On Saturday, November 13, at 7:19 a.m., EST, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched 53 Starlink satellites to orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

This was the ninth launch of this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-11, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and now has five Starlink missions completed, fairing extremely well.

The company also managed another 1st stage landing. This Falcon 9 rocket has now been successfully launched on nine missions. The initial launch had been scheduled for November 12; however, uncooperative weather at the launch site required a 24 hour delay.

GomSpace has signed a contract with Politecnico di Milano that includes a large quantity of GomSpace space qualified products for the H.E.R.M.E.S. mission with a value of 5.8 MSEK.

The contract deliveries will take place in 2021/2022 and GomSpace will support the technology activities of the university with products and knowledge.

The main goal of the High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites (H.E.R.M.E.S.) mission is the accurate and prompt localization of bright hard X-ray/soft gamma-ray transients, such as Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), with a distribution of sensors on a 6 cubesat constellation.

The concept is based on miniaturized, innovative high energy emission detectors developed by Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) and hosted by a constellation of 6 smallsats to be launched into LEO, designed and implemented at the Politecnico di Milano labs.

The H.E.R.M.E.S. program is carried out via a collaboration between Politecnico di Milano and INAF, together with many other national and international entities active in the Space sector, and is financed by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

“We are glad to support Politecnico di Milano and we put a great honor in supporting university missions, share our knowledge and help building up academic space capabilities,” said Niels Buus, CEO of GomSpace.

Astroscale Holdings Inc. (“Astroscale”) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with New Zealand’s Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment (“MBIE”) to cooperate on areas of space safety and sustainability, including debris mitigation and remediation as well as on-orbit servicing.

The collaboration is focused on partnership in projects and activities that support long-term space sustainability, including joint technology development and research. To initiate these efforts, Astroscale and MBIE have identified an initial project in collaboration with Rocket Lab and Te Pūnaha Ātea–Auckland Space Institute, which will define the engineering requirements, policy challenges and associated costs for multi-active debris removal missions with clients that require direct re-entry due to survivability of components. 

The project will assess the mitigation strategy for up to three large debris objects with a single servicer in LEO and will aim to further demonstrate the viability of commercial debris removal while advancing the state of orbital sustainability. 

"Space sustainability is a global concern that requires international collaboration between industry and government. This partnership with the Government of New Zealand underscores the potential to advance the technical, regulatory and business case solutions needed to solve this challenging problem,” said Chris Blackerby, Group COO of Astroscale. “Astroscale and the Government of New Zealand share a vision for improved space situational awareness and developing on-orbit servicing. We prioritize safety and collaboration in support of the rapidly growing orbital economy and are thrilled to join forces to explore new opportunities for sustainable growth." 

“Astroscale’s cutting-edge technology, combined with their approach to space sustainability matches perfectly with our values as a nation. For New Zealand this creates new commercial opportunities, and builds the skills and capability of our people,” said Paul Stocks, Deputy Secretary Labour, Science and Enterprise of MBIE. “This partnership underlines our approach to the use of space – partnering with the best firms and researchers, to solve big global challenges and enable ground-breaking research and development. We look forward to working with Astroscale to develop and expand the New Zealand space industry, and continue to explore new opportunities for collaboration.” 

The Swift Headline infosite has published a news item regarding SpaceX — the company has unveiled a new rectangular dish that interested customers can purchase to tap into the company’s growing satellite constellation in LEO. This dish is a thinner and lighter weight option than the circular dish that Starlink beta users have been testing over the last year.

SpaceX launched the beta version of Starlink in October 2020, allowing users in certain geographical areas of the US to purchase the company’s starter kit, which included a 23-inch-wide circular user terminal — or dish — mounting equipment, a Wi-Fi router, and all the cables one would need. The buy-in cost was $499 for the kit and then $99 a month for coverage. Now, users have the option to buy this new rectangular dish instead, which is just 12 inches wide and 19 inches long. At 9.2 pounds, it’s nearly half the weight of the original 16-pound dish. However, the price to buy the rectangular option appears unchanged.

SpaceX had filed a new application with the Federal Communications Commission for a smaller dish, which just received approval yesterday. The 12-inch width notably matches the diameter of the antenna that rival internet satellite initiative, Project Kuiper, is hoping to build.

To read the entire, informative article that was authored by Kemal Pasha, select this direct infolink…

Capella Space has announced that the company will become the first commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) supplier to demonstrate Optical Inter-Satellite Link (OISL) compatibility with the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA)’s new National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA).

SAR data is a highly valuable asset for the SDA and the U.S. Department of Defense. The next generation of Capella’s persistent SAR monitoring capabilities will leverage new technology that enables high delivery speeds and direct access to its 24/7 all-weather data for U.S. Government customers.

Capella Space will install optical communications terminals (OCTs) on its commercial SAR satellites, starting in late 2022. This will enable the company to use highly efficient laser communications technology to send and receive data to and from its satellites in LEO, relaying data to compatibly equipped government satellites and military operations on the ground. The integration of OCTs onto Capella’s SAR constellation will drastically reduce latency from image collect to download and ensure spaceborne data is quickly available to inform critical decision-making for terrestrial missions.

Capella Space selected Mynaric’s CONDOR Mk3 Optical Communications Terminal. The company selected Mynaric’s technology following a thorough vetting process. Mynaric has previously demonstrated compatibility with the SDA systems and standards.

Capella Space has partnered with a number of U.S. Department of Defense agencies, including the National Reconnaissance Office, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army and the U.S. Space Force. This announcement follows a new Collaborative Research Agreement with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Technical Defense Center as well as the hiring of Amy Hopkins as Capella’s new vice president and general manager of U.S. Government.

Since officially launching commercial operations in January 2021, Capella’s new innovations and the growth of its federal team positions it to serve U.S. Government customers with fast, direct access to reliable SAR data in order to solve challenges from tactical users to global policy making.

In 2016, Capella Space was founded to enable a richer understanding of our planet in entirely new and powerful ways. The company saw an opportunity to use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to monitor the Earth, including the 75% that is either covered in the darkness of night or obscured by clouds.

“Our team at Capella Space is thrilled to become the first commercial SAR company to demonstrate compatibility with the SDA’s National Defense Space Architecture and standards,” said Christian Lenz, CTO at Capella Space. “Enabling our satellites to integrate with the new SDA architecture efficiently is a critical step for us to work seamlessly with the U.S. defense and intelligence sector. We are proud to be able to work with the SDA in demonstrating this cutting-edge technology.”

“We are honored to be selected as the optical communications terminal vendor for Capella Space’s integration work with the SDA. The announcement today highlights the importance of standardization and compatibility within the industry,” said Bulent Altan, CEO of Mynaric, “Our recently announced CONDOR Mk3 is fully compliant to the SDA’s interoperability standard and a natural match for Capella’s innovative approach integrating commercial capabilities with governmental customers.”

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…

Planet has entered into an agreement to acquire VanderSat, a provider of advanced Earth data and analytics.

Under the agreement, Planet is set to acquire VanderSat for approximately $28 million, which consists of $18 million in shares of Class A common stock of Planet Labs PBC, valued at a per share price equal to the closing price of Class A common stock of Planet Labs PBC on the NYSE on the last trading day prior to the consummation of the acquisition of VanderSat, and approximately $10 million in cash.

Vandersat’s products help customers better measure and understand water management and crop health in major markets. Planet intends to leverage VanderSat’s technologies and products in further pursuit of bringing to market next-generation solutions that combine the best of commercial and public satellite data to provide clear and actionable information to help industries, non-profits, and governments around the world.

VanderSat has expertise in providing insights to customers by drawing from NASA, ESA and JAXA satellite data and has built a suite of products that report on key conditions on the Earth’s surface, such as soil moisture, land surface temperature, vegetation optical depth, and biomass. VanderSat’s unique algorithms deliver daily, global data products with great accuracy, unhindered by changing cloud-cover and atmospheric conditions.

At Planet, one of the company’s goals is to bridge the gap between real-world problems and the complexity of remote-sensing science. VanderSat is another step toward that goal with their advanced analytics. Planet believes their products will accelerate and expand the firm’s position in one of the company’s most important verticals – agriculture – and help mature the offerings for other,s such as insurance, civil government and finance. For example, easier-to-consume data can enable modeling to help financial institutions and insurers quantify climate impacts on water availability and crop production.

This transaction is expected to close in Q4 2021 and is subject to customary closing conditions, as well as the closing of Planet’s business combination with dMY Technology Group, Inc. IV (“dMY IV”). This will be Planet’s fourth acquisition (BlackBridge ‘15, Terra Bella ‘17 and Boundless ‘19).

The VanderSat team is based in Haarlem, Netherlands, and will further increase Planet’s commitment to the European ecosystem. The entire team, including their founder, Dr. Richard de Jeu and CEO Dr. van Leeuwen, will be joining Planet.

“VanderSat is a mission-driven company with the goal to serve one billion hectares of land in 2024. By joining Planet, our mission and impact will be dramatically accelerated and together, we aim to reach that goal in 2022,” said Dr. Thijs van Leeuwen, CEO of VanderSat.

“We’re thrilled to be welcoming the VanderSat team to Planet. We expect VanderSat’s analytics and industry expertise will help Planet provide solutions ‘up the stack’ to bridge the gap from complex remote-sensing science to products that offer improved data to the ecosystem and our customers. And when one combines their new data with Planet’s, the value is far greater than the sum of its parts,” said Will Marshall, CEO and Co-Founder of Planet. “We believe VanderSat’s products will add value in Planet’s core verticals of agriculture, and civil government, and will help us open up to others such as insurance and banking, to help grow our business.”

Planet has entered into an agreement to acquire VanderSat, a provider of advanced Earth data and analytics.

Under the agreement, Planet is set to acquire VanderSat for approximately $28 million, which consists of $18 million in shares of Class A common stock of Planet Labs PBC, valued at a per share price equal to the closing price of Class A common stock of Planet Labs PBC on the NYSE on the last trading day prior to the consummation of the acquisition of VanderSat, and approximately $10 million in cash.

Vandersat’s products help customers better measure and understand water management and crop health in major markets. Planet intends to leverage VanderSat’s technologies and products in further pursuit of bringing to market next-generation solutions that combine the best of commercial and public satellite data to provide clear and actionable information to help industries, non-profits, and governments around the world.

VanderSat has expertise in providing insights to customers by drawing from NASA, ESA and JAXA satellite data and has built a suite of products that report on key conditions on the Earth’s surface, such as soil moisture, land surface temperature, vegetation optical depth, and biomass. VanderSat’s unique algorithms deliver daily, global data products with great accuracy, unhindered by changing cloud-cover and atmospheric conditions.

At Planet, one of the company’s goals is to bridge the gap between real-world problems and the complexity of remote-sensing science. VanderSat is another step toward that goal with their advanced analytics. Planet believes their products will accelerate and expand the firm’s position in one of the company’s most important verticals – agriculture – and help mature the offerings for other,s such as insurance, civil government and finance. For example, easier-to-consume data can enable modeling to help financial institutions and insurers quantify climate impacts on water availability and crop production.

This transaction is expected to close in Q4 2021 and is subject to customary closing conditions, as well as the closing of Planet’s business combination with dMY Technology Group, Inc. IV (“dMY IV”). This will be Planet’s fourth acquisition (BlackBridge ‘15, Terra Bella ‘17 and Boundless ‘19).

The VanderSat team is based in Haarlem, Netherlands, and will further increase Planet’s commitment to the European ecosystem. The entire team, including their founder, Dr. Richard de Jeu and CEO Dr. van Leeuwen, will be joining Planet.

“VanderSat is a mission-driven company with the goal to serve one billion hectares of land in 2024. By joining Planet, our mission and impact will be dramatically accelerated and together, we aim to reach that goal in 2022,” said Dr. Thijs van Leeuwen, CEO of VanderSat.

“We’re thrilled to be welcoming the VanderSat team to Planet. We expect VanderSat’s analytics and industry expertise will help Planet provide solutions ‘up the stack’ to bridge the gap from complex remote-sensing science to products that offer improved data to the ecosystem and our customers. And when one combines their new data with Planet’s, the value is far greater than the sum of its parts,” said Will Marshall, CEO and Co-Founder of Planet. “We believe VanderSat’s products will add value in Planet’s core verticals of agriculture, and civil government, and will help us open up to others such as insurance and banking, to help grow our business.”

Capella Space has announced that the company will become the first commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) supplier to demonstrate Optical Inter-Satellite Link (OISL) compatibility with the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA)’s new National Defense Space Architecture (NDSA).

SAR data is a highly valuable asset for the SDA and the U.S. Department of Defense. The next generation of Capella’s persistent SAR monitoring capabilities will leverage new technology that enables high delivery speeds and direct access to its 24/7 all-weather data for U.S. Government customers.

Capella Space will install optical communications terminals (OCTs) on its commercial SAR satellites, starting in late 2022. This will enable the company to use highly efficient laser communications technology to send and receive data to and from its satellites in LEO, relaying data to compatibly equipped government satellites and military operations on the ground. The integration of OCTs onto Capella’s SAR constellation will drastically reduce latency from image collect to download and ensure spaceborne data is quickly available to inform critical decision-making for terrestrial missions.

Capella Space selected Mynaric’s CONDOR Mk3 Optical Communications Terminal. The company selected Mynaric’s technology following a thorough vetting process. Mynaric has previously demonstrated compatibility with the SDA systems and standards.

Capella Space has partnered with a number of U.S. Department of Defense agencies, including the National Reconnaissance Office, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army and the U.S. Space Force. This announcement follows a new Collaborative Research Agreement with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Technical Defense Center as well as the hiring of Amy Hopkins as Capella’s new vice president and general manager of U.S. Government.

Since officially launching commercial operations in January 2021, Capella’s new innovations and the growth of its federal team positions it to serve U.S. Government customers with fast, direct access to reliable SAR data in order to solve challenges from tactical users to global policy making.

In 2016, Capella Space was founded to enable a richer understanding of our planet in entirely new and powerful ways. The company saw an opportunity to use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to monitor the Earth, including the 75% that is either covered in the darkness of night or obscured by clouds.

“Our team at Capella Space is thrilled to become the first commercial SAR company to demonstrate compatibility with the SDA’s National Defense Space Architecture and standards,” said Christian Lenz, CTO at Capella Space. “Enabling our satellites to integrate with the new SDA architecture efficiently is a critical step for us to work seamlessly with the U.S. defense and intelligence sector. We are proud to be able to work with the SDA in demonstrating this cutting-edge technology.”

“We are honored to be selected as the optical communications terminal vendor for Capella Space’s integration work with the SDA. The announcement today highlights the importance of standardization and compatibility within the industry,” said Bulent Altan, CEO of Mynaric, “Our recently announced CONDOR Mk3 is fully compliant to the SDA’s interoperability standard and a natural match for Capella’s innovative approach integrating commercial capabilities with governmental customers.”