ALAMEDA, Calif., August 12, 2021 (Astra Space PR) — Astra Space, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASTR) today announced financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended June 30, 2021.

“Astra achieved several key milestones in the first half of 2021 to further its mission to improve life on Earth from space,” said CEO, Chairman and Co-Founder Chris Kemp. “Astra obtained significant funding to further our plan for rapid, low-cost access to space by completing the Holicity merger and associated PIPE transaction. We delivered on key customer initiatives by winning our second NASA contract in a row (TROPICS) and signing a long-term launch deal with Planet Labs. And last week, we announced Space Force as our first commercial customer for a test launch planned during a sixteen-day window beginning August 27, 2021. I am pleased with our execution and want to thank the entire Astra team for their dedicated efforts. We all look forward to the upcoming launch.”

SWINDON, UK (UK Space Agency PR) — A pioneering programme to help firms find their place in space has given a total of 31 businesses a £900,000 boost and created new jobs – and the search is now on to find the next group of entrepreneurs.

Twenty businesses will be supported on the next phase of the Leo Programme, a free six-month accelerator run by the UK Space Agency and powered by Entrepreneurial Spark, where they will get access to tailored, specialist online and in-person support from space industry and business growth experts.

The programme is open to businesses already in the space sector and those already exploring the possibilities presented by the industry. Firms working in a linked industry looking for a route into the space sector can also apply.

Reaction to IPCC 6th Assessment Report from Working Group 1 “Today, scientists from across the globe delivered the most up-to-date assessment of the ways in which the climate is changing. It is a sobering IPCC report that finds that human influence is, unequivocally, causing climate change, and it confirms the impacts are widespread and rapidly intensifying. It is clear that inaction to mitigate climate change is making it worse. The […]

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (NASA PR) — Technicians continue to prepare small satellites, called CubeSats, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their upcoming launch on the Artemis I mission. Technicians from the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems and contractor Jacobs worked with developers of the shoebox-sized secondary payloads as they underwent final processing and were secured inside the Orion stage adapter. The ring-shaped stage adapter will be connected to the Space Launch System (SLS) Interim Cryogenic […]

Leading provider of space-based data and analytics chosen to support launch of agricultural product, expand image analysis solutions

VIENNA, Va. & RESTON, Va. (Spire Global PR) –Spire Global, Inc. (“Spire” or “the Company”), a leading provider of space-based data, analytics, and space services, is expanding its East Asian operations, announcing today a new partnership and satellite mission with its first South Korean Space Services customer, Hancom Group, a leading ICT convergence company. This will be the first commercial satellite mission for a private South Korean company.

Hancom will host an optical payload on a Low Earth Multi-Use Receiver (LEMUR), Spire’s 3U nanosatellite, named “HANCOM” to support the launch of a new product focused on the agriculture sector, including landscaping applications, and expansion of its existing image analysis portfolio offerings. In addition to utilizing Spire’s services for its own operations, Hancom will also act as Spire’s first reseller within South Korea. Spire continues to expand its partnerships to serve customers across the world.

PARIS (ESA PR) — ESA is expanding its efforts to spark innovation in the UK by enabling a growing number of fledgling firms to transform ambitious space-based ideas into commercial reality. 

Today the ESA Business Incubation Centre UK (ESA BIC UK) welcomed British company Skyfarer, which is developing the UK’s first autonomous drone delivery network for the rapid provision of life-saving medical supplies.

This marks a milestone of 100 start-ups supported by the programme in the decade since its inception.

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. (Boeing PR) — Today, Boeing informed NASA that the company will destack its CST-100 Starliner from the Atlas V rocket and return the spacecraft to the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility (C3PF) for deeper-level troubleshooting of four propulsion system valves that remain closed after last Tuesday’s scrubbed launch. Starliner has sat atop the Atlas V rocket in ULA’s Vertical Integration Facility since August […]

LONDON (Ministry of Defence PR) — The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) have awarded a £9.5 million [US $13.1 million] contract to In-Space Missions Ltd for the build of the Titania satellite, which will undertake vital research on the next-generation of communications technology.

To be launched in 2023 and approximately the size of a washing machine, the satellite will support the ‘Titania Operational Concept Demonstrator’ which is exploring the military utility of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) direct-to-earth free-space optical communications (FSOC).

As modern battlespace technology requires increasingly high bandwidth, FSOC has the potential to transform military communications with its ability to transfer large volumes of data, with a low risk of detection or interception.

LONDON & WHITEHORSE, YT, 11 August 2021 (OneWeb PR) — OneWeb, the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, and Northwestel, northern Canada’s largest telecommunications provider, today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand remote mining, enterprise business and government broadband options in northern Canada.

The announcement follows the successful completion of OneWeb’s ‘Five to 50’ programme that has delivered the satellites required to bring OneWeb services to Canada, the UK and Northern Europe later this year.

LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (USSF PR) — The United States Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center will partner with Astra, a wholly-owned U.S. company based in Alameda, California, to perform a demonstration launch for the Department of Defense from the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska later this month.  

• Around $6.4bn was invested into SpaceTech in the first half of 2021 – equivalent to 85 per cent of investment for the whole of 2020
• The number of space deals this year is on track to eclipse the record set in 2018
• Global private investment in Q2 2021 was at a record $3.7bn, up from $2.7bn invested in Q1 2021
• The space industrial revolution is demonstrably in full swing as 573 satellites were launched during the quarter
• Seraphim’s oversubscribed Initial Public Offering provides investors with a new way to get involved in the SpaceTech market which is set for substantial growth

LONDON, August 11, 2021 (Seraphim Capital PR) — The SpaceTech sector experienced another record-breaking quarter of venture financing in Q2 2021, both in terms of amounts invested and deals done, according to the latest figures from the Seraphim SpaceTech Venture Capital Index (“the Index”) published today. 

Written by Louise Jandura
Chief Engineer for Sampling & Caching at NASA/JPL

PASADENA, Calif. — After the commands for sol 164 were sent for the first sample acquisition and processing on the target Roubion, it was time to take a few hours off and wait for the result. More than 90 engineers and scientists who had worked years preparing for this moment gathered online at 2 am PDT on Friday, August 6 to wait together for the first data from the coring operation. This data verified that the Corer had achieved the full commanded depth (7 centimeters) and we saw the image of the hole on Mars surrounded by the cuttings pile (material produced around the borehole during coring). So far, so good we thought as we signed off to try and get a few more hours of sleep before the next set of data arrived about 6 hours later.