🛰️ MANUFACTURING AND OPERATIONS

🇯🇵 Astroscale completes debris fly around manoeuver
Astroscale Japan’s Active Debris Removal (ADRAS-J) mission recently completed a controlled fly-around of a rocket upper stage in orbit, taking pictures of the object. Astroscale reports this is the world’s first attempt to safely approach and survey an existing piece of large debris through rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO).
Recapping the mission, Astroscale said that ADRAS-J attempted the maneuver in June and was one-third through the maneuver when there was an attitude anomaly that triggered an abort. ADRAS-J was able to maneuver away from the upper stage. 
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🇺🇸 Rocket Lab completes integration of ESCAPADE mission spacecrafts
Rocket Lab USA confirmed Monday that it completed integration and testing of two spacecraft it built for The University of California Berkeley’s Space Science Laboratory and NASA.
The “Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE)” mission spacecrafts will be shipped to Cape Canaveral in August, where they will be integrated onto Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket and then launched to orbit around Mars.
ESCAPADE’s heliophysics mission aims to measure plasma and magnetic fields around Mars, helping scientists from NASA and University of California learn more about the processes that strip away atoms from the planet’s magnetosphere and upper atmosphere, driving Martian climate evolution.
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💰️ FINANCE, FUNDING AND M&A

🇸🇬 Equatorial Space raises pre-series A round
Singapore-based rocket propulsion and launcher company Equatorial Space has raised $1.5 million in pre-Series A funding.
The new funding will help the company develop its Dorado-sounding rockets and build a static firing test facility in Hidden Valley, Northern Territory.
Farquhar Venture Capital led the round, with participation from Paspalis.
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🇬🇧 ETL Systems raises funding from UK Space Agency
ETL Systems has secured nearly £700,000 of UK Space Agency (UKSA) funding for the development of its ‘Genus Digital 1000’ product line, which brings the benefits of Digital IF to edge devices.
The project is driven by benefits such as the remoting of antennas and facilitating virtualisation at the terminal as an enabler for multi-X operation.
The two-year R&D campaign, valued at £1,152,977, covers the development of ETL’s latest Digital IF (DIF) solution, with the UKSA funding 60% of the total value of the project.
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🛰️ CORE SERVICES

🇨🇦 GHGSat’s satellite data approved for NASA led distribution
Methane-emissions data from GHGSat will be shared for scientific research through NASA’s Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition program.
Montreal-based GHGSat announced July 31 that the company’s data “successfully completed” NASA’s “rigorous evaluation process.”
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🇺🇸 SynMax receives contract for maritime intelligence product
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) issued a pilot project award to geospatial analytics company SynMax and its Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) platform, Theia.
SynMax announced Monday that the pilot program will involve testing and evaluation of Theia’s capabilities, focusing on its ability to detect, track, and analyze maritime activities in near real-time. The company will be working with its strategic partner, Planet Labs, which provides the comprehensive maritime data to Theia, which then combines the data with ten sources of maritime data generated by SynMax AI.
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🇺🇸 Redwire's tissue bioprinting experiment on ISS
Redwire announced today that it is launching an experiment to the International Space Station (ISS) that will analyze the effects of microgravity on tissue bioprinting and culturing.
In partnership with Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM), Redwire will culture 36 bioprinted vascularized liver tissue constructs inside the company’s Multi-Use Variable-Gravity Platform on the ISS to determine if liver cells bioprinted on Earth can properly form functioning blood vessels in microgravity.
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🛰️ PRODUCT, PARTNERSHIPS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

🇯🇵 Gamifying satellite orbital operations
Astroscale has announced the launch of its new awareness-raising tool, the “SPACE PROTECTOR by Astroscale” simulator game. The immersive simulation puts players in the role of a satellite operations engineer to capture inactive satellites using advanced robotics in a realistic space environment.
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🇬🇧 Three UK space companies come together to form a access to space product
Commercial Space Technologies (CST) has announced its partnership with Exoptic and Third Planet Orbital, to revolutionize access to space for UK companies. The collaborative mission, ‘Give Me Some Space,’ offers the opportunity for UK enterprises to fly their payload on a 12U cubesat for a remarkably affordable price of just £45,000.
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🚀 LAUNCH CONTRACTS AND MISSIONS

🇺🇸 ULA launches classified satellite for United States Space Force
A classified U.S. Space Force mission flew to geostationary Earth orbit July 30 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.
The mission designated USSF-51 is a classified National Security Space Launch (NSSL) launch. It marked ULA’s 100th national security mission and the last NSSL launch on an Atlas 5 rocket.
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🌎️ CUSTOMERS OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY

🇩🇪🇬🇧Satellite based wildfire detection deployed in Indonesian and Brazilian rainforests
Permian Global and OroraTech have announced a partnership dedicated to protecting two large tropical reserves in Indonesia and Brazil, ensuring detection and wildfire management services for over 296,200 hectares (731,900 acres) of conservation area.
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🇬🇧 Rolls Royce to develop space nuclear reactor
Rolls-Royce Submarines has received £4.8 million in additional UK Space Agency funding to develop a Space Micro-Reactor demonstrator.
According to a 22 July UKSA announcement, the £4.8 million in new funding will be used to “raise the overall technology readiness level for Space Micro-Reactors, closing the gap to a full system flight demonstration.” The agency also stated that the funding would be used to develop a pathway to the commercialization of space nuclear power.
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📜 REGULATORY & GOVERNMENT

🇺🇸 🇱🇺 SES awarded satcom contract by U.S Air Force
SES Space & Defense, the U.S. arm of Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES, secured a $46.8 million contract to provide satellite communication services to the U.S. Air Force, the company announced July 31. 
The multi-year contract, awarded by the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command, is for geostationary (GEO) Ku-band satellite communications services for the command’s remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) training and testing program.
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