PARIS (CNES PR) — SpaceFounders, the European NewSpace start-up accelerator, launched in 2021 at the initiative of CNES and the Bundeswehr University of Munich, is recruiting its new cohort of start-ups with a call for applications open until March 25. If the year 2021 turned out to be extremely rich, the year 2022 promises to be ultra-ambitious.

Online applications: https://www.spacefounders.eu/apply-now

In 2021, SpaceFounders demonstrated its ability to select and support an ultra-promising cohort of European spacetech entrepreneurs. Seed and Series A fundraising for a cumulative amount of more than €70 million is underway for the 10 winning start-ups, in order to innovate across the entire space value chain: space tourism, space surveillance, but also reusable launchers and innovative downstream services, including components for nanosatellites and in-orbit services.

• In its largest order in the private space sector, ABB will supply multispectral imaging systems to Canadian data and analytics company EarthDaily Analytics
• Satellites equipped with ABB’s technology will be launched starting in 2023, enabling unprecedented daily global coverage of Earth’s ecosystems
• High-quality imagery enabled by ABB’s technology will provide near real-time information about natural and human-caused change across the planet

ZURICH, Switzerland (ABB PR) — ABB has been awarded a contract worth around $30 million by the Canadian data and analytics company EarthDaily Analytics Corp. (EDA) to develop and manufacture next-generation multispectral imaging systems to be placed on 10 satellites (including an in-orbit spare) that will circle the Earth. The order was booked in the first quarter of 2022.

WOBURN, Mass., Feb. 8, 2022 (SSCI PR) — Scientific Systems Company, Inc. (SSCI), an industry leader and pioneer in autonomous systems, has conducted initial demonstrations of its AI-enabled edge processing system as part of the Prototype On-Orbit Experimental Testbed (POET) experiment for the Space Development Agency (SDA). POET is hosted onboard Loft Orbital’s YAM-3, a “satellite-as-a-service” platform which was launched June 30, 2021 on Space-X’s Transporter-2 mission. POET’s space-based edge processing system is powered by SSCI’s Collaborative Mission Autonomy (CMA) software. POET provides an on-orbit SDA data fusion application prototype within the CMA software running on POET’s Innoflight CFC-400, a low size, weight, and power, highly capable, 0.5U size commercial off-the-shelf space processor.

Tangible proof of What’s Next in Space: the entire space ecosystem working together to deliver the best space possible

TOULOUSE, France, 14 January 2022 (Airbus PR) – Airbus has been contracted to supply space start-up Loft Orbital with more than fifteen satellite platforms derived from the Airbus Arrow platform.  Arrow is the foundational satellite platform of the OneWeb constellation. There are 394 Airbus Arrow platforms in orbit for the OneWeb constellation and a further 254 are being produced to complete the 648 spacecraft required by OneWeb. With this acquisition, Loft Orbital confirms its intention to make the Airbus Arrow platform a true workhorse enabling its service business model.

SAN FRANCISCO & TUKWILA, Wash., January 06, 2022-(Loft Orbital/LeoStella PR) — Loft Orbital Solutions, Inc. (Loft Orbital), a leading space infrastructure-as-a-service provider, and LeoStella, Inc., a specialized satellite constellation design and manufacturing company, have extended their production agreement to secure multiple additional LEO-100 buses from LeoStella. These satellite buses are the latest in a series Loft Orbital has secured from LeoStella.

The satellites are based on LeoStella’s existing product line of ESPA-class buses. LeoStella’s active production line of commercial buses creates an opportunity for customers to acquire high-quality satellites while staying within new-space cost and schedule constraints. This procurement exemplifies Loft Orbital’s novel strategy of utilizing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) satellite buses to fly any kind of payload in LEO at unparalleled speed to orbit and reliability. This partnership is a crucial enabler for Loft Orbital’s focus on making space simple.

The European consortium led by UNSEENLABS and EUROCONSULT has won a concept study for the European Commission aiming to leverage disruptive ideas for an innovative European broadband constellation.

PARIS WASHINGTON D.C., MONTREAL, YOKOHAMA, SYDNEY, December 9^th 2021 (New Symphonie PR) – New Symphonie, the recently established consortium of 22 European companies, has won the European Commission call for tenders entitled “New Space solutions for long-term availability of reliable, secure, cost-effective space-based connectivity”.

Selected for its exceptional innovation and familiarity with leading-edge technologies, the consortium led by UNSEENLABS and EUROCONSULT will be awarded a six month study contract for a total amount of 1.4m euros. Through the study, the consortium members will investigate and recommend to the European Commission the most optimal infrastructure for secure connectivity markets. The study aims at defining the secure connectivity requirements that could be addressed by a European multi-orbit satellite system to be conceptually designed with innovative technologies for an attractive business plan.  

New OTV missions seed infrastructure for situational awareness, IoT communications and fuel depots throughout LEO, GEO and cislunar

SEATTLE, Sept. 21, 2021 (Spaceflight Inc. PR) — Spaceflight Inc., the global launch services provider, announced it has recently signed several new launch agreements with a wide range of organizations that are expanding space infrastructure. The satellite constellations provide communications networks, device connectivity, weather forecasts, Earth observation, analytics networks, spacecraft collision avoidance, propellant depots, and more. Spaceflight is actively planning several Sherpa orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) missions to support these efforts in low Earth orbit (LEO), Geosynchronous Equatorial orbit (GEO) and other cislunar destinations.

Notably, Spaceflight has signed new launch deals with Astrocast, Canon Electronics, Capella Space, GeoJump, HawkEye 360, Orbit Fab, Loft Orbital, NASA, NearSpace Launch Inc. / Inter-Modal Holding LLC, Portland State Aerospace Society, Space Products and Innovation (SPiN), Spacemanic, University of Toronto Aerospace Team, Xona Space Systems, and several undisclosed U.S. government organizations.

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. (Nexus Inc. PR)  – In another strategic move to further aid cryptocurrency trading platforms circumvent land-based cybercrime, Nexus Inc., the world’s leading digital finance asset custodian company, has successfully launched its bitcoin multisignature wallet in space. With the recent SpaceX launch of the world’s first ethereum multisignature hardware onboard the International Space Station, and along with the recent deployment of the bitcoin multisignature node, Nexus Inc. becomes the only company and deep tech solutions provider in the world to offer both ethereum and bitcoin in-orbit transactional authentication solutions.

Nexus Inc.’s proprietary bitcoin blockchain node, already installed on the YAM-2 spacecraft, a rideshare mission operated by San Francisco-based space infrastructure provider Loft Orbital, sat onboard the SpaceX orbital-class reflight Falcon 9 rocket and jettisoned out of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at launch site SLC-40 on Wednesday 30 June 2021 at 3:31pm Eastern Daylight Time. The YAM-2 satellite was then deployed by the SpaceX Transporter-2 launch mission 520km above earth. With the hardware payload in orbit, offline end-to-end encrypted data and security keys, stored remotely in space, are now able to complete bitcoin transactions under guaranteed ultra-secure conditions. By limiting to just 50 transactions a day, Nexus Inc.’s cryptocurrency clients are further fully insulated from would-be digital thieves as a result of its one-of-a-kind authentication protocols.

WASHINGTON (SDA PR) — The Space Development Agency today announced the successful launch of its first two satellite missions, Mandrake II and Laser Interconnect Networking Communications System (LINCS) and the Prototype On-orbit Experimental Testbed (POET) payload, on June 30 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla.

The launch, supported by SpaceX’s Transporter 2, an all-rideshare Falcon 9 mission, carried aboard SDA’s first two sets of experimental satellites, designed and built with government and industry partners, to gather data on optical communication terminal (OCT) performance in low-Earth orbit (LEO), along with the POET payload to demonstrate on-orbit data fusion, proving out core capabilities required for SDA’s future development efforts.

Funding Led by Cultivation Capital to Power First Space Mission

WASHINGTON (Hydrosat PR) — Hydrosat, a company creating an infrared satellite constellation, announced that it raised a $5 million seed round led by Cultivation Capital, bringing its total raised to date to over $10 million. The round was led by Cultivation Capital with participation by Freeflow Ventures, the Yield Lab, Expon Capital, Techstars, Industrious Ventures, and Synovia Capital.

Hydrosat is flying a multi-spectral and thermal infrared mission with Loft Orbital on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in 2022. The company plans to launch an additional 16-satellite constellation with the capacity to scan the entire globe on a daily basis, generating science quality infrared data and an analytics-ready land surface temperature product.