🛰️ MANUFACTURING AND OPERATIONS

🇺🇸Maxar Intelligence released the first images from its WorldView Legion satellites. The inaugural pair of these advanced Earth observation satellites were launched on May 2 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
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🇺🇸 EchoStar Corporation has opened a new Open RAN (O-RAN) testing and evaluation lab at the company’s data center in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The the Open RAN Center for Integration and Deployment (ORCID) is a site where vendors can test and validate O-RAN solutions using EchoStar’s live O-RAN network.
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🇺🇸 Elon Musk announced that SpaceX will be relocating its headquarters from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas. The decision, as stated by Musk, stems from the increasing regulatory pressures imposed by California's legislative environment, which he claims have been detrimental to both families and businesses.
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💰️ FINANCE, FUNDING AND M&A

🇺🇸 Solideon, a pioneering robotics-enabled manufacturing company in the aerospace and defense industries, has oversubscribed its pre-seed round. Within 18 months of being incorporated and graduating from Techstars Space, the company surpassed its initial $5,000,000 goal.
Solideon's pre-seed round included notable defense-tech and dual-use investors. The round saw participation from investors including 8090 Industries, 1517 Fund, Stellar Ventures, Boost VC, 10X Founders, Pathbreaker Ventures, AIN Ventures, Tiny VC, MD One Ventures, Reinforced Ventures, Techstars Space, Capital Factory, Vibe Capital, Gaingels, and other strategic investors.
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🛰️ CORE SERVICES

🇺🇸 HawkEye 360 announces it has been selected by AFWERX for a SBIR Phase II contract, focused on the delivery of RFGeo® and RFIQ™ data to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF).
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🇫🇷 HEMERIA will develop in collaboration with the French space agency Centre National d'Études Spatiales two high-end small satellites flying in pair and dedicated to cloud observation.
Following a successful “A” phase consisting in technical trade-offs, Hemeria will now design and deliver both satellites, each of them implementing a set of 5 instruments. Among them, 2 cloud imagers, one per satellite, by doing a sequence of simultaneous images of the same cloud will enable Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) and research laboratories to analyse 3D cloud expansion by using stereoscopy technique. The launch is scheduled for early 2027.
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🛰️ PRODUCT, PARTNERSHIPS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

🇯🇵 Japanese satellite manufacturer Axelspace is debuting a new service for in-orbit demonstration of space components, called AxelLiner Laboratory or AL Lab. The service allocates space on Axelspace’s 100 kg-class microsatellites to customers for their in-orbit demonstration equipment. 
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🚀 LAUNCH CONTRACTS AND MISSIONS

🇨🇳 China is set to boost its space launch capabilities as preparations for the first launch of the Long March 12 are underway at a new commercial space launch center.
A ceremony for the rocket was held July 17, according to a press release from the state-owned Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), the rocket’s developer.
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🌎️ CUSTOMERS OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY

🇫🇷 🇩🇪 Dryad Networks, a leader in ultra-early wildfire detection and forest monitoring, today announced a strategic partnership with Kinéis, a French satellite operator and global connectivity provider for the Internet of Things (IoT). This collaboration will integrate Kinéis’s direct-to-satellite capabilities into Dryad’s next-generation Silvanet wildfire sensors, opening up groundbreaking new deployment possibilities.
Dryad’s solar-powered gas sensors, equipped with AI, monitor and detect early signs of wildfires by analyzing air quality and identifying unique gas patterns indicative of fires. When integrated with Kinéis’ satellite constellation, this network will overcome terrestrial limitations, ensuring near real-time global connectivity.
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🇺🇸 IoT provider Soracom has integrated Skylo’s satellite connectivity in its IoT network. Qualified customers around the world can now activate Skylo connectivity on their Soracom SIMs/eSIMs to allow the devices to switch between cellular and non-terrestrial network (NTN) connectivity. 
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📜 REGULATORY & GOVERNMENT

🇺🇸 NASA has canceled a robotic lunar rover mission that would have searched for ice at the south pole of the moon, citing development delays and cost overruns.
NASA announced July 17 that it would end development of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rove (VIPER) mission. The rover, to be sent to the south polar region of moon on a commercial lander called Griffin from Astrobotic Technology, would have explored terrain including permanently shadowed regions to better understand the extent and form of water ice there.
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🇨🇾 The World Teleport Association (WTA) has reported that Hellas Sat has successfully renewed the Tier 4 certification of the company’s Space Centre in Cyprus under WTA’s Teleport Certification program.
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