🛰️ MANUFACTURING AND OPERATIONS

🇩🇪 Setback for Rocket Factory Augsburg’s first stage
The first stage of the inaugural Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) rocket was destroyed in a static-fire test Aug. 19, dealing a setback to the German company just as it was nearing its first launch.
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💰️ FINANCE, FUNDING AND M&A

🇺🇸 Astroforge raises Series A round before mission to M-Class Asteroid
Asteroid mining startup AstroForge has raised $40 million as the company races the clock to get its next mission ready for launch.
AstroForge announced Aug. 20 that it raised the Series A round led by Nova Threshold, bringing the total raised by the Southern California startup to $55 million. Others participating in the round include funds 776, Initialized, Caladan, YC and Uncorrelated Ventures as well as individual investor Jed McCaleb, the billionaire who also founded commercial space station company Vast.
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🇺🇸 Lunar resource extraction startup raises seed funding
Starpath Robotics, a start-up developing the infrastructure for lunar resource extraction—including a power plant, a fleet of rovers, and a processing plant—raised $12M in seed funding from a group of venture investors led by 8VC and Fusion Fund, alongside Day One Ventures, Balerion Space, and Indicator Ventures.
The capital will allow the company to build out a full scale terrestrial demonstration of its system and accelerate its path to testing on the Moon, CEO Saurav Shroff told Payload. 
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🛰️ CORE SERVICES

🇺🇸 TrustPoint wins SpaceWERX contracts for PNT applications
TrustPoint, a startup developing a next-generation global navigation satellite system, won SpaceWERX contracts with a combined value of $3.8 million.
Under two SpaceWERX direct-to-phase 2 contracts, TrustPoint will demonstrate a ground control segment that does not rely on GPS and an advanced position, navigation and timing (PNT) security application, according to an Aug. 21 news release.
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🇯🇵 Astroscale signs debris removal contract with JAXA
Astroscale has finalized a contract with the Japanese space agency JAXA for a mission to remove a defunct upper stage from Earth orbit.
The Tokyo-based company said in an Aug. 19 regulatory filing that the company’s board has approved a contract with JAXA for the Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan 2 (ADRAS-J2) mission, valued at 12 billion yen ($82.1 million).
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🛰️ PRODUCT, PARTNERSHIPS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

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🚀 LAUNCH CONTRACTS AND MISSIONS

🇺🇸 Korea Aerospace Administration signs up with SpaceX
South Korea has signed a contract with SpaceX to launch the GEO-KOMPSAT-3 multipurpose communications satellite to geostationary orbit in the second half of 2027, the nation’s newly established Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) this month.
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🌎️ CUSTOMERS OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY

🇧🇷 🇺🇸 Brazil airline Azul contracts Viasat for in-flight connectivity
Brazil’s largest airline Azul awarded Viasat a deal to connect seven aircraft in its new Airbus A330-900neo fleet with in-flight connectivity (IFC).
Under the deal announced Tuesday, Viasat will equip the aircraft with its Ka-band in-flight connectivity solution. The first aircraft scheduled to enter service next year. Azul is also adding ad-supported streaming sessions using the Viasat Advertising platform.
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📜 REGULATORY & GOVERNMENT

🇺🇸 SpaceX to deploy upgraded starlinks with modified FCC license
SpaceX has secured permission to gradually replace first-generation Starlink satellites with larger spacecraft designed to provide more broadband capacity.
The Federal Communications Commission Aug. 16 modified the license that permits SpaceX to operate up to 4,408 Gen1 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).
The modification allows SpaceX to deploy upgraded Starlinks under the Gen1 license with technology developed for the company’s second-generation constellation, which has a separate license permitting up to 7,500 more satellites in LEO.
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🇺🇸 FCC approves deployment of 17 direct-to-phone satellites
Globalstar has secured permission to start deploying up to 17 improved direct-to-smartphone connectivity satellites next year despite SpaceX objections.
The Federal Communications Commission authorized the proposed satellites Aug. 16 and extended the company’s operating license by 15 years to 2039.
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🇺🇸 NASA awards three space food companies in the Deep Space Food Challenge
NASA has awarded a total of $1.25 million to three U.S. teams in the third and final round of its Deep Space Food Challenge. The teams delivered novel food production technologies that could provide long-duration human space exploration missions with safe, nutritious, and tasty food.
The U.S. winner and recipient of the $750,000 grand prize was Interstellar Lab of Merritt Island, Florida. Led by Barbara Belvisi, the small business combines several autonomous phytotrons and environment-controlled greenhouses to support a growth system involving a self-sustaining food production mechanism that generates fresh vegetables, microgreens, and insects necessary for micronutrients. Likewise, two runners-up each earned $250,000 for their food systems’ successes: Nolux of Riverside, California, and SATED of Boulder, Colorado.
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🇲🇦 🇮🇱 Morocco orders spy satellites from Israel Aerospace Industries
Morocco has selected the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to provide it with two advanced spy satellites, in a deal worth USD 1 billion. IAI confirmed the contract to supply one of its systems to an unnamed third party via the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, with Moroccan media also corroborating that the North African Country would be the recipient, as it looks to replace its Mohammed VI-A and Mohammed VI-B satellites
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