear rockets and propulsion. Wednesday, October 27 — Hotel […]

TUCSON, Ariz. (Phantom Space PR) — Phantom Space Corporation, the space transportation technology development and manufacturing company, today announced the hiring of Chris Thompson, one of the space industry’s most sought after space engineers and executives. Chris will serve as Chief Technology Officer, where he is responsible for the company’s direct development and oversight of launch vehicles and satellites including the Daytona rocket, which the company aims to start flying in 2023. Phantom currently has satellite programs underway and will be commencing stage level testing of its Daytona launch vehicle in early 2022.

Video Caption: NASA is crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid… on purpose! Our #DARTmission is a first-of-its-kind #PlanetaryDefense test to change the motion of an asteroid in space so that we could use this technique if an asteroid were ever discovered to be a threat to Earth. Follow DART: www.nasa.gov/DART The DART mission is a test of a technique that could be used to mitigate the threat of an asteroid […]