OneWeb satellites were launched into orbit for the first time since February in a major success for India’s space program. SpaceX hit a trio of milestones in a single launch. And Russia launched twice, including the first flight of the year from the nation’s newest and least used spaceport.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Sidus Space PR) — Sidus Space, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIDU), a  Space-as-a-Service company, focused on mission critical hardware manufacturing combined with commercial satellite design, manufacture, launch, and data collection, today announced that it has signed a launch agreement with Vaya Space for four launches over multiple years.  Vaya Space is an emerging leader in sustainable space access and this agreement expands Sidus Space’s ability to deliver satellite services.

Sidus Space recently announced a launch agreement with SpaceX for a total of 5 expected launches in the next 13-15 months.  In addition, as an ISS implementation partner, Sidus also has the ability to launch from the ISS which creates multiple paths to orbit for LizzieSat^TM with the signing of this launch agreement with Vaya Space.   

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA has selected 16 individuals to participate in its independent study team on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or as known natural phenomena are categorized as UAPs.  

The independent study will begin on Monday, Oct. 24. Over the course of nine months, the independent study team will lay the groundwork for future study on the nature of UAPs for NASA and other organizations. To do this, the team will identify how data gathered by civilian government entities, commercial data, and data from other sources can potentially be analyzed to shed light on UAPs. It will then recommend a roadmap for potential UAP data analysis by the agency going forward. 

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is welcoming 21 new members to the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC). U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg approved the nominations along with the re-appointment of seven members.

Committee members provide information, advice and recommendations to the FAA and DOT about technology, business and policy issues regarding oversight of the U.S. commercial space transportation sector.

VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) mission. JPSS-2 is the third satellite in the polar satellite series and is expected to capture data to improve weather forecasts, helping scientists predict and prepare for extreme weather events and climate change.

The Australian Government’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has cleared Viasat’s planned acquisition of Inmarsat.

“We’re delighted to secure approval from the Australian Government. The combined business will have the scale, deep engineering capabilities and scope to deliver leading technology and services for our customers in Australia and across the globe,” said Viasat CEO and Executive Chairman Mark Dankberg. “Australia is well advanced as a space-faring nation and we are excited about the significant opportunities to support the growth of the Australian space sector, given the increased resources, unity of purpose and broader coverage the joint entity will have.”

Bloomberg reports the Biden Administration is weighing security review of several of Elon Musk’s ventures, including SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband network and the billionaire’s acquisition of Twitter. (Reuters has details for those who can’t get around Bloomberg’s paywall.)

SpaceX will offer high-speed, low-latency broadband services to aircraft beginning next year. Details include:

• Hardware: $150,000 (not including installation)
• Service: $12,500-$25,000 per month
• up to 350 Mbps to each plane
• latency as low as 20 ms
• No long-term contracts
• Unlimited data.

DENVER, Oct. 20, 2022 (Lockheed Martin PR) — Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is now under contract to deliver three Orion spacecraft to NASA for its Artemis VI-VIII missions, continuing the delivery of exploration vehicles to the agency to carry astronauts into deep space and around the Moon supporting the Artemis program.

With the maiden flight of Ariane 6 launcher delayed until the fourth quarter of 2023 and no access to Russian Soyuz boosters, the European Space Agency (ESA) has rebooked the Hera asteroid and Euclid space telescope missions for launches aboard a pair of SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets.

PARIS (ESA PR) — Ariane 6, the new heavy-lift launch system being developed by the European Space Agency, will make its inaugural flight as soon as the fourth quarter of 2023. Briefing media gathered at ESA’s Paris Bertrand headquarters on 19 October, Director General Joseph Aschbacher said sufficient progress had been made over the past several months to anticipate a Q4 2023 first flight, pending the realization of three key milestones before April next year.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Resplendent in a blue Virgin Galactic flight suit, Richard Branson was in an exuberant mood as he sat at the New York Stock Exchange doing a TV interview on Oct. 28, 2019. His space tourism company had just gone public in a $774 million merger with billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital Hedosophia special purpose acquisition company.

Virgin Galactic now had an estimated market value of more than $2.2 billion despite never having flown a single passenger or earned any serious revenue in 15 years. Virgin Galactic would have $450 million to complete its flight test program and begin commercial flights — if the company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings were to be believed — in June 2020. Branson and the Mubadala Investment Company, an Abu Dhabi government sovereign wealth fund, would divide up $274 million to offset about $1 billion in investment made thus far.