Rocket Lab Corporation (Nasdaq: RKLB) has signed a direct contract for two dedicated Electron launches with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) – signifying the criticality of Electron to international space agencies requiring responsive launch and dedicated access to space.

Launching from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, the two Electron missions will deploy satellites for JAXA’s Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration Program. The first launch, scheduled from December of 2025, will deploy the agency’s RApid Innovative payload demonstration SatellitE-4 (RAISE-4) spacecraft, a single satellite that will demonstrate eight technologies developed by private companies, universities, and research institutions throughout Japan.

The second launch, scheduled for 2026, is a JAXA-manifested rideshare of eight separate spacecraft that includes educational smallsats, an ocean monitoring satellite, a demonstration satellite for ultra-small multispectral cameras, and a deployable antenna that can be packed tightly using origami folding techniques and unfurled to 25 times its size.

Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Sir Peter Beck, said: “It’s an incredible honor to be entrusted by JAXA to further their goals of innovation and development for Japan. These missions are a demonstration of Electron’s global importance – supporting the growth of Japan’s space industry with launch on a U.S. rocket from a New Zealand launch site – and we’re proud to be entrusted to deliver them. Japanese satellite operators have long turned to Electron for its reliability and responsiveness since its earliest launches – whether its constellation-building for Japan’s new wave of commercial satellite operators, or bespoke missions requiring responsive mission planning and highly-accurate payload deployment.”

Rocket Lab is a launch leader for the Japanese space industry, with more than two dozen dedicated missions booked to fly on Electron through to the end of the decade. These include constellation deployment missions for satellite operators iQPS and Synspective, in addition to the multiple launches already completed this year with 100% mission success. Other successful missions for Japanese satellite operators include the “On Closer Inspection” mission on February 2024 for Astroscale-Japan for the first phase of its orbital debris removal program; and the “Running Out Of Fingers” mission launched in 2019 for Tokyo-based company ALE.

Mission information about Rocket Lab’s first launch for JAXA next month will be announced shortly.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS) has signed a definitive commercial agreement with Verizon (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) to provide Direct-to-Cellular (D2C) AST SpaceMobile service when needed for Verizon customers starting in 2026—this service will further enhance Verizon’s already expansive and award-winning network, building upon the exceptional service and ubiquitous connectivity customers currently enjoy.

The combination of Verizon’s highly reliable terrestrial mobile network, the use of premium multi-operator 850 MHz cellular spectrum, and AST SpaceMobile’s next-generation, space-based cellular network in LEO is planned to enable cellular customers to stay connected wherever they are, from hiking trails to city centers and everywhere in between.

Featuring the largest-ever commercial communications arrays deployed in LEO, AST SpaceMobile’s network can connect directly to everyday smartphones, eliminating the need for specialized equipment. AST SpaceMobile’s network is designed to operate across premium low-band spectrum, the company’s own licensed L-band and S-band spectrum, and up to 1,150 MHz of mobile network operator partners’ low- and mid-band spectrum, globally. These capabilities advance AST SpaceMobile’s efforts toward commercial service.

This agreement follows testing milestones that have proven the capabilities of the AST SpaceMobile network. In a recent demonstration, the companies successfully completed direct voice and video calls, as well as two-way RCS messaging, between standard, unmodified smartphones and a BlueBird satellite in space. A crystal-clear Voice over LTE (VoLTE) call was made from a smartphone on Verizon’s network in Texas, connecting via an AST SpaceMobile satellite to another Verizon smartphone in New Jersey. These successful tests represent a significant leap in satellite-to-cellular technology and pave the way for a future of ubiquitous connectivity.

Through our definitive commercial agreement with Verizon, we are working to deliver space-based cellular broadband coverage from space across the continental United States,” said Abel Avellan, Founder, Chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile. “The agreement will extend the scope of Verizon’s 850 MHz premium low-band spectrum into areas of the U.S. that would benefit from the ubiquitous reach of space-based broadband technology.”

This partnership with AST SpaceMobile is a good step forward in our mission to build a seamlessly connected world. We are not just filling in the map; we are creating a new paradigm of connectivity that will unlock the full potential of the digital age,” said Srini Kalapala, Senior Vice President of Technology and Product Development at Verizon. “By integrating our expansive, reliable, robust terrestrial network with this innovative space-based technology, we are paving the way for a future where everything and everyone can be connected, regardless of geography.”

Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), in partnership with CSIRO, University of Stirling, Pixalytics, RAL Space, Assimila, and Deloitte, is advancing the AquaWatch program through the UK Space Agency’s International Bilateral Fund (IBF) Call 2.

Building on the successes of earlier IBF Call 2 AquaWatch-AUK project, this initiative strengthens the UK-Australia Space Bridge, enabling satellite development to address global water quality challenges through innovative Earth Observation (EO) technologies.

Water quality is a critical global issue, threatened by pollution and climate change. AquaWatch addresses this challenge by integrating satellite-based EO data with in-situ measurements, creating a scalable, integrated water monitoring system. The project proposes the development of an Australian AquaWatch satellite to complement ESA’s NAIAD mission, creating a dual-satellite system that enhances the frequency and precision of monitoring.

The Australian satellite will feature CSIRO’s Cyanosense hyperspectral imager. This innovative instrument supports detailed biochemical water analysis and aligns with NAIAD’s TrueColor imager, delivering complementary EO data streams. The satellites will integrate with platforms such as the UK EO DataHub and Australia’s Earth Analytics Science and Innovation (EASI) platform, bridging the gap between satellite observations and ground-based measurements.

The IBF project lays the foundation for a follow-on initiative, enabling the design and manufacture of an Australian water monitoring satellite. By leveraging the NAIAD satellite design and integrating advanced Australian technology, the project ensures cost efficiency while driving technological advancements.

This collaboration showcases the strength of the UK-Australia Space Bridge while delivering significant benefits for both nations:

For Australia:
Accelerates domestic satellite development through SSTL-led knowledge transfer.
Strengthens industrial capabilities and boosts Australia’s role in global EO constellations.
Addresses regional water challenges while creating new economic growth opportunities.

For the UK:
Aligns with IBF objectives to foster investment, collaboration, and public benefit.
Enhances the UK’s reputation as a leader in small satellite systems and EO technology.
Expands export opportunities and strengthens ties with international partners.
A Platform for Future Investment

Clive Oates, Head of SSTL Australia, said, “AquaWatch exemplifies how international collaboration can address shared global challenges, fostering innovation and economic growth. This initiative strengthens the UK and Australia’s leadership in EO technology and paves the way for scalable, sustainable solutions to water quality monitoring worldwide.”

Silicon Sensing Systems Ltd. has published a free guide that examines the selection of inertial sensors and systems for the demanding conditions that are encountered in space.

Inertial systems are integral to space missions, delivering essential data on motion, orientation, and position. Their reliability and precision are critical for applications such as satellite attitude control, launch vehicle navigation in GPS-denied contexts, and deep space exploration.

The extreme nature of the space environment requires these systems to perform flawlessly despite extreme conditions including intense vibration, severe shock, wide temperature fluctuations, electromagnetic interference, radiation and vacuum conditions. Selecting the appropriate inertial sensors for these conditions requires adherence to stringent international survivability and reliability standards alongside careful consideration of performance, robustness and cost.

Silicon Sensing is an expert in this field, particularly in micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technologies where ongoing advances are extending available solutions.

In this guide, the company leverages its expertise to discuss space operations and evaluate the various inertial technologies available—including FOG (Fiber Optic Gyroscope), RLG (Ring Laser Gyroscope), and MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems)— offering an overview of the optimal applications for each technology.

The DMU41 evaluation kit (EVK) enables the output data from the DMU41 inertial measurement unit (IMU), to be viewed and logged for evaluation and development testing purposes. To learn more and inquire about this kit, please access this direct link…

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Satellite launch service company Isar Aerospace and R-Space have signed a launch service agreement as part of the European Space Agency (ESA) Marketplace program.

Under the agreement, Isar Aerospace will launch two R-Space satellites aboard of its ‘Spectrum’ launch vehicle in 2026 from Andøya Spaceport. Further flights are planned for 2026 and 2027, underscoring both companies’ commitment to long-term collaboration.

The R-Space satellites will perform on-orbit demonstrations for customers during these missions, facilitating the validation of next-generation satellite technologies and services in space.

This cooperation is part of the ESA Marketplace initiative under the ScaleUp program, which accelerates the deployment of new technologies and stimulates the growth of the European space ecosystem.

Stella Guillen, Chief Commercial Officer of Isar Aerospace, said, “As the need for launch capacity continues to surge, Isar Aerospace is committed to enabling nations and industries with scalable space capabilities.”

Carsten Scharlemann, CEO and founder of R-Space, said, “Isar Aerospace is the ideal partner to help R-Space provide fast and flexible in-orbit demonstration services to our customers. Together, we look forward to an exciting partnership and many successful launches in the years ahead.”

Gianluigi Baldesi, Head of the ESA Ventures and Financing Team, said, “The ESA Marketplace fuels commercial growth by connecting industry leaders through strategic partnerships. Helping two European companies in the face of Isar Aerospace and R-Space scale their business in a joint effort is a testament to the impact we aim to create.”

About Isar Aerospace
Isar Aerospace offers launch services for transporting small and medium-sized satellites and satellite constellations into Earth orbit. The launch vehicles used to transport these satellites are developed, manufactured, and tested almost entirely in-house. Headquartered near Munich, Germany, Isar Aerospace was founded in 2018 and has grown to over 400 employees from more than 50 nations, working across 5 international locations. Private funding from international investors provides strong backing for the company’s pioneering approach to scale and industrialize launch vehicle production through vertical integration.

About R-Space
R-Space is an emerging start-up dedicated to transforming how space technologies are demonstrated and validated in orbit. Through its IOD/IOV (In-Orbit Demonstration/Validation) services, R-Space significantly accelerates time-to-orbit, enabling a faster path to market readiness. This reduction in development and deployment cycles provides customers with a decisive advantage in achieving market success.

Simera Sense and Infinite Orbits have signed a contract to incorporate Simera Sense’s optical payload onto an Infinite Orbits mission—this collaboration is part of the French governmental program named France 2030 and led by the French Space Agency (CNES).

Under the agreement, Simera Sense will supply its commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) optical payload as a complimentary subsystem to Infinite Orbits’ payloads. This mission is at the forefront of European SmallSat technology, featuring in-situ surveillance sensors.

This collaboration marks a significant step forward in enhancing space surveillance capabilities. The optical payload, part of Simera Sense’s proven portfolio, brings complementary capacities within the set of payloads. This payload will deliver Non-Earth Imaging (NEI) in the visible spectrum, a crucial capability for understanding and monitoring objects in orbit.

Simera Sense’s product portfolio includes the xScape50 (1U volume at 30m resolution), the xScape100 (1.5U volume at 4.75m resolution) and xScape200 (12U volume at 1.5m resolution), all designed for satellite-based, observation applications.

These projects are funded by the French government in the frame of the France 2030 boost plan.

We are extremely proud to be selected by Infinite Orbits for this exciting, game-changing mission. This contract is just the beginning. At Simera Sense, our mission is to continuously innovate. We are a leader in providing reliable and accessible payloads in the new Space market with over forty payloads on orbit. The SSA market is experiencing exponential growth with demands for reliable and sovereign solutions. We will leverage our expertise and heritage in our upcoming SSA-dedicated payload, to be developed in Toulouse, France, to fulfill these market needs,” said Kammy Brun, Managing Director of Simera Sense France.

Our partnership with Simera Sense represents an important collaboration, accomplished by integrating and relaying different sensor subsystems for optical payloads. This joint effort ensures a robust solution designed to meet the growing needs of the market,” said Adel Haddoud, CEO of Infinite Orbits.

Amazon’s broadband-by-satellite service Project Kuiper says it will have broadband coverage in five countries by March 2026.

Ricky Freeman, president of Project Kuiper’s Kuiper Government Solutions division at Amazon, speaking at the Novaspace World Space Business Week event in Paris, told delegates that his firm would have more than 200 satellites in orbit by the end of this year. Kuiper is due to launch 27 craft on September 25th which will be added to the 102 already in orbit.

Freeman said that his greatest problem today was securing rocket launches, and said that if he could buy a slingshot that was powerful enough “I’d probably buy it!”

Kuiper is on a strict ITU-mandated deadline where it has to have half of its initial 3,232 satellites in orbit by July 2026. A second constellation of an additional 3,200 ‘next-gen’ satellites would then follow with 54 countries covered by 2028.

Since April, operational Kuiper satellites have launched aboard two Falcon 9s and two Atlas 5s. Freeman outlined “another launch in October, and another November-December to have approximately 200-plus satellites by the end of the year — not exactly where we wanted to be, but again, making great progress.”

There’s good news from the satellites already in orbit with Freeman saying that downlink speeds are reaching 1.8 Gb/s and uplinks to the satellite of 450 Mb/s.

He stressed that by the end of Q1 2026 the constellation will have a continuous coverage through and be able to offer services for the US, Canada, UK, Germany and France. By the end of 2026, he said Kuiper would be available in about 26 countries.

The service plans to be live in 54 countries in 2027, and up to 100 countries by the end of 2028.

ReOrbit recently closed their €45 million Series A funding round, the largest all-equity Series A round in Finland and one of the most significant deals overall in the European space and defence sector.

The round was led by Springvest, with participation from both new and existing investors, including Varma, Elo, Icebreaker.vc, Expansion VC, 10x Founders, and Inventure VC.

ReOrbit manufactures sovereign satellites and connected systems that provide nations with independent communications, intelligence capabilities, and full command of critical assets. Its systems serve both defence and civilian applications, enabling national resilience, autonomy, and control.

ReOrbit has closed numerous contracts, and is experiencing increasing demand from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. This new funding will expand its manufacturing capacity, advance proprietary technologies, and grow its operations. ReOrbit is opening local satellite centers in several countries during the next 12 months.

Beyond manufacturing, ReOrbit provides knowledge transfer and expertise that allow nations to operate, maintain, and expand their infrastructure independently over the long term. Its current product portfolio includes Silta, a secure satellite communications platform, and Ukko, an advanced intelligence and surveillance system.

Closing a €45 million Series A is a milestone not only for ReOrbit, but for Europe’s space and defence sector,” said Sethu Saveda Suvanam, CEO and Founder of ReOrbit. “This investment enables us to meet growing demand, ensuring that nations can operate critical space systems independently and with full control. In today’s geopolitical environment, reliance on external parties is a risk no country can accept. ReOrbit ensures they never have to.”

ReOrbit is building capabilities that are central to any country’s strategic autonomy. This investment demonstrates our confidence in their ability to deliver sovereign space systems that are essential for national security and resilience,” said Riku Seppälä, Icebreaker VC. “We are honored to be able to continue supporting ReOrbit in continuing to build a company that could become one of the most important companies ever built in Europe.”

A new partnership between Qatari satellite company Es’hailSat (Qatar Satellite Company) and neXat will improve the way managed services are accessed and delivered across the Middle East and Africa.

Es’hailSat will use the award-winning neXat platform to make it easier for its channel partners—such as licensed resellers —to purchase the company’s managed services across the region. Es’hailSat will also benefit from improved access to resellers.

As well as managing the provision of managed services, neXat’s advanced tools will be used by Es’hailSat to manage their customer lifecycle. The platform is the first of its kind to unite the management of SATCOM services, customers and networks virtually.

Es’hailSat provides top-of-the-line managed VSAT services and associated communication solutions for government and enterprises, on two co-located satellites at MENA’s orbital hot slots. Es’hailSat aims to expand its managed services offering across the region, which includes end-to-end satellite connectivity with customizable bandwidth, data volume, and SLA options, supported by hardware provisioning, network monitoring, field engineering, and 24/7 technical support.

The service operates in Ku- and Ka-band, offering high-speed data transfer and seamless integration with other telecom networks for applications like cellular backhaul and maritime communications.

The platform will enable the operator to centralize management of multiple hubs, reduce operational overhead, and accelerate service rollout. neXat has been recognized by two award wins so far this year: the World Teleport Association’s Teleport Technology of the Year Award, in March, and the SatellitePRO Middle East Best Next-Gen Satellite Application, in May.

The OSS-BSS (Operational Support Systems – Business Support Systems) seamlessly integrates operators’ different hubs, simplifying operations, and brings multiple operational and business support systems together in one place to save operators time and money. It can also be used to offer customers new and better services including traffic shaping, bandwidth optimization, and VNO services.

neXat’s platform can help managed services providers address the higher costs and lower revenue per megahertz (MHz) in the current satellite market. The OSS-BBS helps operators reduce operational expenditures as they look to increase revenues by selling their MHz through managed services.

Our mission at neXat is to make managing and accessing satellite services easier, simpler and more cost effective. We’re excited for Es’hailSat, a major operator, to take advantage of our platform’s unique offerings to improve the access to their services across an important and growing region,” said neXat’s Senior VP APAC, Rajeev Nair.

At Es’hailSat, we are always looking at ways to enhance our service offerings to deliver the satellite, teleport and managed services needed for customers across Middle East and North Africa,” said Es’hailSat’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ali Ahmed Al-Kuwari. “We believe that the highly robust and reliable services offered by this partnership between neXat and Es’hailSat, together with our Tier-4 certified teleport infrastructure, provide a strong base needed to serve end customers and our resellers across the region.”

Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) and IHI Corporation of Japan have signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of a new, small satellite constellation to strengthen Japan’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.

The signing occurred on September 10th during the DSEI exhibition in London, reflecting the growing strategic partnership between the UK and Japan in space and defence, as highlighted in the Hiroshima Accord (2023) and reaffirmed by both nations’ defence ministers at their Tokyo meeting in August of 2025.

Under the agreement, SSTL and IHI will work together to advance Japan’s sovereign ISR capabilities, leveraging SSTL’s proven satellite platforms and operational heritage. The collaboration also envisages opportunities to share imagery and capacity between SSTL’s UK-built constellations and those developed in Japan by IHI, ensuring resilience and enhanced coverage for both nations.

For SSTL, the partnership follows the success of TYCHE, the UK Ministry of Defence’s first sovereign ISR satellite, launched in 2024, and the signing of the more capable JUNO follow-on spacecraft. With over 70 satellites built and operated for global government and defence customers since 1985, SSTL brings world-class expertise in rapid, innovative, and cost-effective satellite solutions.

This collaboration between SSTL and IHI will not only contribute to Japan’s national security but will also support the growth of its domestic space industry, while deepening ties between Japan and the UK through shared technologies and operational experience.

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, SSTL’s Executive Chairman, said, “Space has become critically important for national security in recent years, and increasingly nations are deploying satellites in support of their Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance requirements, as they can provide global reach, privacy and priority. SSTL is a recognized pioneer and leader in this area, and not only designs and manufactures spacecraft but also has demonstrated dependable and reliable services from those satellites.”

Atsushi Sato, President of IHI’s Aero Engine, Space & Defense Business Area, said, “Today’s world is becoming increasingly unstable, and Japan’s National Security Strategy recognizes the importance of close cooperation with allied nations that share our strategic interests. This agreement with SSTL is an important first step towards developing the next-generation sovereign space capabilities that will be vital to Japan’s national security in the years ahead.”