🛰️ MANUFACTURING AND OPERATIONS

Impulse Space announces first customer for GEO rideshare service
Impulse Space announced a contract Sept. 16 to provide transportation to geostationary orbit for satellites from French startup Space Network Services.
It was the first agreement announced for the geostationary rideshare service Impulse Space unveiled in August.
Space Network Services, founded in 2021, plans to launch as many as six small geostationary satellites at a time through the Impulse rideshare service. The satellites, called Kaon, are designed for customers seeking sovereign satellite communications systems or increased capacity for congested areas.
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Thaicom awards Kratos a contract for end-to-end ground system for Thaicom-10
Thaicom awarded Kratos Defense & Security Solutions the contract for an end-to-end ground system for the Thaicom-10 satellite, announcing the award on Sept. 16. 
Under the contract, Kratos will deliver a satellite operation center, which will allow Thaicom to fly the satellite, plan the satellite resources, and orchestrate the satellite payload configuration along with the ground. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 
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💰️ FINANCE, FUNDING AND M&A

Chinese on-orbit servicing company raises pre-A+ funding round
Chinese commercial on-orbit servicing company Sustain Space has secured financing to support launching its first demonstration satellite.
The “pre-A+” funding round secured tens of millions of yuan (10 million yuan = $1.4 million), Sustain Space announced Sept. 10. The round was led by Shenzhen High-tech Investment (SZHTI), a state-owned financial services company.
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Telesat secures government funds for its broadband constellation
Telesat has secured government funds covering more than half the $3.5 billion cost of its proposed low Earth orbit (LEO) Lightspeed broadband constellation, the Canadian geostationary operator announced Sept. 13.
The combined 2.54 billion Canadian dollars ($1.9 billion) of funding from the governments of Canada and Quebec comprise a mixture of loans and warrants that can be exchanged for stakes in Lightspeed, a constellation of 198 satellites slated to begin launches in mid-2026.
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🛰️ CORE SERVICES

Northstar Earth and Space partners with National security partner for DARPA program
Northstar Earth and Space has been selected by Riverside Research, a national security nonprofit supporting the U.S. government for over 58 years, to team on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Space-WATCH program to improve and enhance capabilities to detect threats in space from unexpected events or maneuvers and anomalies.
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Ursa Major secures funding from two government sources
Ursa Major has secured $12.5 million in new funding from the U.S. military to advance the development and production of solid rocket motors, the company announced Sept. 17.
The funding, a joint investment from the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), will be matched by Ursa Major, bringing the total investment to $25 million.
The company said the new investment will support the design, manufacture, and testing of a solid rocket motor prototype for the U.S. Navy.
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Intuitive Machines receives $4.82 billion contract from NASA
Intuitive Machines today announced NASA has awarded the Company a Near Space Network (“NSN”) contract for communication and navigation services for missions in the near space region, which extends from Earth’s surface to beyond the Moon.
The contract has a base period of five years with an additional five-year option period, with a maximum potential value of $4.82 billion
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🛰️ PRODUCT, PARTNERSHIPS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Apex announces new satellite bus for government customers
Satellite manufacturer Apex formally rolled out a larger satellite bus that the company says is geared for more demanding missions from government customers.
Apex announced Sept. 16 its Nova satellite bus, with first deliveries of the spacecraft to customers starting in the third quarter of 2025. A base version of Nova weighs 250 kilograms and can accommodate up to 300 kilograms of payloads, while a heavy version weighs 400 kilograms and can host up to 500 kilograms of payloads.
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🚀 LAUNCH CONTRACTS AND MISSIONS

AST Spacemobile launches production satellites via Falcon 9
SpaceX launched the first five production satellites for AST SpaceMobile’s direct-to-smartphone broadband constellation Sept. 11.
A Falcon 9 carrying the Block 1 BlueBird spacecraft lifted off 4:52 a.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, and finished releasing all five satellites into low Earth orbit about 68 minutes later.
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🌎️ CUSTOMERS OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY

Starlink shakes up the airline connectivity market with latest deal
United Airlines is replacing multiple geostationary operators with Starlink in SpaceX’s largest aviation Wi-Fi deal, shaking up the last satellite broadband market where the low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation had yet to gain significant traction.
The U.S. carrier announced plans Sept. 13 to start equipping the more than 1,000 planes in its international fleet with Starlink connectivity next year, following tests slated for early 2025.
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Intelsat invests in multi orbit terminal strategy with Greenerwave
Intelsat is investing in a multi-orbit terminal strategy with an investment and strategic agreement with antenna tech company Greenerwave. 
Intelsat announced Sept. 16 that working with Greenerwave, it plans to offer multi-orbit satcom solutions for all relevant business units including commercial aviation, government, and mobility applications by the first half of 2025. Greenerwave is a deep tech startup based in Paris. 
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T-Mobile sends emergency alert via Starlink service
T-Mobile reported Wednesday that it successfully sent a wireless emergency alert via Starlink satellites, testing a capability that will provide emergency warnings to the public outside of cell service. 
T-Mobile performed the test on Sept. 5, sending an emergency alert message, which was received by a Starink satellite and broadcast out to an unspecified geographic area. Emergency operators were able to queue and deploy the message in “just seconds.” 
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📜 REGULATORY & GOVERNMENT

France unveils public-private space situational awareness program
The French Defense Innovation Agency and armament agency DGA unveiled a low-Earth orbit space surveillance program at the Space Defense and Security Summit in France.
French startup U-space will work with multinational missile supplier MBDA to develop a pair of satellites to demonstrate spacecraft detection, characterization and targeting. The program, known as Toutatis, includes a 12-unit “Spotter” cubesat and a smaller target cubesat.
No launch has yet been announced but the satellites are likely to reach orbit in couple of years.
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Northrop Grumman awarded satcom antenna contract for military aircraft
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Northrop Grumman a $54.7 million contract to develop satellite communications antennas for military aircraft, the Department of Defense announced Sept. 16.
Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will develop multi-band, high-throughput satellite communications antennas that can be integrated onto various military aircraft. A similar contract was awarded last month to Raytheon.
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German Space Agency contracts with Planet Labs
Planet Labs Germany GmbH announced a contract Sept. 16 to provide Earth-observation data and services to the German Space Agency DLR.
Under the agreement, DLR and German researchers will have access to PlanetScope products, including nearly daily imagery of Earth’s landmass at approximately three-meter resolution. The contract also covers the PlanetScope archive, which includes data from 2016 on.
In addition, the DLR will obtain Planet’s archive of RapidEye imagery over Germany. The archive includes imagery with a resolution of five meters per pixel obtained since 2009.
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European Space Agency to test Neuraspace’s space traffic management services
The European Space Agency plans to test space traffic management services offered by Portuguese startup Neuraspace.
Under a contract announced Sept. 16, ESA’s Space Debris Office will integrate Neuraspace services with its existing tools to assess conjunctions at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Germany.
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Capella Space awarded contract by AFWERX
Capella Space has been awarded a $15 million contract by the U.S. Air Force to modernize its sensor and data collection capabilities for military applications.
The Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) agreement was awarded by AFWERX. The funding will help Capella Space advance its next-generation SAR sensor technology, the company said Sept. 16. 
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NATO awards SES for MEO satellite services
NATO awarded satellite operator SES its first contract for Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite services under a partnership established in 2022. 
The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), announced the MEO Global Services (MGS) award on Sept. 10. Luxembourg and the U.S. will leverage SES’s MEO services to carry out naval, air, and ground communications missions around the globe. 
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