Military/Aerospace Electronics

Axelspace Holdings, an Earth Observation and microsatellite specialist, has completed a ¥6.24 billion Series D funding round, equivalent to $44.0 million. Bringing the cumulative amount of equity financing to approximately ¥14.3 billion, the latest investments came from SMBC-GB Growth I Investment Limited Partnership, 31VENTURES, KURONEKO Innovation Fund and other venture capital and corporate investors. Axelspace says the funding will be ...

Nasa is highlighting its work using autonomous drones for Air Taxi research. Observing how the devices avoid both each other and other obstacles, researchers at its Langley Research Center recently flew multiple drones beyond visual line of sight. The space agency reports that the drones successfully flew around obstacles and each other during takeoff, flew along a planned route, and ...

Nasa has been highlighting the progress carried out on work for new space stations, which will be used to replace the current International Space Station (ISS). The US Space Agency highlights the work of its three competing commercial space station partners – Axiom Space, Orbital Reef and Starlab – for the design and development of possible new “orbital destinations”. “We ...

Gitai, Honeybee Robotics, Northrop Grumman, Redwire Space and SpaceX are among the 14 companies selected by DARPA for sponsored “LunA-10” project involving commercial lunar infrastructure. They have agreed to work together over the course of the seven-month study to design new integrated systems spanning multiple lunar services. These include lunar power; mining and commercial in-situ resource use; communications, navigation, and ...

ispace, the lunar transportation specialist, is partnering with Orbit Fab, the “Gas Stations in Space” service provider, to develop new refuelling systems for spacecraft, to support future lunar exploration missions. The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to co-operate on creating new methods for using fuel in outer space. For example, they aim to use resources such as ...

The UK Space Agency has awarded Raytheon a contract to provide Space Surveillance and Tracking Services Data (SST) from low-Earth orbit (LEO). Specifically, Raytheon NORSS – Raytheon’s UK-based space domain awareness specialist- will be using Raytheon’s LOCI (LEO Optical Camera Installation) sensor network to track “Resident Space Objects”. Such objects include space debris, defence assets and commercial satellites, to better ...

SaxaVord, in the the Shetland Islands, has been officially granted a spaceport licence by UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The site – on the Lamba Ness peninsula site in Unst, on the northerly coast of the islands – becomes the UK’s first licensed vertical launch spaceport as Spaceport Cornwall was previously licensed for horizontal launches using rockets from a modified ...

Adroit, a market research specialist, has released a report on the projected size of the global commercial satellite imaging market, 2021 to 2031. It calculates a CAGR of 7.6 % during 2021-2031. With the market for satellite imaging valued at $3.8bn in 2022, it will have doubled to reach a value of $7.0bn in 2031 As you would expect, North ...

True Anomaly, a Denver-based space security startup, has raised $100 million in Series B funding. The investment round was led by Riot Ventures and also involved Eclipse, ACME Capital, Menlo Ventures, Narya, 645 Ventures, Rocketship.vc, Champion Hill Ventures, and FiveNine Ventures. The company, which develops hardware and software systems for space domain awareness, says it will enable further “investment in ...

The Irish government has awarded funding of €7.9 million to the Ireland-based National Space Subsystems and Payloads Initiative (NSSPI) consortium. The investment was made through its Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF), and the Dublin-based Ubotica – a space AI specialist – is among the members of the group. The grant will be invested in the consortium’s development of space technology ...