Satellite News
SES completes euro 3 billion acquisition financing syndication
SES S.A. has successfully syndicated a euro 3 billion acquisition financing package to support its earlier agreement to acquire Intelsat S.A.
SpaceX’s launch from California of 20 Starlink satellites including 13 Direct to Cell
China launches Sino-French astrophysics satellite, debris falls over populated area
A Chinese launch of the joint Sino-French SVOM mission to study Gamma-ray bursts early Saturday saw toxic rocket debris fall over a populated area.
French-Chinese probe to hunt universe’s biggest explosions
A French-Chinese telescope satellite will blast off this weekend on a mission to hunt down gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe.
Rocket Lab launches first Kinéis satellites on 50th Electron
Launcher News
Ariane 6 completes wet dress rehearsal
Exploration News
Boeing Starliner return to Earth set for June 26
NASA and Boeing are targeting a June 26 return to Earth of the Boeing Starliner from the International Space Station
Starliner return delayed to July
NewSpace News
Simera Sense opening an optical payload development hub in Toulouse France
Screenshot Simera Sense is strengthening the firm’s global presence by opening an office in Toulouse, France.
Ubotica achieves breakthrough in Live Earth Intelligence with CogniSAT-6
Ubotica has announced a significant milestone in the CogniSAT-6 mission, that being the successful processing and instant AI-powered detection of the first raw image from the newly launched satellite. For the first time, an EO satellite, powered by SPACE:AI, understands what is being observed. Within 90 seconds, SPACE:AI detected every vessel within a 20 x 40-kilometer zone. This achievement demonstrates the model’s exceptional accuracy, even without prior training on CogniSAT-6 data.
Kepler Communications has validated the firm’s OISLs between two data relay satellites in LEO
Kepler Communications recently successfully validated optical inter-satellite links (OISLs) between two data relay satellites in LEO. Kepler is scaling operations to deploy the first Tranche of its next-generation constellation and expects to offer initial optical services in 2025. The hybrid optical data relay network builds on flight heritage from Kepler’s existing constellation of 21 RF satellites.
Redwire to Lead DARPA SabreSat VLEO Mission
Redwire Corporation announced it has secured a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to act as the prime mission integrator for an air-breathing satellite.
Space Safety News
Hubble Telescope now relying on single-gyro ‘pointing mode’
NASA on Tuesday released a Hubble Space Telescope image captured by using a new pointing mode that uses just one gyroscope. The telescope resumed operations June 14 after a gyro issue took it offline for several weeks.
Voyager 1 Resumes Full Science Operations
The spacecraft has resumed gathering information about interstellar space. NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is conducting normal science operations for the first time following a technical issue
Science & Technology News
Solar Orbiter Observes Major Solar Activity
The hyperactive sunspot region responsible for the beautiful auroras earlier in May was still alive and kicking when it rotated away from Earth’s view. In the weekend of 10-12 May 2024, the biggest solar storm to hit Earth in over 20 years swept over our planet. This produced an intense geomagnetic storm, creating beautiful auroras which lit up the sky at much lower latitudes than usual.
ESA takes first step to modify georeturn policies
The resolution takes a small step towards changing georeturn rules. “We presented a resolution on increasing the flexibility in implementing georeturn at ESA but also streamlining the process,”
