Virgin Orbit in a planned business combination with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II (“NextGen”) (NASDAQ: NGCA) has announced that the company has entered into a memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) with ANA HOLDINGS, INC., the owners of Japan’s largest airline, to procure 20 flights of the LauncherOne rocket and to lead the effort to provide funds and support for those orbital missions to launch from Japan’s Oita Prefecture.

The terms of the MoU call for ANA HOLDINGS and several of its partners to fund the manufacturing of a new set of the mobile, ground support equipment used to prepare Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne system for flight from a pre-existing runway, with a target of making Oita a LauncherOne-ready spaceport by as soon as the end of 2022, pending appropriate regulatory approvals in the United States and Japan.

Japan’s aerospace industry has long been at the forefront of satellite technology innovation. However, the available launch services in Japan – and throughout all of Asia – have always been launched from fixed sites on the ground. Supported by ANA’s premier logistics and transport services, Virgin Orbit is set to change that by bringing air-launch to the Eastern Hemisphere for the first time in history.

By using a customized 747 as its flying launch pad, mobile mission control, and fully re-usable first stage, LauncherOne gains a substantial performance boost over a similarly sized ground-launched system. Additionally, the airplane’s ability to cover large distances between taking off and releasing the rocket provides both weather resiliency and direct-inject orbital flexibility that, until now, has never been available on the Asian market.
Virgin Orbit’s flight-proven, air-launch service provides a unique capability for ANA’s customer base in the booming commercial ecosystem for space in Asia.

The number of space start-ups in Japan has more than doubled since 2015, driven by increasing level of investment and government activities to energize and accelerate the private sector. The increasing amount of funding and investment in the space industry has encouraged start-ups to venture into space businesses, and legacy companies to expand their offerings – and launch is a critical enabler for those businesses and their future growth.

Koji Shibata, ANA Group Representative Director and Executive Vice President, said, “ANA is excited to work with Virgin Orbit to offer responsive launch and space solutions services to customers in Japan. Demand for satellite launches in Japan and Asia is rapidly increasing, and it is hoped that the number of launches will be desired from the customers. Virgin Orbit offers something no other launch company can, and that capability will be extremely valuable to the growing space industry in Japan and throughout the region.”

“ANA is a world-class company with an incredible legacy of aerospace innovation, commercial success, and customer satisfaction that makes them an absolutely ideal partner to bring air-launch to Asia,” said Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart. “We are elated to be partnering with such a talented and honored firm to move space launch forward and serve the rapidly growing need for launch. We look forward to collaborating with ANA to foster the ongoing transformation of the space economy.”

Digantara Research and Technologies Pvt. Ltd., (Digantara) has signed a contract with Orbital Astronautics Ltd. (OrbAstro) to fly the SCOT (Space–based space Climate and Object Tracker) payload onboard an ORB-6 satellite platform launching toward the end of 2022.

The mission will focus on demonstration of a novel LiDAR-based technology developed by Digantara, and will serve as the pilot for their LEO constellation providing a space situational awareness service.

“With the rapid growth of satellite applications and the influx of mega constellations, situational awareness of 1.0 – 10.0 cm objects, in addition to objects larger than 10 cm, is becoming increasingly important. With 96% of potentially hazardous objects still untracked, comprehensive situational awareness is required to operate assets in LEO effectively. Solving such intricate problems requires real-time insights,” said Anirudh Sharma, CEO of Digantara. “Digantara’s mission is to build a sustainable near-Earth environment and access to space by providing actionable insights through meaningful collaborations with industry stakeholders. Cooperation with companies such as OrbAstro play an important role in accelerating Digantara’s objectives.”

“Through its own satellite constellation, Digantara is working towards providing a service that constellation operators, space agencies, and regulators are screaming for. By far the most effective solution to a sustainable LEO environment will be comprehensive space traffic management. This will not be possible without companies like Digantara enriching datasets on traffi.”, said Dr. Ash Dove-Jay, CEO of OrbAstro. “Over the coming years, to enable the space traffic management aspect of our Guardian Network service, we are going to become reliant on partnerships with companies like Digantara.”

Beyond being a space-as-a-service provider geared towards nanosatellite and microsatellite constellations, OrbAstro is building an infrastructure to better service customer satellites, the Guardian Network. The Guardian Network provides low-latency access to customer satellites through an in-orbit data relay network, and it provides a high level of operations automation at the level of the satellite, mission, constellation, and space traffic management.

Digantara is a space situational awareness company building the world’s first in-situ orbital surveillance platform, SCOT. Digantara’s end to end platform, S-MAP (Space – Mission Assurance Platform) will change the way Mission design and operations are carried out in the industry today. Once deployed, Digantara’s satellite constellation will provide high fidelity data at 10x higher resolution than the current industry standards, effectively elevating space governance.

Orbital Astronautics Ltd is a United Kingdom and New Zealand based space technology company focused on providing “space as a service”, supporting companies looking to directly use satellites for their businesses. Orbital Astronautics is currently maturing a satellite batch production facility targeting constellation markets, and is building its own satellite constellation to provide low-latency access and autonomous operations services for customers satellites.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. has named Jason B. Mello as President of Firefly Space Transport Services (STS), formerly known as Firefly Black, located in Washington D.C.

Firefly STS, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Firefly Aerospace, will serve as the primary business development unit for all of Firefly’s customers – commercial, civil, and military – with initial emphasis on Government customers. A former U.S. Air Force Colonel, Mello brings over 23 years of experience leading teams across the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community helping address and solve our Nation’s most difficult science and technology problems.

Prior to Firefly, Mello’s final assignment was at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), where he was the Chief Research and Technology Officer for Science and Engineering. In this role, he led a team of senior scientists and directed an over $500 million per year portfolio researching and developing future technologies vital for both the Air Force and Space Force.

Before this posting, Mello served as the Director of the National Intelligence Portfolio where he led the oversight team for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, overseeing a $9 billion per year portfolio of intelligence community programs. He has led at multiple levels including leading the first Launch Acquisition Division at the National Reconnaissance Office and multiple other satellite and intelligence programs.

Mello’s appointment follows several important milestones for the company including Firefly’s successful completion of its Blue Ghost CDR, in preparation for a 2023 mission that will deliver ten payloads to the lunar surface for NASA plus the inaugural launch of the Alpha launch vehicle from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. As Firefly looks towards its next Alpha launch, and the continued development of the Blue Ghost lunar lander, Mello will build on Firefly’s existing relationships and oversee all customer development and programs for Firefly STS.

”To date, the Firefly team has been focused on developing transformative launch and in-space transportation vehicles. With the recent first flight of our Alpha launch vehicle, and rapid developmental progress of our Blue Ghost lunar lander, Firefly is ready to provide unique transportation solutions spanning all cislunar space,” said Firefly Aerospace CEO, Dr. Tom Markusic. “I’m incredibly excited to have Jason leading the effort to engage with customers to utilize Firefly vehicle capabilities to perform a wide variety of spaceflight missions.”

“I am excited to lead and build Firefly STS to support both our Government and Commercial customers,” said Jason Mello. “A focused team dedicated to working with the United States Space Force, Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and civil space is vitally important to meeting the Government’s requirements for space access and in-space programs, and I am excited to showcase how Firefly’s capabilities will meet the needs of these organizations. The Firefly team has done an outstanding job creating low-cost, high-frequency space access capabilities by establishing strong relationships with key commercial customers that can fully benefit from Firefly’s low-cost, dedicated space transportation paradigm, and I look forward to continuing to grow and expand these relationships.”

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has officially opened the CASTLE — The Center for Advancing Science, Technology, Learning, and Engagements.

The CASTLE is a collaboration with NRO’s Advanced Systems and Technology (AS&T) directorate, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) and their partnership intermediary, the Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation (VT-ARC).

NRO Director Dr. Chris Scolese joined AS&T Director Dr. Susan Durham and AFOSR Tech Advisor Dr. Van Blackwood to cut the ribbon and officially open the center among a small group of employees from the respective organizations.

The group toured the nearly 10,000 square foot unclassified facility, which includes areas for collaboration, teaching and meetings, as well as quiet spaces, and laboratory workshops. During the tour, the CASTLE’s laboratory was set up for a hands-on geology experiment for understanding the Earth’s layers, as well as a 3D printing station where a Polylactic Acid Plastic castle was being printed. Guests also stopped at the collaboration space where VT-ARC demonstrated digital collaboration capabilities that will allow NRO to more effectively interact with the unclassified world. 

The CASTLE currently hosts technical courses on topics such as smallsats and data science for staff across the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense. Personnel receive hands-on training with modern technology and experiential learning through limited-term projects and prototyping.

NRO plans to expand collaboration beyond the government in the near future. There will be opportunities for academic outreach through STEM events for K-12 students, summer internships, and college and university partnerships. 

HySpecIQ, a company involved in the development of space-based hyperspectral imagery, recently announced that the firm has closed its Series B funding with an investment from prominent venture capitalist Peter Thiel.

The investment accelerates the development and launch of 12 LEO satellite constellations (slated to begin in 2023). It positions HySpecIQ to be the leading provider of hyperspectral imagery and analytics for national security, commercial, and environmental uses given its unmatched resolution and global reach.

By combining HySpecIQ’s analytics and data science capabilities and through partnerships, the Company will have the ability to quickly turn massive amounts of data into valuable, actionable insights in ways rarely before available.

HySpecIQ’s early focus was primarily on national security— specifically the Intelligence Community and DoD—having secured a partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. Government agency in charge of designing, building, launching, and maintaining America’s intelligence satellites. The agency is also the largest customer for Earth Observation (EO) data in the world.

The Company is now undertaking product development pilots to identify use cases that measure and monitor key Environmental and Sustainability indicators in agriculture, insurance, and disaster forecasting. A recent Euroconsult report forecast accelerating growth and is expected to top $2.5 billion by 2030.

Founder William Sullivan, a veteran in space-related companies, said, “Data Scientists across industries and sectors are transforming how we enjoy and appreciate life here on Earth — from national security, to GPS, to weather tech and so much more. HySpecIQ represents a “Black Hole” of information and data sets that simply haven’t been available before from space. Importantly, the exceptional resolution will deliver the accuracy and ease of use our customers have long sought."

Kleos Space S.A has appointed international Space finance executive Padraig McCarthy as a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee, effective as of November 3, 2021.

Mr. McCarthy is currently a Partner at the private equity firm NewSpace Capital and an independent Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair at listed self-storage company Shurgard. He brings more than two decades of Space industry experience to Kleos, previously serving as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and member of the Executive Committee at SES, where he raised more than €5 billion to fund the company’s growth strategy

Mr McCarthy has an extensive investor relations and capital markets experience, playing a key role in the SES IPO, its Paris Euro-next secondary listing as well as other equity and debt activities. His industry experience also includes nine years as CFO and Management Committee member of SES Astra and other business and finance leadership positions within SES, whom he served for 23 years.

Commenting on the appointment, Kleos’ Chairman, Mr. Peter Round said, “Padraig’s wealth of financial, Space industry and governance experience further enhances Kleos’ Board expertise and will be instrumental as we continue to commercialize our geolocation intelligence data. His appointment aligns with Kleos’ best practice governance and regulatory regimes and supports our longer-term transition towards a majority independent Board.”

Mr. McCarthy said, “I’m delighted to join Kleos at a pivotal point in the Company’s journey, as it transitions from its R&D beginnings into a commercial provider of radio frequency geolocation data. Kleos’ independent ISR technology has many real-world applications, improving situational awareness for both government and commercial customers. I look forward to leveraging my previous industry and professional experience to assist Kleos as it executes its growth strategy.”

Kleos’ Co-founder, Miles Ashcroft, who has recently been appointed Chief Innovation Officer to lead research and product innovation, has stepped down from the Board as an Executive Director in order to facilitate the transition to an independent Board. He added, “Miles made an outstanding contribution to Kleos as a Director and I know the whole Board will join me in thanking him for his service so far, as well as helping us transition to an independent Board.”

Intelsat, OneWeb (OWT) and Linchpin Solutions have successfully demonstrated a multi-orbit satellite communications solution for representatives of the U.S. Army and Department of Defense (DoD).

This is a strategic demonstration to the U.S. DoD that shows transport diversification between GEO and LEO constellations, with seamless switching between them.

Referred to as Automated Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency (APACE) communications, the solution enables soldiers to survive and excel in contested electronic warfare environments. The reliability of communications is significantly improved by simultaneously sending data over multiple paths and adjusting the traffic flow in real-time between GEO and LEO satellite constellations.

Intelsat and OWT used both GEO and LEO services simultaneously, switching the data flow between orbits instantly at the packet level, using software to determine which connection will provide the best experience based on the technical requirements of the end service. The software solution can be hosted on existing fielded ruggedized virtual machine platforms allowing the system to run in the harshest environments.

Two satellite links were established during the demo – one on the Intelsat 37 (IS-37) satellite and one on a OneWeb satellite. The links communicated through various end-user terminals, including a SatCube terminal, a Kymeta U7/8 terminal, a Litecom GEO terminal, and a OneWeb Intellian terminal, demonstrating applications such as two-way voice and data downloads and MP4 video.

Intelsat’s FlexMove service, combined with partner terminals, can be deployed within an hour. For military customers, this quick set-up, reliable and secure offering provides Beyond-Line-Of-Sight (BLOS) seamless communications at times when connectivity is most critical.

“This demonstration shows how through the power of partnership, we can provide a reliable, secure, multi-orbit, multi-band capability for the military that connects our warfighters to meet their evolving mission requirements,” said President of Intelsat General, Dave Micha. “This enables the delivery of required connectivity, throughput and services to customers when and where that reliable access is needed, even in the harshest elements.”

“This demonstration of low latency, high-capacity throughput via a multi-orbit solution that increases the resiliency of commercial SATCOM to DoD and allied partners globally is an important steppingstone as OneWeb rises to the challenges and needs of our customers through partnerships,” said Bob Roe, CEO of OneWeb Technologies, the U.S. Proxy subsidiary of OneWeb.

Digantara Research and Technologies Pvt. Ltd., (Digantara) has signed a contract with Orbital Astronautics Ltd. (OrbAstro) to fly the SCOT (Space–based space Climate and Object Tracker) payload onboard an ORB-6 satellite platform launching toward the end of 2022.

The mission will focus on demonstration of a novel LiDAR-based technology developed by Digantara, and will serve as the pilot for their LEO constellation providing a space situational awareness service.

“With the rapid growth of satellite applications and the influx of mega constellations, situational awareness of 1.0 – 10.0 cm objects, in addition to objects larger than 10 cm, is becoming increasingly important. With 96% of potentially hazardous objects still untracked, comprehensive situational awareness is required to operate assets in LEO effectively. Solving such intricate problems requires real-time insights,” said Anirudh Sharma, CEO of Digantara. “Digantara’s mission is to build a sustainable near-Earth environment and access to space by providing actionable insights through meaningful collaborations with industry stakeholders. Cooperation with companies such as OrbAstro play an important role in accelerating Digantara’s objectives.”

“Through its own satellite constellation, Digantara is working towards providing a service that constellation operators, space agencies, and regulators are screaming for. By far the most effective solution to a sustainable LEO environment will be comprehensive space traffic management. This will not be possible without companies like Digantara enriching datasets on traffi.”, said Dr. Ash Dove-Jay, CEO of OrbAstro. “Over the coming years, to enable the space traffic management aspect of our Guardian Network service, we are going to become reliant on partnerships with companies like Digantara.”

Beyond being a space-as-a-service provider geared towards nanosatellite and microsatellite constellations, OrbAstro is building an infrastructure to better service customer satellites, the Guardian Network. The Guardian Network provides low-latency access to customer satellites through an in-orbit data relay network, and it provides a high level of operations automation at the level of the satellite, mission, constellation, and space traffic management.

Digantara is a space situational awareness company building the world’s first in-situ orbital surveillance platform, SCOT. Digantara’s end to end platform, S-MAP (Space – Mission Assurance Platform) will change the way Mission design and operations are carried out in the industry today. Once deployed, Digantara’s satellite constellation will provide high fidelity data at 10x higher resolution than the current industry standards, effectively elevating space governance.

Orbital Astronautics Ltd is a United Kingdom and New Zealand based space technology company focused on providing “space as a service”, supporting companies looking to directly use satellites for their businesses. Orbital Astronautics is currently maturing a satellite batch production facility targeting constellation markets, and is building its own satellite constellation to provide low-latency access and autonomous operations services for customers satellites.

The University of Melbourne built Australian SpIRIT astronomy smallsat team has selected DcubeD actuators for this upcoming mission The actuators will trigger the deployment of the radiator for the SpIRIT mission that is set to launch in 2022.

For the deployment of the Australian-made satellite’s large radiator, the SpIRIT (Space Industry – Responsive – Intelligent – Thermal Nanosatellite) team has selected DcubeD (Deployables Cubed GmbH), a New Space smallsat mechanisms company specializing in nano-sized actuators as well as deployables for smallsats. The deployment of the mission-critical radiator will be ensured using DcubeD’s nano pin puller, nD3PP, triggering the deployment of the radiator once in space.

The SpIRIT mission is an innovative smallsat consisting of an Australian-designed and made spacecraft platform and a main payload for gamma and x-ray remote sensing, provided by Italian project partners. This will be accompanied by three technologies to be space qualified: TheMIS (Thermal Management Integrated System), Mercury (adaptive autonomous low-latency communications module) and an Australian developed high efficiency electronic propulsion system.

It is crucial that the TheMIS technology provides the required operating temperature of the main payload role, for which a large heat rejection radiator surface is required. A deployable radiator, such as the one SpIRIT uses, can greatly enhance the thermal performance by increasing the available radiative surface area whilst cooperating with the volumetric constraints of smallsats. DcubeD’s release actuators will secure the successful deployment of radiator panels and so support the spacecraft thermal control.

“SpIRIT is a truly exciting mission. SpIRIT will make a valuable contribution to the primary HERMES constellation as it hunts for newly born black holes and other electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events, putting a nanosatellite constellation at the forefront of science,” said Dr. Thomas Sinn, CEO of DcubeD. “Being selected as a supplier for the release actuators of the deployable radiator for this exciting mission fills me and the whole DcubeD team with pride." 

“Our SpIRIT mission aims to advance the capabilities of small spacecraft by providing the opportunity to demonstrate new technologies in orbit,” said Mr. Simon Barraclough, Technical Director for the SpIRIT mission. “A key technology is the payload thermal control system being developed by the University of Melbourne. The DcubeD device is an important enabler in the safe and dependable release of deployable thermal radiator. We have been very pleased with the product and service provided by DcubeD and look forward to its successful operation in orbit“.

The Melbourne Space Laboratory (MSL) in the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne is focused on developing innovative miniaturized payloads and technological solutions for smallsats to enable scientific investigations, commercial opportunities and defense applications traditionally restricted to substantially larger and more expensive satellites. Founded in 2019, it has already established itself as one of the points of excellence for smallsat R&D in Australia, as demonstrated by the award to lead the Space Industry – Responsive – Intelligent – Thermal (SpIRIT) nanosatellite, the first space mission selected for flight by the Australian Space Agency (International Space Investment – Expand Capability scheme). The laboratory is contributing to the growth of the Australian space sector and includes academics with international leadership in space science and engineering, as well as engineers with extensive international experience in aerospace companies.

DcubeD (Deployables Cubed GmbH), located in Germering, Germany, develops actuators and deployable structures tailored for smallsats and the commercial space industry. DcubeD will help with their release actuators (pin puller and release nut) and deployables (100W Solar Array, Space Selfie Stick, Deployable Boom)