CAPE CANAVERAL—Amazon has contracted with United Launch Alliance to deliver nine batches of its Kuiper broadband satellites into low Earth orbit aboard Atlas V rockets, the companies said on April 19.
Startup nonprofit Carbon Mapper, Inc. is leading a coalition of commercial, state and federal government agencies and academic partners in an effort to identify and expand a global awareness of major point source emissions of carbon dioxide and methane in order to lessen their contribution to climate change.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has cleared the way for Inmarsat to continue operating its European Aviation Network (EAN) inflight connectivity system.
The owners of aerospace and defense group Sierra Nevada are creating an independent company to take over the former’s space business, to be called Sierra Space, which will sell to the burgeoning low-Earth-orbit and Moon commercial space markets.
Orbital Sidekick, a San Francisco-based startup aiming to offer satellite-based hyperspectral imaging and data analytics for the energy sector and others, has wrapped up a $16 million series A investment round, as expected.
The second Mission Extension Vehicle, MEV-2, autonomously docked with the Intelsat 10-02 satellite on April 12 in its operational GEO location at 1 deg. West longitude.
Former NASA astronaut and U S. Air Force test pilot Jack Fischer has joined with the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership (BAHEP) to provide the emerging Houston Spaceport with TexSpace, a future nonprofit focused on facilitating innovation within the space enterprise.
OrbComm, the low Earth orbit constellation provider of industrial connectivity services whose roots date to 1990s commercial space efforts, will be acquired by GI Partners, a U.S.-based investor in data infrastructure businesses, in an all-cash deal worth around $1.1 billion, including net debt.
Rocket Lab plans to conduct its second parachute-assisted booster splashdown next month, as it works to evolve the Electron small satellite launch vehicle into a reusable rocket, the company said on April 8.
Airbus and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) are to develop a terminal for aircraft to receive laser-based communications.
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.
