Orbex, a private, small satellite launch services provider, has started construction of its first launch platform – the first orbital space launchpad to be built in the UK for more than half a century. Orbex says it has commissioned Motive Offshore Group, a Scottish company specialising in the design and manufacture of marine and lifting […]
NASA has awarded a total of $415 million to three businesses with a brief to come up with a design of a commercial space station. Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin is one of the chosen few ($130 million) along with Nanoracks ($160 million) and Northrop Grumman ($125.6 million). The agreements are part of NASA’s efforts to […]
White Spark Pictures, the award-winning Australian production company established by Briege Whitehead, is pleased to announce the completion of its latest Virtual Reality (VR) documentary project – Beyond the Milky Way – about one of the biggest-ever scientific endeavours in human history – the SKA, the world’s largest radio telescopes. The 25-minute VR film, narrated […]
During the Paris Peace Forum, Eutelsat Communications announced that it is joining the Net Zero Space initiative which has been launched with support from several leading players in the space industry. The ambition of this international alliance is to create a sustainable outer space environment in 2030 by initiating immediate action to contain and mitigate […]
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism business says it has added “about” 100 new clients, at $450,000 each, to fly to the edge of space. The added voyagers have been signed up despite certain delays to any passenger-carrying flights not likely until, at best, Q4/2022 when an Italian crew could fly. Virgin Galactic’s CEO Michael […]
Padraig McCarthy has joined Kleos Space as a director. McCarthy is well-known to the satellite industry from his time as CFO/Finance Director at SES. McCarthy is currently a Partner at the private equity firm NewSpace Capital and an independent Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair at listed self-storage company Shurgard. He brings more than two […]
Thales Alenia Space has signed a prime contractor agreement with PT Telkom Satelit Indonesia (Telkomsat) to build a powerful 32 Gb/s high-throughput satellite. It will be delivered in early 2024 and placed at 113 degrees east. The craft will operate in C and Ku-bands. Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor and responsible for the […]
Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket company is putting cash into a project to build a commercial space station. Other partners in the project include Sierra Space and Boeing. In essence, the project has in mind an orbiting ‘business park’ for all manner of commercial concepts including space tourism. The project’s build plan talks about having […]
Dr S Somanath, director of India’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), part of the nation’s India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) speaking at India’s pavilion at the Dubai EXPO event, said: “The space sector is on its way to becoming a trillion-dollar industry and the role of start-ups will be crucial in this journey.” He explained […]
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) says it will shortly publish a “comprehensive” consultation paper on the licensing framework for satellite operators such as Elon Musk’s Starlink and Bharti’s OneWeb. The document will cover the setting up of Satellite Earth Station gateways, which are needed to route transmissions to and from the orbiting satellites. […]