With its first two satellites set for launch in early 2023, Amazon on Oct. 27 unveiled plans for an additional, 172,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing plant in the Seattle area that will be dedicated to production of Kuiper satellites for an Amazon-owned high-speed broadband network.
Startup Quantum Space is targeting October 2024 for the launch of the first in a series of spacecraft to provide space situational awareness, host customer payloads and other services in cislunar space.
Kongsberg NanoAvionics plans to make a “multimillion” euro investment to increase its manufacturing capacity to produce several hundred small satellites annually.
NASA is now spending more money with SpaceX than Boeing, Lockheed or any other single contractor aside from the California Institute of Technology, which operates the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Recovering from its second launch hiatus, OneWeb Satellites is poised to begin adding to its global broadband constellation in low Earth orbit, this time with launch services provided by the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization.
Luxembourg could become the second European operating base for Virgin Orbit’s horizontal satellite launch as part of proposals to provide responsive launch services for NATO and European allies.
Satellite launch startup Orbex has secured an extra £40 million ($45.2 million) in funding from investors that will enable the company to scale up its operations to be ready for its first vertical launch from the UK.
The Pentagon is in discussions with SpaceX about the future of Starlink satellite internet connectivity in Ukraine after the company threatened to end the service if the Defense Department does not pick up the bill, while the military is also reaching out to alternative satellite communications providers.
With business partnerships sweeping across the new space and commercial space marketplace–for survival, growth or both–relative newcomer Sierra Space has opened its own corporate venture capital (VC) office to facilitate strategic tie-ups with other space upstarts.
Japan’s Space Cotan Ltd. and the Hokkaido town of Taiki have begun the expansion of Hokkaido Spaceport (HOSPO), part of its vision to create a space Silicon Valley in Japan.
Venture capital groups for Airbus and Boeing have teamed with others to provide a $10 million seed funding round for Arizona-based Solestial, a startup working on solar panel technology for satellites and spacecraft.
Eutelsat Communications said Oct. 12 that its proposed acquisition of OneWeb would grow its annual expected revenue to almost $2 billion by fiscal 2027, from less than $1.2 billion in fiscal 2021.
Pioneering space tourist Dennis Tito, who 21 years ago became the first privately paying passenger to visit the International Space Station, has booked two seats aboard a planned SpaceX Starship mission around the Moon.
