A study contract for Skimsat, a breakthough concept for reducing the cost of Earth
observing satellites and a step further for new space initiatives
BRISTOL, UK (Thales Alenia Space PR) – Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), and QinetiQ have signed a study contract with the European Space Agency to pave the way for small multi- mission satellites to operate in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO).
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PARIS, 15 DECEMBER 2021 (Virgin Orbit PR) – Virgin Orbit, the responsive launch and space solutions company that has announced a planned business combination with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II (“NextGen”) (NASDAQ: NGCA), announced today an agreement to acquire a 17.5% stake in geospatial analytics company Hypersat LLC (“Hypersat”).
This investment will further expand Virgin Orbit’s space solutions business by providing highly accurate electro-optic and hyperspectral imagery capabilities, which can provide vital information to customers in the agriculture, defense, energy, insurance, and minerals industries, among others. The investment by Virgin Orbit is part of the company’s strategy to leverage the relationships with its satellite launch customers and space solutions end users. As part of that strategy, Virgin Orbit has previously announced investments in ArQit Quantum, SatRevolution, and Sky and Space Global.
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LONDON, September 15, 2021 (SSTL PR) — The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a contract with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) for communications services from Lunar Pathfinder, due to launch in 2024. The Commercial Lunar Mission Support Services contract was signed between ESA’s Director of Human and Robotic Exploration, Dave Parker, and SSTL’s Managing Director, Phil Brownnett, on 15 September 2021 at The Royal Society in London. Amanda Solloway, UK Government Science Minister, Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director General, Paul Bate, Director of the UK Space Agency, and SSTL’s Executive Chairman, Sir Martin Sweeting were also in attendance.
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CORNWALL, UK, 11 June 2021 (Arqit PR) – Arqit Limited (“Arqit”), a leader in quantum encryption technology, has today announced at the G7 Leaders Conference in Cornwall, that it has formed an international consortium of companies and government organisations to provide its quantum encryption technology to government customers in a federated system concept, called Federated Quantum System (FQS). The UK, USA, Japan, Canada, Italy, Belgium, and Austria are now represented.
Arqit invented a system which uses satellites to distribute quantum keys to data centres. These keys are delivered using a new patented protocol called ARQ19, which solves the “Global versus Trustless” problem which previously prevented the adoption of Satellite Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). Arqit further invented a method, called QuantumCloud™ to translate the benefits of this quantum key distribution to any form of endpoint or cloud machine without the need for any special hardware. The first version of QuantumCloudTM launches for live service to commercial customers in 2021.
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FARNBOROUGH, UK (QinetiQ PR) — Hypersat has awarded a design-phase contract to QinetiQ Inc. (QinetiQ) for their next generation hyperspectral satellite. This study will be an enabling activity for a potential constellation of six low earth orbit (LEO) satellites that Hypersat plans to launch, and which will be capable of producing greater information about the material properties on Earth than any current capability in orbit.
QinetiQ will lead a team of specialist engineering and technology organisations across the US that includes Redwire, Millennium Engineering and Integration, LLC, and Brandywine Photonics. The team selected Virgin Orbit as the launch provider in part because of the unparalleled agility, mobility, and responsiveness afforded by air-launch, which allows for shorter call-up times and more flexible scheduling for customers, as well as direct injection into precise target orbits. In addition to the value for commercial customers, this capability enables a major strategic advantage to government organisations seeking to maintain unencumbered overhead intelligence.
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NEWPORT, Wales (UK MOD PR) — Defence Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan has announced a £1.5 million [$1.85 million] investment in 12 ground-breaking space innovation projects.
The announcement marks the next step in the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl) ‘Space to Innovate’ competition, which sought to find and fund new technologies that could improve the UK’s resilience, awareness and capability in space.
The competition, run on behalf of Dstl by the Defence and Security Accelerator, the MOD’s innovation hub, received more than 60 bids from innovators around the world.
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BLOOMINGTON, Minnesota, December 22, 2017 (BIS Research PR) — According to a market intelligence report by BIS Research titled “Global Small Satellites Market, Analysis & Forecast, 2017-2021“, the global market is expected to reach $10.10 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 31.9% during the forecast period, 2017 – 2021. In the recent years, small satellites have gained traction owing to the significant mass reduction in the subsystems and components along with higher cost-efficiency. The interest in small satellites has increased significantly during the last few years. Over the past decade, nearly $2.5 billion has been invested in small satellites, of which half of the amount was generated in the last two to three years.
Browse 21 Market Data Tables and 125 Figures spread through 266 Pages and in-depth TOC on “Global Small Satellites Market”
FARNBOROUGH, England (QinetiQ PR) — QinetiQ has signed a €26.6m [$35.6 million] contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to produce a new docking mechanism for the International Space Station (ISS).
SNC Dream Chaser docks with the International Space Station. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)
PARIS (ESA PR) — ESA and a team of European industrial contractors led by QinetiQ have finalised an agreement with Sierra Nevada Corporation for the use of Europe’s International Berthing Docking Mechanism on the Dream Chaser spaceplane.
Credit: Discover Space UK
ARGYLL, Scotland (Discover Space UK PR) — Leading UK Space science and technology firms QinetiQ and Telespazio VEGA UK have agreed Memorandum’s of Understanding (MoU) to work with Discover Space UK on investigating the potential for a horizontal launch spaceport at the Campbeltown site on the West Coast of Scotland.
