🛰️ MANUFACTURING AND OPERATIONS

🇳🇿 Rocket Lab fires future Neutron engine in first static fire test
Rocket Lab has fired its Archimedes engine for the first time, a key step in its efforts to develop the Neutron reusable rocket.
The company announced Aug. 8 that it performed the first static-fire test of Archimedes at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The test, which took place earlier this month, ran the methane/liquid oxygen engine to 102% of its rated power during a burn of undisclosed duration.
Article

💰️ FINANCE, FUNDING AND M&A

🇫🇷 🇸🇪 Eutelsat in talks to sell ground infrastructure assets to PE fund
Eutelsat plans to carve out ground segment infrastructure worth about 790 million euros ($863 million) and then sell most of the teleport service business to a private equity fund, the French fleet operator announced Aug. 9.
The operator is in exclusive talks to sell 80% of the ground station-as-a-service business — comprising land, buildings, antennas and other passive infrastructure assets — to a fund run by EQT Partners of Sweden. 
According to Eutelsat, the new business would be the world’s largest pure-play, operator-neutral, ground station-as-a-service company.
Article

🛰️ CORE SERVICES

🇺🇸 NASA awards Blue Origin’s lunar lander a contract to fly payload to the moon
NASA revealed it selected Blue Origin to fly a camera system to study how engine plumes interact with regolith at south polar regions of the moon, collecting data to support future crewed landing missions. The payload, called Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS), will fly through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
Article

🛰️ PRODUCT, PARTNERSHIPS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

🇩🇪 🇬🇧 🇯🇵 Airbus and Astroscale partner up for in-orbit operations
Airbus is expanding its partnership with in-orbit servicing venture Astroscale to explore ways to collaborate beyond potentially removing space junk and refueling satellites.
The companies announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) Aug. 12 — between Airbus Defense and Space and the Japanese venture’s British subsidiary — to focus on U.K.-based in-orbit servicing and manufacturing opportunities in particular.
Astroscale UK is already looking into using robotic arm technology from Airbus for future debris removal and satellite refueling missions. 
Article

🚀 LAUNCH CONTRACTS AND MISSIONS

🇺🇸 SpaceX announces next privately funded Crew Dragon mission
A Chinese-born cryptocurrency entrepreneur has funded a SpaceX Crew Dragon mission that will be the first human flight to go over the Earth’s poles.
SpaceX announced Aug. 12 that it will launch a private astronaut mission called Fram2 as soon as late 2024. The Crew Dragon will launch into a polar orbit from Florida, flying at an altitude of 425 to 450 kilometers during a mission lasting three to five days. No crewed mission has flown in a polar orbit before, with the highest inclination being about 65 degrees.
Article

🇺🇸 🇳🇴 Falcon 9 launches two satellites for Space Norway
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched two communications satellites Aug. 11 for Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM).
Space Norway is a state-owned enterprise that provides satellite communication services and infrastructure for government, defense and commercial industries.
The ASBM satellites, built by Northrop Grumman, are designed to provide broadband communications services over the North Pole and high-latitude areas.
Article
Video

🇺🇸 SpaceX launches Starlink 10-7
SpaceX launched 23 Starlink satellites into space aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Monday (Aug. 12). The mission blasted off at 6:37 a.m. EDT (1037 GMT), a day after SpaceX aborted the launch during the final minute of the countdown
Article
Video

🇳🇿 🇺🇸 
Rocket Lab launched a Capella Space radar imaging satellite Aug. 11 on a mission
The Electron lifted off from Pad B at Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 9:18 a.m. Eastern. The rocket’s kick stage deployed its payload, the Acadia-3 satellite, nearly 57 minutes later into a 615-kilometer orbit inclined at 53 degrees.
Acadia-3 is a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite also called Capella-13. The spacecraft is the fourth in the Acadia line of spacecraft, which feature improvements in SAR imaging capabilities over earlier versions, although one satellite was lost on a Electron launch failure in September 2023.
Article
Video

🌎️ CUSTOMERS OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY

nothing to see here today!

📜 REGULATORY & GOVERNMENT

🇺🇸 NASA discovers lapses in Boeing’s work for the Space Launch System
NASA’s internal watchdog sharply criticized the work Boeing is doing on the next version of the Space Launch System, finding serious lapses in quality control.
In a report released Aug. 8, NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said there were significant issues with Boeing’s work on the Block 1B version of SLS being done at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, which it attributed to a lack of an acceptable quality management system and trained workforce.
Article

🇺🇸 U.S Space Force releases RFP for 2nd phase of MEO missile tracking
The U.S. Space Force initiated a new phase in its missile defense satellite program. The Space Systems Command on Aug. 9 released a “request for prototype proposals” inviting vendors to submit designs for satellites known as Missile Track Custody Epoch 2, marking the second phase of the Space Force’s program to develop a missile-tracking network in medium Earth orbit (MEO).
Article

🇦🇿 🇧🇼 Azerkosmos signs data services deal with Botwsana
Azercosmos has signed a new partnership deal with the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB) deepening its reach into Africa. Under this long-term agreement, the Botswana government agency will utilize data services provided via the Azerspace-1 telecommunication satellite. The two organizations announced the deal, August 8.
Article

Read older editions of the Newsletter here