Archives for March 2021

Slingshot Aerospace, Inc. has announced the firm’s Board of Advisors that include Chuck Beames, Karen Diener, Susan Helms, Moriba Jah, Keith Masback, Chris Mattmann, and Marissa Peretz.

The Board of Advisors provides the Slingshot Aerospace leadership team with counsel, advice, and support for all areas of the business. 

“Our advisory board members are industry experts whose knowledge and experience are invaluable assets to our company as we continue to expand operations,” said Melanie Stricklan, Co-founder and CEO, Slingshot Aerospace. “We are thrilled to welcome these individuals to the Slingshot Aerospace team as we work towards creating a safer, more sustainable world through our innovative technologies.” 

Kleos Space S.A. (ASX: KSS, Frankfurt: KS1,) a company that offers pace-powered, Radio Frequency Reconnaissance, data-as-a-service (DaaS) company, has now confirmed their second satellite cluster, the Polar Vigilance Mission (KSF1), has successfully completed a hardware critical design review milestone for a launch mid-year onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9.

Satellite developer ISISPACE, conducted the design progress in the Netherlands. Passing this milestone ensures that these mission satellites can enter the assembly and verification phase. This stage leads to final integration, testing and delivery of the satellites for launch.

Artistic rendering of the 6U cubesat platform, courtesy of Kleos Space.

The KSF1 Polar Vigilance Mission satellites are scheduled for a mid-2021 launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9,under a rideshare contract with Spaceflight Inc. The satellites will be Kleos Space S.A.- 26 and will be launched into a 500 to 600 km SSO, complementing Kleos’ Scouting Mission 37° orbit, which successfully launched in early November of 2020 and those satellites are in the commission and test phase.

Kleos’ satellites will detect and geolocate radio frequency transmissions to provide global activity-based intelligence, enhancing the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of governments and commercial entities when tracking systems are defeated, imagery unclear or targets out of patrol range.

Kleos Space CEO Andy Bowyer said, “We are excited to be progressing our second satellite cluster with ISISPACE – a leader in the small satellite market. Entering the assembly and verification phase of the satellites is a crucial developmental milestone and ensures we are on schedule to launch in mid-2021. The KSF1 satellite cluster will complement our Scouting Mission satellites, increasing the value of our geolocation maritime intelligence data.”

ISISPACE’s CEO Jeroen Rotteveel stated, “We are pleased to design and build this second satellite cluster for Kleos, to be completed on a fast-track schedule made possible by building on our extensive nanosatellite expertise and heritage. Despite the challenging timeline due to the current global situation, we are keen to enter this next crucial phase of satellite assembly and validation and bringing our design to reality.”

SpaceX is now targeting Thursday, March 4, for the launch of 60 Starlink satellites from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch scheduled for March 2 was aborted due to unspecified technical issues.

The Falcon 9 first stage rocket booster supporting this mission previously flew on seven missions: the Iridium-8 mission, the Telstar 18 VANTAGE mission, and five Starlink missions. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship, which will be located in the Atlantic Ocean. One half of Falcon 9’s fairing previously flew on three Starlink missions, and the other half previously supported two Starlink missions.

Unbounded by traditional ground infrastructure, Starlink can deliver high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable or completely unavailable. At a time when more people are working from home and more students are participating in virtual learning, internet connectivity is more important than ever. With Starlink, we are able to deploy quickly to areas that need it most.

In December, the Wise County Public School District in rural Virginia, where approximately 40% of teachers and students do not have internet access at home, announced it would provide some families in the area with Starlink to support remote learning. Starlink units were deployed in January and over 40 homes are now connected with high-speed internet.

Spire Global, Inc. (“Spire” or the “Company”) and SPAC company NavSight Holdings Inc. (“NavSight”) (NYSE: NSH) have entered into a definitive merger agreement for a business combination that would result in Spire becoming a publicly listed company.

Spire collects space-based data using a proprietary constellation of multi-purpose smallsats called LEMUR (Low Earth Multi-Use Receiver). The company’s software analytics generate proprietary data, insights and predictive analytics for its global customers through a subscription model. Spire monetizes this information across a broad and growing number of industries including weather, aviation, maritime, and government, with global coverage and near real-time data that can be easily integrated into customer business operations.

Spire is also pioneering an innovative “space-as-a-service” business model. Leveraging the company’s fully deployed infrastructure and large-scale operation, customers can operate their own payloads on orbit through Spire’s API and can begin receiving data in less than a year and a simple subscription agreement.

The Board of Directors of each of Spire and NavSight have unanimously approved the transaction “Proposed Transaction.” The Proposed Transaction will require the approval of the stockholders of Spire and NavSight, and is subject to other customary closing conditions, including the receipt of certain regulatory approvals. The Proposed Transaction is expected to close in summer of 2021.

Assuming no redemptions by NavSight stockholders, the Proposed Transaction is expected to deliver up to $475 million of gross proceeds, including the contribution of up to $230 million of cash held in NavSight’s trust account. The Proposed Transaction is further supported by a $245 million fully committed PIPE anchored by Tiger Global Management, BlackRock Advisors, Hedosophia, Jaws Estates Capital, and Bloom Tree Partners.

Spire stockholders will retain 100% of their equity holdings in the combined company. Spire’s existing stockholders will hold approximately 67% of the fully diluted shares of common stock immediately following the closing of the business combination, assuming no redemptions by NavSight’s existing public stockholders.

Additional information about the Proposed Transaction, including copies of certain documents related to the Proposed Transaction, including the investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by NavSight today with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and available at www.sec.gov. The investor presentation can also be found on Spire’s website at https://www.Spire.com and NavSight’s website at https://www.NavSight.com. In addition, NavSight intends to file a registration statement on Form S-4 with the SEC, which will include a proxy statement/prospectus/information statement (the “Registration Statement”), and will file other documents regarding the Proposed Transaction with the SEC.

“Spire was founded nearly a decade ago to help lead, inspire, and create the business of space-based data. Today, our proprietary data and solutions help customers solve some of earth’s greatest challenges, including Net Zero and Climate Change adaptation. It has been immensely inspiring to see customers from all over the world turn to Spire’s solutions to help them make decisions about their business with confidence and speed and we are excited about the continued growth ahead. This transaction funds these growth plans and allows us to pursue, on a more aggressive timetable, this massive and growing long-term opportunity ahead of us,” said Peter Platzer, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spire, “I am thrilled to partner with Bob and Jack from NavSight.”

“Peter and the outstanding Spire leadership team have deep domain expertise. They have built a company that delivers exceptional value to their global commercial and government customers. Spire is leading the way with its modern SaaS-based approach to meet the significant, growing demand for space-based data,” said Bob Coleman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NavSight. “We look forward to working together to build long-term value for Spire stockholders.”

NASA has selected Astra Space Inc. to provide a launch service for the agency’s Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of SmallSats (TROPICS) mission.

The TROPICS mission consists of a constellation of six cubesats and will increase the scientific community’s understanding of storm processes.

The launch service contract for the TROPICS mission is a firm fixed-price contract valued at $7.95 million. NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will manage the launch service.

The cubesats, each the size of a shoebox, will provide rapid-refresh microwave measurements that can be used to determine temperature, pressure, and humidity inside hurricanes as they form and evolve. The TROPICS mission’s high-revisit imaging and sounding observations are enabled by microwave technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory. These observations will profoundly improve scientists’ understanding of processes driving high-impact storms.

Astra Space will launch these smallsats on the company’s Rocket 3 from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands with three separate launches over a 120-day period. The TROPICS mission is targeted for launch between January 8 and July 31, 2022, under a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launch license.

Space-SI, the Slovenian Centre of Excellence for Space Sciences and Technologies, recently released the first multi-spectral image captured by the company’s NEMO-HD Earth Observation (EO) smallsat, just 16 days after launch. Built by Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) in collaboration with SPACE-SI, NEMO-HD is Slovenia’s first smallsat carrying a multi-spectral high-definition Earth observation instrument.

The Slovenia satellite was built on SFL’s NAUTILUS smallsat bus, which is an augmentation of SFL’s NEMO bus that has been used for numerous, successful, microspace missions. With a mass of only 65 kg, and dimensions of 60x60x30 centimeters, NEMO-HD captures multi-pectral (RGB/NIR) images that can be sharpened by a panchromatic channel to 2.8-meter resolution.

The satellite also collects high-definition video at 25 frames per second. The main instrument can be operated in real-time imaging mode, allowing an operator at mission control on the ground to view the video feed as it is captured. If an event or feature of interest is spotted, a command can be sent to the satellite to collect a still image of the area.

Imagery and video data acquired by NEMO-HD will be used to monitor agriculture, forestry, urban development, and marine transport, according to Space-SI. NEMO-HD acquired its first historic multi-spectral image over Eastern Slovenia on September 18, 2020.

“SFL congratulates Slovenia on this auspicious first step toward building a robust national space program,” said SFL Director, Dr. Robert E. Zee. “NEMO-HD represents a breakthrough in next-generation, compact microsatellite missions, and pushes the envelope of what can be accomplished by a small microsatellite in Earth Observation. SFL’s ability to develop compact spacecraft with space-proven attitude control and precise pointing technologies at relatively low cost was a major factor in delivering a successful NEMO-HD satellite. These are critical technical requirements for successful collection of high-quality Earth observation data with microspace platforms.”

“NEMO-HD is enabling a new Earth observation concept by combining multi-spectral and video imaging from space. This can be controlled interactively in real time if needed when NEMO-HD is flying in the range of a ground station,” said Prof. Tomaž Rodič, CEO of SPACE- SI. “With NEMO-HD successfully in orbit, we have achieved a very innovative and cost-effective remote sensing system which combines the agile microsatellite with our transportable ground station system, STREAM, and the advanced EO data processing chain, STORM.”

OQ Technology recently signed a 2 million euros contract with the European Space Agency as part of the Luxembourg National Space program (“LuxIMPULSE”) for the on-orbit pathfinder mission (MACSAT). The contract aims to foster Luxembourg and European space partnerships and involves the development of a 6U smallsat, an advanced flight payload and user terminals and their software stack.

OQ Technology will manage and operate the mission, procurement of the satellite, and also continue development and testing in lab and on-orbit of satellite-based, narrowband, IoT software and algorithms (the wireless technology proposed for 5G machine communication), while EmTroniX (Luxembourg based company) will be responsible for the payload hardware and user hardware. OQ Technology is the prime contractor and is currently in talks with candidate satellite manufacturers that would be announced soon.

OQ Technology will also install a ground station in Luxembourg to run its spacecraft flight operations from its control center in Leudelange (LU). The mission is planned for launch in 2021/2022 and will be a flagship for demonstrating advanced 5G IoT services in strategic satellite frequencies and for different end-customers.

OQ Technology has been on the quest of providing global IoT and machine communication through satellites. What makes OQ’s offering different from others is that their technology follows the global 3GPP standard of cellular communication with a large ecosystem which allows to reduce the cost of ownership for end users as they can use the same cellular hardware with satellites instead of buying a proprietary expensive satellite modem.

The technology is also highly secure and scalable making millions of devices capable of connecting to the satellite network. OQ Technology has developed under this program (contrast to buying black box foreign IP) essential software layers of the cellular base station payload on the satellite giving them control over the performance of the system to ensure high quality of service for end-users.

“The MACSAT project represents state-of-the art development and first in the world agile nanosatellite mission dedicated to 5G technology in low earth orbit. Thanks to the technical management of the European Space Agency and business-oriented support of Luxembourg Space Agency we have advanced in a short time Narrowband IoT technology on all levels (space and ground) to be a new and attractive solution in the world of satellite communication, we are very grateful to the teams involved and happy to kick off 2021 with this collaboration,” said Omar Qaise, Founder and CEO, OQ Technology.

If you happened to attend the recent SmallSat Symposium 2021, you know that one of the “hot’ topics for keynotes, panels and discussions targeted the information regarding the Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC) and the associated funding possibilities for satellite and space companies. Now, Rocket Lab USA, Inc. and the Vector Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: VACQ) (“Vector”) SPAC backed by technology investor Vector Capital have entered into a definitive merger agreement that will result in Rocket Lab becoming a publicly traded company.

The transaction is estimated to be completed in Q2 2021 and, at that time, Vector will change its name to Rocket Lab USA, Inc., and the combined company will trade under the Nasdaq ticker symbol RKLB.

Record Rocket Lab is transforming the way space is used and accessed by delivering end-to-end solutions across the launch and space systems markets. Since the Company’s first orbital launch in 2018, the firm’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second-most frequently launched U.S. rocket each year. To date, Rocket Lab has delivered 97 satellites to orbit for more than 20 public and private-sector organizations and technology-leading constellation operators.

Rocket Lab’s customer base is evenly split across government and commercial organizations that include NASA, the NRO and DARPA, as well as commercial satellite leaders. As the first company to deliver regular and reliable dedicated launch services for smallsats, Rocket Lab has also played a leading role in catalyzing the growth of the commercial small satellite industry.

The satellites launched by Rocket Lab enable operations in national security, Earth Observation (EO), space debris mitigation, weather and climate monitoring, communications and scientific research. Rocket Lab has an established space systems business that develops satellite and spacecraft solutions for a range of commercial and government missions, from LEO constellations to high-complexity,deep space and interplanetary missions.

Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft family delivers a satellite-as-a-service solution that eliminates the typical high cost, time and complexity customers face when building their own satellites. With Rocket Lab, customers can buy a launch, satellite, ground services and on-orbit management as a turn-key package, resulting in a disruptive reduction in cost and time to orbit. Rocket Lab has an operational Photon in orbit, with additional missions to the Moon, Mars and Venus planned.

In 2021, Rocket Lab will employ Electron and Photon to launch a satellite to lunar orbit for NASA to serve as a precursor for Gateway, a Moon-orbiting outpost that is part of NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the lunar surface.

Rocket Lab also unveiled their medium-lift Neutron rocket — an advanced new generation, reusable, launch vehicle with an 8-ton payload lift capacity that is tailored for mega constellations, deep space missions and human spaceflight. Neutron will be able to lift more than 90% of all satellites forecast to launch through 2029 and introduces highly disruptive lower costs to the high-growth constellation market by leveraging Electron’s heritage, launch sites and architecture.

Rocket Lab’s in-house launch and space systems capabilities provide significant competitive advantages in entering the high-growth space applications market that comprises approximately $320 billion of the current $350+ billion space industry TAM. Having reached these milestones — and considering the unprecedented commercial investment and government expenditures driving rapid growth in the space economy — Rocket Lab and the firm’s Board of Directors believe that this proposed transaction is the appropriate next step to position the Company for continued success.

On March 1, 2021, Rocket Lab entered into a definitive merger agreement with Vector. The transaction reflects an implied pro forma enterprise value of $4.1 billionfor Rocket Lab, representing 5.4 x 2025 projected revenue of approximately $750million.The transaction is expected to result in pro forma cash on the balance sheet of approximately $750million through the contribution of existing cash estimated to be on Rocket Lab’s balance sheet prior to close, up to $320 million of cash held in Vector Acquisition Corporation’s trust account(assuming no redemptions by Vector’s public shareholders), and a concurrent, approximately $470 million PIPE of common stock, priced at $10.00 per share and led by Vector Capital, BlackRock and Neuberger Berman, among other top-tier institutional investors.

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of Rocket Lab and Vector, is subject to approval by Vector’s shareholders and other customary closing conditions. Following the closing of the transaction, the Company will continue to be led by Founder and CEO Peter Beck. Alex Slusky, CEO of Vector and CIO and Founder of Vector Capital, will join Rocket Lab’s Board of Directors alongside Sven Strohband of Khosla Ventures, David Cowan of Bessemer Venture Partners, Matt Ocko of DCVC and Mike Griffin, independent director.

Peter Beck, CEO and Founder of Rocket Lab, said, “In the history of spaceflight, Rocket Lab is one of only two private companies that has delivered regular and reliable access to orbit. Not only are we the leader in small launch, we are the second most frequently launched rocket in the U.S. annually and the fourth most frequent launcher globally. Space has defined some of humanity’s greatest achievements,and it continues to shape our future.The satellites we build and launch are keeping countries connected and borders protected, monitoring weather and managing waste, providing insights on climate change, and helping us manage resources for future generations. Since day one, our talented Rocket Lab team has demonstrated stellar execution and a keen ability to seize growth opportunities. Now, we are thrilled to build upon this momentum and welcome Alex Slusky, a seasoned technology investor and public company director to our Board as we come together with Vector to become a publicly traded, pure-play, end-to-end space company. This milestone accelerates Rocket Lab’s ability to unlock the full potential of space through our launch and spacecraft platforms and catalyzes our ambition to create a new multi-billion-dollar business vertical in space applications.”

Alex Slusky, CEO of Vector and Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Vector Capital, said, “Rocket Lab is a once-in-a-generation company that is democratizing access to space through its constant innovation, leading technology and proven execution. Peter is a true visionary who has built a world-class company with discipline and grit. Rocket Lab is ideally positioned to continue to capture market share in the rapidly expanding space launch, systems and applications markets. Vector Capital has a nearly 25-year track record of identifying and building high-growth technology businesses and we are thrilled to partner with Peter and Rocket Lab’s talented team to support the Company’s next generation platforms and capabilities.Vector is thrilled to partner with Rocket Lab as it seeks to capitalize on unprecedented commercial and government spending in the burgeoning space economy.” Key

Additional information about the proposed transaction, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be available in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Vector with the Securities and Exchange Commission and at www.sec.gov.The investor presentation can also be found on Rocket Lab’s investor website at www.rocketlabusa.com/investors.