Philippe Baptiste, an engineer by training with experience in science, industry and politics, is to succeed Jean-Yves Le Gall at the helm of French space agency CNES after the country’s parliament approved the nomination.
SpaceX on April 7 completed its eighth mission of the year to deploy its Starlink broadband network, boosting the constellation to about 1,400 spacecraft.
Swedish-British small satellite manufacturer AAC Clyde Space this month entered a conditional agreement to buy privately owned Omnisys Instruments, a Swedish developer and manufacturer of sensors for space projects, in a deal worth about $8.7 million.
Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will chair the advisory board at Voyager Space Holdings, the market’s first vertically integrated new-space holding company that recently acquired the Launch Co, Nanoracks and others.
As SpaceX prepared to deliver its 24th batch of Starlink satellites into orbit this week, President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said beta trials will continue until the network, designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet, is more reliable.
Lockheed Martin is doubling down on investments in small satellite launch service companies, signing a block buy with startup ABL Space Systems for up to 58 missions through 2029.
Vaya Space, a Cocoa, Florida, space startup formerly known as Rocket Crafters, on March 31 announced its entrance into the small satellite launching marketplace for launches of up to 1 ton to low Earth orbit starting in 2023.
AST Spacemobile, the new publicly traded version of nanosatellite startup AST & Science of Midland, Texas, should emerge from its reverse-merger with a special purpose acquisition company on April 6 sporting around $462 million.
Tapping into the crosscurrents of the commercial space boom and advanced technologies such as cloud computing, Amazon is opening an AWS Space Accelerator to assist and network with related startups, with applications due April 21.
Finland-based Iceye, an Earth observation data analytics provider with its own constellation of synthetic aperture radar satellites, said March 31 it plans to launch more satellites this year than previously planned, with the next launch booked for midyear.
SpaceX is aiming for a mid-September launch of a privately chartered Crew Dragon spacecraft on a three-day, 336-mi.-high, free-flying mission called Inspiration4, bankrolled and commanded by Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.
The U.S. Space Force plans to release a solicitation in the second quarter of 2021 to purchase services from internet providers in low Earth orbit that will serve as an alternative to geostationary satellite communications.
Virgin Galactic unveiled its next-generation reusable suborbital passenger spaceship on March 30, featuring a new design to enhance operations and a mirror-like exterior that adds thermal protection while setting a new bar for aesthetics.
Los Angeles-area rocket startup ABL Space Systems has closed a Series B investment round of $170 million, with the infusion going toward developing the 1,000-kg class RS1 launch vehicle and GS0 deployable launch system that should see its first launch this year.
The European Space Agency has allotted a combined €10.45 million ($12.5 million) to two UK companies developing microlaunchers for small satellites: Orbex and Skyrora.
Another month, another big announcement from private equity-founded Redwire: this time that the new-space roll up will become a publicly traded company in a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company known to be hunting for aerospace and defense assets.
With a 23rd successful mission dedicated to deploying its Starlink communications network, SpaceX is closing in on its initial goal of about 1,450 operational satellites to kick off commercial broadband services in the U.S. and other regions.
Lockheed Martin and Omnispace, a startup targeting satellite-enabled 5G communications, on March 23 announced a “strategic interest agreement” to explore 5G business opportunities from space, and possibly creating the first dual-use commercial- and government-serving platform.
The first fully commercial space launch of the Russian Soyuz 2.1a vehicle in 2021, planned for March 20, is expected to orbit 38 various satellites from 18 countries into three different Sun-synchronous orbits.
