CANBERRA, Australia (Northrop Grumman PR) – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) announced it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Queensland-based rocket company, Gilmour Space Technologies, to support the development of Australian sovereign space capabilities.

Northrop Grumman aims to lead industry support in developing Australian sovereign space capabilities to help meet the needs of defence and realise the Australian Space Agency vision,” said Chris Deeble, chief executive, Northrop Grumman Australia. “Our approach is consistent with the Australian government’s recently announced Modern Manufacturing Strategy, to make space hardware in Australia while securing sovereign capabilities in priority areas that includes defence and space.”

LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (USSF SMC PR) ––  U.S Space Force’s Space And Missile Systems Center,  (SMC) along with its partners have announced the winners of International Space Pitch Day (ISPD). Small tech companies and start-ups from multiple countries had the opportunity to pitch their ideas in front of several U.S., U.K. and N.A.T.O. allied defense leaders on Nov. 16, 2020.

During the event, ten start-ups successfully secured same-day contracts and a slice of the $1M pot, to fast-track the development of their innovations. This marks the first time two nations have come together to award defense contracts based around a pitch-style event and the first time two nations have awarded joint defense innovation contracts to foreign companies.

Telesat to remain Canadian controlled, will become a publicly listed company on Nasdaq, and is considering listing on a Canadian stock exchange.

OTTAWA, CANADA, November 24, 2020 (Telesat Canada PR) – Telesat Canada announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL) (Loral) and Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) pursuant to which Telesat Canada and Loral will become subsidiaries of Telesat Corporation (Telesat), a new publicly traded Canadian incorporated and controlled company.  

The shares of Telesat will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market at the closing of the transaction, the market on which Loral is currently listed, and Telesat is also considering a listing on a Canadian stock exchange in connection with the closing of the transaction in 2021. Telesat Corporation will be headquartered in Ottawa and led by Telesat Canada’s Chief Executive Officer Daniel S. Goldberg. Telesat’s voting and governance provisions will ensure that the company is and remains Canadian-controlled.

EDWARDS, Calif. (NASA PR) — Flight Opportunities has partnered with NASA’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program to provide access to suborbital flight tests for the EPSCoR community.

Through an amendment to the existing 2021 EPSCoR International Space Station (ISS) Flight Opportunity solicitation, EPSCoR jurisdictions will be able to propose using suborbital flights to further their EPSCoR-funded research.

Proposals are due by January 7, 2021. Visit NSPIRES for more details.

Flight Opportunities Community Learning Initiative

The new Flight Opportunities Community Learning initiative is an effort to capture, organize, and communicate the lessons and experiences of suborbital researchers.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (CASIS PR) — SpaceX’s 21^st commercial resupply mission (CRS-21) to the International Space Station (ISS) is slated for launch on December 5 at 11:39 a.m. EST from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The ISS U.S. National Laboratory is sponsoring more than 15 payloads on this mission that will bring value to our nation and further enable a sustainable market in low Earth orbit.

Mentored curriculum serves massively scalable, early-stage science and technology companies

SEATTLE (RBC Signals PR) – RBC Signals, the leading provider of flexible and cost-effective space communication services, announced today it has been selected by Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) to participate in the non-profit’s program for promising early-stage science and technology companies.

Creative Destruction Lab selects companies from around the world, via a stringent vetting process, for participation in its objectives-based program. RBC Signals will complete the program as part of the CDL Space stream at CDL-Toronto.

BEIJING (CNSA PR) — At 4:30 on November 24th, China used the Long March 5 carrier rocket to successfully launch the lunar exploration project Chang’e-5 probe at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China.

After the rocket flew for about 2,200 seconds, the probe was successfully sent into the scheduled trajectory, starting China’s first return journey from sampling of extraterrestrial objects.

WASHINGTON (FAA PR) — SpaceX has informed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that it plans to apply for licenses for suborbital and orbital launches of its Starship spacecraft powered by the Super Heavy rocket at its launch site in Boca Chica, Texas.

The proposed update to Starship/Super Heavy operations  falls outside of the scope of the existing final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Record of Decision for the launch site and requires additional environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA and SpaceX managers conducted a Flight Readiness Review (FRR) Monday, Nov. 23, for SpaceX’s 21st Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-21) mission to the International Space Station. To enable additional time to evaluate flight data from Crew-1 and close out certification work ahead of this first flight of the cargo version of Dragon 2, teams are now proceeding toward a planned liftoff at 11:39 a.m. EST on Saturday, Dec. 5, […]

LOS ANGELES, November 23, 2020 (Relativity Space PR — Relativity Space, the first company to 3D print an entire rocket and build the largest metal 3D printers in the world, today announced it closed a $500 million Series D equity funding round.

The round was led by Tiger Global Management with participation from new investors Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Baillie Gifford, ICONIQ Capital, General Catalyst, XN, Senator Investment Group, and Elad Gil. Existing investors participating in the round include BOND, Tribe Capital, K5 Global, 3L, Playground Global, Mark Cuban, Spencer Rascoff, and Allen & Company LLC, among others.

Tucson.com reports about Jim Cantrell’s new launch company, Phantom Space. He formed the company after leaving the position of CEO of Vector, a launch company that went bankrupt. Cantrell, who was an early member of Elon Musk’s SpaceX team, said he was convinced to start another satellite tech company by Michael D’Angelo, a former colleague at Vector, after the pair figured they could use the many lessons they took from […]

I’m on The Space Show with David Livingston on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020 beginning at 10 p.m. EST (7 p.m. PST). We’ll be talking about all the latest space news and taking a look at what lies ahead. Please tune live, call or email your questions. The shows are archived if you can’t catch it live. The Space Show schedule for the week: 1. Monday, Nov. 23, 2020; 7 PM […]