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OneWeb and Hughes Network Systems LLC (“Hughes”) have a strategic, six-year, Distribution Partner agreement to provide LEO connectivity services across India.

The arrangement between OneWeb and Hughes Communications India Private Ltd. (HCIPL), a joint venture between Hughes and Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”) follows the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the companies in September of 2021.

As the leading satellite broadband provider in India , HCIPL is well positioned to deliver services to enterprise and government with OneWeb capacity, especially in areas outside the reach of fiber connectivity. OneWeb will connect towns, villages, and local and regional municipalities in those hardest-to-reach areas, playing a critical role in bridging the digital divide.

This agreement expands upon an established relationship between the two companies. Hughes, through its parent company, EchoStar, is a longstanding and supportive OneWeb shareholder. The company is also an ecosystem partner to OneWeb, developing gateway electronics — including for those in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu — and the core module that will power every user terminal for the system.

Hughes also is the prime contractor on an agreement with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to integrate and demonstrate managed LEO SATCOM using OneWeb capacity in the Arctic region.

In each of its core markets, OneWeb works with carefully selected distribution partners providing new business and expansion opportunities while supporting its goal of bringing improved digital communication services to some of the hardest-to-reach parts of the world. OneWeb’s most recent satellite launch on December 27, 2021, brought the firm’s total in-orbit satellites to 394 in number, that being 60 percent of the planned 648 LEO satellite fleet.

OneWeb plans to commence global service by the end of 2022 as demand continues from telecommunications providers, aviation and maritime markets, ISPs, and governments worldwide for its low-latency, high-speed connectivity services.

Service offerings under this agreement are subject to all appropriate regulatory approvals and licenses.

NanoAvionics has confirmed the reception of signals and healthy telemetry data from all of the three smallsats that were launched into LEO via the successful SpaceX Transporter-3 mission.

The rideshare mission that went into orbit on January 13, 2022, included one of the largest and heaviest cubesats ever built and launched. The 16U smallsat is the first of five satellites contracted to NanoAvionics by British company Sen, to establish video streaming media to provide real-time, Ultra-High Definition (UHD) videos of Earth.

Also aboard the Falcon-9 rocket was HYPSO-1, a 6U smallsat built for the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), to conduct ocean research. From its Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO), HYPSO-1 (HYPer-spectral Satellite for ocean Observation) will monitor algal blooms and other aspects of ocean health in an autonomous synergy with robotic agents around the Norwegian coast — this is the first of the two satellites NanoAvionics will supply to the program.

The third NanoAvionics built satellite that went into LEO onboard Transporter-3 is the 3U IoT smallsat DEWA-SAT 1, part of DEWA’s (Dubai Electricity & Water Authority) Space-D program and will support the digitization of Dubai’s power and water networks. Through an ambitious program and with the expertise of NanoAvionics, DEWA intends to enhance its flexibility and agility in monitoring and managing its electrical and water networks. Through Space-D, DEWA also expects to reduce costs, improve its asset use and provide sustainable, efficient and reliable power and water services to its customers.

Following the successful SpaceX launch, the third in a series of dedicated rideshare missions for smallsats, NanoAvionics confirmed signal acquisition and healthy telemetry from all of the three satellites.

"The really interesting thing about video as a type of data is that it has a storytelling power,” said Charles Black, CEO of Sen, during a livestream event of the SpaceX launch by NanoAvionics. "We want to empower people to witness the evolution of life on Earth (and eventually – beyond) and to monitor the health of the planet. We also want to empower them by giving this information directly, in the hope that this will not only enable people to take action but also inspire global change about the way we look after the planet. “It's been fantastic to work with NanoAvionics and their engineers. They have taken on all kinds of technical challenges in terms of the avionics and satellite build to accommodate our payload and optimize its performance.”

“This is a fantastic start for us, our customers and all space enthusiasts,” said Vytenis J. Buzas, founder and CEO of NanoAvionics. “While the commercial space sector has seen hundreds of small satellites being launched, there are only a few 16U satellites in orbit. We are very happy to pioneer this form factor and push the capability limits of this satellite’s bus volume in many technical ways. I’m looking forward to watching the first video streams of Sen’s satellite. The launch of the three satellites continues a successful 2021 that saw NanoAvionics doubling its revenue, growing our team by more than 50 percent, and building our first microsatellite bus MP42 for our own commercial rideshare program. We also assembled 16 custom satellites last year and have 27 more in progress. This year, we plan to launch 14 of those, including our first microsat, the MP42 – the industry's first commercially available modular microsat bus. And we have almost finished all construction works for our brand new MAIT (manufacturing, assembly, integration and test) facility in Vilnius, where we’ll begin operations soon.”

Liberty Strategic Capital, a private equity firm founded and led by former Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin, has entered into a definitive agreement to invest $150 million in Satellogic, Inc. (“Satellogic”), in connection with its merger involving CF Acquisition Corp. V (“CFV”), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Cantor Fitzgerald and pursuant to which Satellogic will become a publicly traded company.

Satellogic specializes in high-resolution imagery of the Earth’s surface obtained through a constellation of LEO satellites. Liberty’s contemplated investment brings the total capital raised to more than $265 million, net of expected redemptions of CFV stock, and including a $100 million combined investment led by SoftBank and Cantor Fitzgerald, among other top-tier institutional investors. This will be Liberty Strategic Capital’s third investment since the company’s founding.

CFV was formed as a “blank check” company in January of 2020 and completed an IPO in February of 2021 at a price of $10 per unit. In July 2021, CFV and Satellogic announced plans to merge at an implied enterprise value of $850 million. The stockholder vote of CFV to approve the proposed merger is currently scheduled for January 24, 2022.

In exchange for this investment, Liberty will receive 20,000,000 Class A ordinary shares of Satellogic at $7.50 per share, as well as 5,000,000 warrants with a strike price of $10 per share and 15,000,000 warrants with a strike price of $15 per share. Upon closing, Satellogic’s Class A ordinary shares are expected to be listed on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “SATL”.

Satellogic is a provider of low-cost, sub-meter satellite imagery to governments and commercial customers worldwide with plans to remap the entirety of the Earth’s surface once each day. Legacy approaches to Earth imaging have depended on large, complex satellites that were expensive to manufacture and launch, making it difficult for users to obtain imagery quickly and cheaply. Satellogic has developed a differentiated, highly efficient small satellite network that promises to unlock access to near real-time, high-resolution imagery for a multitude of users, helping businesses to farm more efficiently, monitor oil pipelines for leaks, and manage forest replantings, among other uses.

In connection with Liberty’s investment in Satellogic, Liberty will secure two board seats. Secretary Mnuchin will join Satellogic’s Board of Directors as Non-Executive Chairman. Liberty’s investment is contingent upon the completion of CFV’s merger with Satellogic and is further subject to a waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.

Secretary Mnuchin, Founder and Managing Partner of Liberty Strategic Capital, said, “It is hard to overstate the importance of up-to-date, high resolution Earth imagery as an aid to decision making across a broad variety of contexts. As Satellogic builds out its network to provide daily remaps of the Earth’s surface at a low cost, we believe the company is well positioned to provide governments and businesses with the information they need to make better, more well-informed decisions with respect to a host of pressing problems. We are excited to partner with Satellogic as they continue to innovate in this exciting and growing market.”

Emiliano Kargieman, CEO of Satellogic, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Secretary Mnuchin to the Satellogic Board of Directors, and Liberty and its investors to our ownership as a public company. This transaction is a significant step as we continue towards our plan of daily sub-meter resolution world remaps ready to address vast and affordable commercial applications.”

Howard W. Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and CFV, said, “I’m excited Secretary Mnuchin and the team at Liberty share our enthusiasm for the enormous value daily images of the entire Earth’s surface at sub-meter resolution could unlock, which is now possible with the funding achieved. Satellogic’s low earth images will bring many opportunities to the private sector and governments world-wide.”

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is serving as legal counsel to Liberty Strategic Capital. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is serving as financial advisor and capital markets advisor to CFV as well as placement agent on the PIPE, with Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP serving as legal counsel to CFV. J.P. Morgan is serving as financial advisor to Satellogic, with Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP and Greenberg Traurig LLP serving as legal counsel.

Founded in 2010 by Emiliano Kargieman and Gerardo Richarte, Satellogic is the first vertically integrated geospatial company, driving real outcomes with planetary-scale insights. Satellogic is building the first scalable, fully automated Earth Observation platform with the ability to remap the entire planet at both high-frequency and high-resolution, providing accessible and affordable solutions for customers.

SpaceX is targeting Thursday, January 13 for a Falcon 9 launch of Transporter-3 to orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The 29-minute launch window opens at 10:25 a.m. EST, or 15:25 UTC, and a backup opportunity is available on Friday, January 14, with the same window.

Falcon 9’s first stage booster previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and five Starlink missions.

Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Transporter-3 is SpaceX’s third, dedicated, rideshare mission, and on board this launch are 105 spacecraft (including smallsats and Orbital Transfer Vehicles( OTV)).

Watch the live launch webcast starting about 15 minutes before liftoff. 

A contract signed with Arianespace secures the joint launch for two satellites that will further the knowledge of our home planet. Scheduled to lift off on a new class of rocket, ESA’s Vega-C, from Europe’s Spaceport in mid-2025, FLEX will yield new information about the health of the world’s plants and Altius will deliver profiles of ozone and other trace gases in the upper atmosphere to support services such as weather forecasting.

The contract was signed by ESA’s Acting Director of Earth Observation Programs, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, ESA’s Director of Space Transportation, Daniel Neuenschwander, and CEO at Arianespace, Stéphane Israël.

FLEX is an Earth Explorer research mission. Earth Explorers, which are pivotal to ESA’s FutureEO program, are built to show how pioneering space technology can return novel information about how our planet works as a system and to better understand our rapidly changing world.

Although essentially built for science, many of these missions also deliver information that has direct practical uses. Moreover, once the technology and applications have been proven, Earth Explorers, importantly, provide the sound heritage for future satellite missions designed to provide systematic data for services that benefit daily life.

FLEX will help address one of our biggest challenges: understanding the health of Earth’s vegetation, which is critical to improve food security.

The planet’s growing global population is placing mounting pressure on the production of food, animal feed, biological fuels and pharmaceutical products. It is estimated that there will have to be more than a 50% increase in agricultural production by 2050 to meet demand. Understanding plant health and productivity is therefore essential to managing resources. FLEX will shine a light on plant health FLEX will shine a light on plant health

Although photosynthesis is one of the most fundamental processes on the planet, it has not been possible to measure it directly on large spatial scales. However, when plants photosynthesize, they emit a faint fluorescent glow. This glow is invisible to the naked eye, but, remarkably, it can be measured from space. Carrying a novel instrument called the Fluorescence Imaging Spectrometer, FLEX will measure this fluorescent signal to shed new light on the functioning of our vegetation. The information will be used to assess the functioning, health and stress of plants.

Altius is a smaller class satellite, but it will fill a very important gap in the continuation of ‘limb’ measurements for atmospheric science. It is being developed within ESA’s Earth Watch program and financed mainly by Belgium, with contributions from Canada, Luxembourg and Romania. This new mission is being built to deliver vertical profiles of ozone and other atmospheric gases.

While the ozone hole over Antarctica has been recovering in recent years, it is still a serious concern. And, needless to say, the understanding and monitoring of Earth’s atmosphere, with the rise in greenhouse gases that fuel climate change, is one of the most serious environmental issues humankind is currently facing.

Carrying an instrument that images in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared channels, the Atmospheric Limb Tracker for Investigation of the Upcoming Stratosphere, or Altius for short, will measure both stratospheric ozone and other atmospheric trace gases such as nitrogen dioxide and aerosols that affect air quality.

As its name suggests, Altius will not look straight down on Earth, but will observe the atmosphere along Earth’s horizon. The ‘limb-sounding’ technique allows trace gases such as ozone to be profiled so that concentrations can be seen at different altitudes with high vertical resolution.

The contract, now signed with Arianespace, ensures passage into space for these precious satellite missions from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Both satellites will be taken into orbit on ESA’s new Vega-C rocket. Building on the current Vega class, the first Vega-C will first take to the skies in 2022.

Vega-C is more powerful than its predecessor and is capable of a wide range of mission types. It is a single body rocket about 35 meters high with a mass at liftoff of 210 tons. It is able to place about 2200 kg. in a reference 700 km.-polar orbit, meeting the needs of European institutions and industry.

While the contract to launch FLEX and Altius assumes they will be launched on the same rocket in mid-2025, there is provision for alternative shared launches, should there be a drift in the timing of their relative development processes.

On Thursday, January 6, at 4:49 p.m., EST, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 49 Starlink satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This was the fourth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched GPS III-4, GPS III-5 and Inspiration4.

The SmallSat Symposium Silicon Valley 2022 will be in session from February 8 through 10, with the event workshops occurring on February 7.

The SmallSat Symposium will, once again, be conducted at Silicon Valley’s Computer History Museum.

Realize — 97 percent of all launched satellites are smallsats — that is a massive and profound shift in the satellite market. Smallsats are poised to massively accelerate their on-orbit presence as their reliability, functionality and effectiveness are realized more and more by industry actors.

The 2022 Symposium brings together leaders who will identify the critical trends occurring within the smallsat environs. The companies leading new technologies will also present their perspectives to attendees.

The SmallSat Symposium is an absolutely ideal environment for open communication between attendees and presenters and exhibitors as well as an important business networking event. The critical insights offered into the smallsat industry are the hallmarks of this must-attend satellite industry event.

The SmallSat Symposium Exhibitors and Sponsors include…

On December 18 at 4:41 a.m., PST, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 52 Starlink satellites to LEO from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This competed the first eleventh launch and landing of an orbital class rocket booster.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster had previously launched Dragon’s first crew demonstration mission, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, SXM-7 and now eight Starlink missions.

Less than 16 hours later, on Saturday, December 18, the Turksat 5B mission to geostationary transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida was also successfully accomplished by SpaceX.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission previously supported the launch of CRS-22 and Crew-3. Following stage separation, the first stage landed on A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which was in the Atlantic Ocean. The fairing halves supporting this mission had previously supported the GPS III Space Vehicle 05 mission.

Built by Airbus, Turksat 4B was transferred from France to the U.S. and this new satellite, operated by Turkiye will be the most powerful satellite the nation owns and operates. Broadband data capacity will be increased with areas served include Africa, Asia and Europe.

The satellite that was produced with contributions from Turkey’s domestic industry, will be on=-orbit within 164 days — the Turkish government is scheduled to launch an upgraded and domestically produced satellite — Turksat 6A — in 2023.

All screenshots are courtesy of SpaceX and their video launch simulcasts.

Airbus and OneWeb have signed a distribution partner agreement to provide LEO satellite communication services for military and governmental use. Airbus will offer new communication services using the OneWeb constellation to select European and UK armed forces, and civil protection and security forces, from the end of 2021.

Airbus and OneWeb plan to develop a complete range of secure services dedicated to the specific needs of armed forces for all their operations on land, at sea, and in the air. LEO constellations enable the development of a new generation of terminals and antennas of reduced size, weight and power. These constellations will also make it possible to offer real-time space communications, very useful for transmitting live video streams from sensors such as those embarked on UAVs.

These new satellite communication services will provide armed forces with high-speed, all-IP (Internet Protocol) communications, making it possible to prioritize communication flows and ensure a very high level of availability. Users can complement existing services and networks with the ability to switch between LEO and GEO (Geostationary orbit) satellite communications throughout operations to derive the benefits of a flexible and interoperable network.

The partnership will offer services to connect vehicles on the ground, battleship at sea and aircrafts in flight. Thanks to these features, this connectivity service is fully designed to support future multi-domain cloud applications and enable information superiority.

“As Europe’s leading government and defence secure communication provider, we continually look to extend and augment the services we offer. With the OneWeb LEO constellation we can offer military customers real flexibility as we look to deliver the future integrated mesh networks, combat cloud and information superiority that demand these new and innovative approaches. With this new offering based on the OneWeb constellation and Airbus technology, we will be the very first provider to offer this type of service to European forces,” said Evert Dudok, Executive Vice President of Connected Intelligence at Airbus Defence and Space.

Neil Masterson, OneWeb CEO added: "We are thrilled to expand our work with Airbus to meet the connectivity needs of European defence and security agencies on land, at sea and in the air. Our network will enable secure, resilient, real-time communications for military and civilian government organisations, starting in the Arctic and expanding to global mobility use cases.”

The Airbus designed OneWeb satellites are currently being produced at the Airbus OneWeb Satellites facility in Florida, USA. After an initial start of service over the Arctic area from North Pole to the 50th parallel OneWeb expects its services to be available with global coverage of the Earth by the end of 2022 with a constellation of 648 satellites in LEO.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SolAero Holdings, Inc. (SolAero), a supplier of space solar power products and precision aerospace structures for the global aerospace market, for $80 million in cash — the acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.

The acquisition aligns with Rocket Lab’s growth strategy of vertical integration to deliver a comprehensive space solution that spans spacecraft manufacture, satellite subsystems, flight software, ground operations, and launch. As one of only two companies producing high-efficiency, space-grade solar cells in the United States, SolAero’s space solar cells are among the highest performing in the world and support civil space exploration, science, defense and intelligence, and commercial markets. In combining with Rocket Lab, SolAero will tap into the Company’s resources and manufacturing capability to boost high-volume production, making high-performing space power technologies available at scale.

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, SolAero’s solar cells, solar panels, and composite structural products have supported more than 1,000 successful space missions with 100% reliability and mission success to date. Over the past two decades, SolAero’s products have played key roles in some of the industry’s most ambitious space missions, including supplying power to NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and Mars Insight Lander, the largest solar array ever deployed on the surface of Mars, and several Cygnus Cargo Resupply Missions to the International Space Station.

SolAero also led the development and manufacturing of the solar panel on Ingenuity, the helicopter that successfully flew on Mars in April this year, marking the first ever powered, controlled flight on a planet other than Earth. SolAero technology has also made commercial constellations possible, providing power to OneWeb’s broadband constellation. Most recently, SolAero has been selected to supply Solar Power Modules for the Power and Propulsion Element of NASA’s Gateway as part of NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration plans, which will enable future missions to Mars.

The addition of SolAero’s 425-strong team brings Rocket Lab’s total headcount to more than 1,100 employees across its space manufacturing complexes, test facilities, and launch sites in California, Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, Toronto, New Zealand and now Albuquerque, New Mexico. The SolAero team will continue to be led by President and CEO Brad Clevenger at SolAero’s 154,696 ft² (14,372 m²) production facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The SolAero merger is Rocket Lab’s third proposed acquisition announced this year, following the acquisition of space software company ASI Aerospace LLC in October 2021, and spacecraft separation systems company Planetary Systems Corporation, which was completed in December 2021. Rocket Lab will host a conference call for investors at 2:00 p.m. PST (5:00 p.m. EST) today to discuss the agreement.

“SolAero is a highly complementary addition to Rocket Lab’s vertically integrated business model and strengthens our ability to streamline space for our customers by delivering complete space mission solutions,” said Rocket Lab founder and CEO, Peter Beck. “SolAero has established itself as a premier provider of solar technologies, enabling trailblazing missions that have expanded scientific horizons and advanced commercial space. By combining our innovative teams, industry-leading technologies, and strong resources, we can advance space exploration and enable our customers to push the boundaries of what’s possible in orbit. We are absolutely thrilled to welcome the SolAero team to the Rocket Lab family.”

“We are very excited to join the outstanding team at Rocket Lab and contribute to their track record of innovation and on-orbit success,” said SolAero President and CEO, Brad Clevenger. “As Rocket Lab builds on its capability to provide complete mission solutions, SolAero is a natural fit for Rocket Lab. We look forward to becoming an integral part of Rocket Lab’s Space Systems business while continuing to offer all of our customers premier capability and value.”