🛰️ MANUFACTURING AND OPERATIONS

🇺🇸 Axiom Space announces crew for AX-4 mission
Astronauts from Hungary and Poland will fly alongside an Indian astronaut on Axiom Space’s next private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.
Axiom announced Aug. 5 the crew for Ax-4, its fourth private mission to the ISS. The mission will be commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who also led the Ax-2 mission to the station in May 2023.
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🇺🇸 Cygnus spacecraft delayed in reaching the ISS
A Falcon 9 launched a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station Aug. 4, but the spacecraft suffered problems that have delayed maneuvers needed to reach the station.
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🇮🇳 Indian Astronauts to train in the USA for upcoming Axiom mission
Two Indian astronauts will soon start training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, with one of them flying to the International Space Station on an upcoming private astronaut mission.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced Aug. 2 that two of the four members of its astronaut corps, Shubhanshu Shukla and Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, will go to the United States in the first week of August to begin training for the mission to the ISS.
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💰️ FINANCE, FUNDING AND M&A

🇺🇸 Muon Space raises Series B funding
Muon Space, a Silicon Valley-based startup developing small satellites for Earth monitoring and other applications, announced Aug. 5 it has secured $56.7 million in Series B funding. 
The fundraising round was led by Activate Capital, with participation from Acme Capital and existing investors Costanoa Ventures, Radical Ventures, and Congruent Ventures.
The company said it plans to use the new capital to accelerate the development of its Halo low-Earth orbit satellite platform and scale operations. 
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🛰️ CORE SERVICES

🇺🇸Capella Space secures contract from U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory
Capella Space, a San Francisco-based satellite imaging company, has secured a $14.9 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to provide synthetic aperture radar (SAR) services
The contract, set to run until December 2026, is to integrate Capella’s SAR data into AFRL’s Global Unification Environment, an experimental cloud-based platform designed to test automated satellite tasking and imaging collection strategies using commercial systems.
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🇺🇸CesiumAstro awarded navigation technology contract for lunar missions
CesiumAstro announced it has been awarded a contract by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center(MSFC) to develop critical navigation technology for future lunar missions.
The contract tasks CesiumAstro with delivering advanced radio units compatible with NASA's LunaNet Augmented Forward Signal (AFS) standard to support ground testing of future surface navigation networks.
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🛰️ PRODUCT, PARTNERSHIPS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

🇺🇸 Intuitive Machines and SEOPS Space partner up for lunar rideshare missions
Smallsat launch services company SEOPS is partnering with Intuitive Machines to provide lunar rideshare opportunities.
The companies announced an agreement Aug. 5 whereby SEOPS will buy space on future Intuitive Machines lunar missions that it will then offer to customers who want to send smallsats to the moon or other destinations in cislunar space, including geostationary orbit. The agreement covers launches after Intuitive Machines’ IM-3 mission in 2025.
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🇺🇸 Ascending Node Technologies launches mission visualization software
Ascending Node Technologies unveiled mission-visualization software Aug. 5
The software, called Spaceline, is a web-based suite of data analysis and visualization tools designed to improve collaboration from mission design through operations and post-mission review.
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🚀 LAUNCH CONTRACTS AND MISSIONS

🇺🇸 Falcon 9 launches Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus CRS-21 mission
Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Cygnus spacecraft was successfully launched to the International Space Station by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in support of the company’s 21^st resupply mission (NG-21) under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Service-2 (CRS-2) contract.
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🇺🇸 SpaceX launches Starlink Mini G11 series
SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink satellites to orbit early Sunday (Aug. 4), continuing a busy stretch for the company.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 23 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sunday at 3:24 a.m. EDT (0724 GMT; 12:24 a.m. local California time).
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🇳🇿 🇯🇵 Rocket Lab launches satellite for Synspective
Rocket Lab launched the fifth radar imaging satellite for Japanese company Synspective Aug. 2, continuing work with its largest commercial customer.
An Electron lifted off from Pad B of Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 at 9:39 a.m. Eastern. The rocket’s kick stage deployed the StriX spacecraft into a planned 543-kilometer orbit inclined at 43 degrees about an hour later.
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🌎️ CUSTOMERS OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY

🇺🇸🇨🇭Solestial partners with Meyer Burger to scale solar cells production 
Solestial announced a strategic partnership with Meyer Burger Technology to dramatically expand production of silicon solar technology.
Solestial’s radiation-resistant solar cells and flexible solar power modules are designed for long-term space applications. Meyer Burger, a publicly traded Swiss company, brings expertise in manufacturing solar cells and modules.
Through the partnership, Solestial and Meyer Burger plan to produce 1 megawatt of solar cells annually by mid-2025. For comparison, Solestial currently produces less than 100 kilowatts per year.
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🇺🇸 Planet labs extends EO contract with Taylor Geospatial Institute
An Earth observation data contract between the Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI) and Planet Labs has been extended through 2026. TGI, a rising geospatial research consortium, represents Planet’s largest ever direct university engagement.
Under the multi-year contract, TGI can leverage various industry-leading products from Planet, including its flagship PlanetScope data, robust data archive, high-resolution SkySat data, and various Planetary Variable analytic products.
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📜 REGULATORY & GOVERNMENT

🇺🇸 AST SpaceMobile receives approval from FCC
AST SpaceMobile has received conditional approval to deploy and operate its first five operational direct-to-smartphone satellites slated to launch next month
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s partial license authorizes the company to use V, S and UHF frequencies in space to support gateway and control operations for the initial BlueBird spacecraft.
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