🛰️ MANUFACTURING AND OPERATIONS

🇯🇵 Astroscale announced July 9 that its Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) spacecraft conducted a “fly around” maneuver, going part way around the H-2A upper stage it has been inspecting for the last few months. ADRAS-J used sensors to maintain a distance of just 50 meters from the stage.
However, about one third of the way through the maneuver, ADRAS-J encountered what the company called an “unexpected attitude anomaly” that triggered an automatic abort. The spacecraft moved away from the stage as designed to avoid any risk of a collision.
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💰️ FINANCE, FUNDING AND M&A

🇺🇸 X-Bow Systems, a space technology startup specializing in solid rocket motors and small launch vehicles, has secured $70 million in Series B funding to expand its production capabilities and complete a new manufacturing facility in Texas.
The Albuquerque, New Mexico-based company announced the investment round July 10, led by venture capital firm Razor’s Edge. Other participants include Lockheed Martin Ventures, Boeing Ventures, Crosslink Capital and Balerion Space Ventures.
The fresh capital will support increased production of solid rocket motors and the completion of a large factory in Luling, Texas
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🇺🇸 Defense tech private equity firm AE Industrial Partners has closed its third flagship private equity firm with $1.28 billion in capital commitments. AE Industrial Partners announced the fund, Fund III, on Tuesday. 
AEI has already deployed more than a quarter of Fund III into five platforms and three add-on investments including smallsat manufacturer York Space Systems and launcher Firefly Aerospace
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🇺🇸 Seraphim Capital released its quarterly review of global space industry investment

🛰️ CORE SERVICES

🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Northstar Earth and Space has fully validated its unique end-to-end Concept of Operations (CONOPS) using its dedicated space-based imagery system. In addition, NorthStar received a US patent for this CONOPS and has filed for two additional patents related to advanced simulation and data analytics involving image preprocessing, calibration, detection & measurements of orbits.
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🛰️ PRODUCT, PARTNERSHIPS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

🇯🇵A Japanese conglomerate has established a new subsidiary seeking to develop a module that could be installed on future commercial space stations.
The new venture, called Japan LEO Shachu, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. that was formally established on July 1
The concept that Japan LEO Shachu is pursuing is the “Japan Module,” a module based on technologies developed for the HTV and new HTV-X cargo spacecraft. The module would include a pressurized area for research, manufacturing and other applications, as well as an external platform for additional payloads. The module will also have its own system for high-bandwidth communications.
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🚀 LAUNCH CONTRACTS AND MISSIONS

🇪🇺 Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket launched for the first time Tuesday, providing a big boost for the continent’s space plans. The flight was a crucial moment for prime contractor ArianeGroup and launch service provider Arianespace, which has an order book of 30 launches. The launcher is also crucial to fulfilling European Space Agency (ESA) and European Union missions.
Launch details:
#Mission - Ariane 6 Demo Flight
#Launch Vehicle - Ariane 6
#Launch Service Provider - Arianespace
#Payload (Customer(s))
*OOV-Cube (TU Berlin, Rapid Cubes GmbH)
*CURIE A, B (University of California, Berkeley)
*3Cat 4 (Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (UPC))
*GRBAlpha, GRBBeta (University of Košic)
*ISTSAT 1 (Instituto Superior Técnico (IST))
Reference
Video

🌎️ CUSTOMERS OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY

🇫🇷 🇺🇸 Eutelsat has won a new broadcast deal in Poland, one of Eastern Europe’s biggest markets. TVN Warner Bros Discovery, the Polish subsidiary of Warner Bros Discovery, has signed a new, multi-year, multi-transponder agreement renewing and expanding the group’s capacity at Eutelsat’s Hotbird video neighborhood. Eutelsat announced the deal, July 8.
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📜 REGULATORY & GOVERNMENT

🇺🇸 NASA & Colorado School Of Mines Develop Lunar Attachment Node for Construction and Excavation (LANCE), a bulldozer attachment for NASA’s Chariot rover prototype, to excavate regolith on the moon and mars
During testing, LANCE successfully levelled a 25m x 25m area and constructed berms, highlighting the importance of operator efficiency. However, lunar conditions, such as electrostatically charged regolith and lower gravity, pose unique challenges.
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