Military/Aerospace Electronics

Orbex, the UK-based private, low-cost orbital launch services specialist, has announced construction has begun at Sutherland Spaceport, making it the first vertical launch spaceport to be built on the UK mainland. The site, which was formerly known as Space Hub Sutherland, will be the ‘home’ spaceport of Forres-based rocket and launch services company, Orbex. It intends to use the site ...

Almost 350 licences have been granted to companies in the UK space sector since July 2021, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced, highlighting its work in this area. As well as the 343 licenses issued, the regulator is also monitoring more than 750 UK satellites in space, including supporting the deployment of the OneWeb satellite constellation, one of ...

A joint Price Waterhouse Coopers and UK Space Agency report says the UK is the most attractive destination for private investment in space after the United States. The report – ‘Expanding frontiers – The down to earth guide to investing in space’ – highlights expected global space sector growth of up to 11% per year over the next decade. It ...

EnduroSat, a satellite data services company, has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by the investment firm CEECAT Capital, which focuses on high growth markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Existing investors, for example, the German Seed fund Freigeist Capital, also joined the round. EnduroSat is headquartered in Luxembourg but has its main R&D operations in ...

Working on the Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) Mission, engineers at the European Space Agency have managed to remotely fix the operation of its Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) antenna. Following a successful launch of the craft in mid-April, for four weeks the 16-metre-long boom couldn’t escape its mounting bracket, as was planned. Flight controllers suspected that a small pin ...

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has selected a joint research team from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as the Phase I winner of its recent Grand Challenge. The competition, to give its full name, is Active Artificial Intelligence, or AI, Planners for Chemistry/Materials Optimization and Discovery Grand Challenge. The idea was ...

Viasat, the U.S. communications company, has announced that the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has given the green light for its acquisition of London-based Inmarsat. The conclusion of the CMA’s Phase II review has confirmed its provisional findings that the proposed transaction does not raise competition concerns. This decision, an important milestone towards completion of the deal, allows Viasat ...

ClearSpace and Arianespace have signed a launch contract for ClearSpace-1, the first active debris removal mission that will capture and deorbit a derelict space debris object of more than 100 kg. It will use the new European light launcher Vega C to release ClearSpace’s spacecraft into a sun-synchronous drift orbit for commissioning and critical tests. The servicer spacecraft will then ...

Spire Global, the space analytics company with offices in Glasgow, has been awarded a contract by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to demonstrate wildfire detection methods from space for the agency’s WildFireSat mission. The contract forms the initial part of the mission, which aims to monitor from space, on a daily basis – via infrared sensors – all active wildfires ...

Nasa has selected five companies to take part in the Space Weather Next Lagrange 1 Series (L1 Series) Coronagraph (COR) Phase A Study, for contracts totalling approximately $6m. The aim is that the L1 series will “extend continuity and resiliency” of real-time solar imagery and solar wind measurements. The contracted companies are: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL), EO Vista, ...