🛰️ MANUFACTURING AND OPERATIONS

🇺🇸 Sierra Space tests cargo modules of Dream Chase spacecraft
Sierra Space has completed tests of one element of the first Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft ahead of a delayed launch to the International Space Station.
The company announced Sept. 4 that it completed acoustics tests of Shooting Star, the cargo module attached to the Dream Chaser spaceplane. Those tests were carried out at the Space Systems Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center, where Dream Chaser is being prepared for launch.
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🇺🇸 🇨🇦 Nuview contracts Space Flight Laboratory for satellite bus
Nuview has selected Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) to develop the pathfinder satellite bus for its LiDAR demonstration satellite. 
SFL announced the agreement on Wednesday, terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company will develop the bus for the pathfinder satellite, named Mr. SPoC. The two companies have already been working on the project. 
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💰️ FINANCE, FUNDING AND M&A

🇺🇸 Atlas Space Operations raises Series C round
Ground station services provider Atlas Space Operations said Sept. 4 it has raised $15 million for the working capital needed to triple revenue over the next 12 months.
Luxembourg-based private equity firm NewSpace Capital led the pre-Series C funding round, Other existing Atlas investors, including Michigan Capital Network, Beringea, Wakestream Ventures and Boomerang Catapult, also took part in the company’s latest funding round. New investors Michigan Rise and Red Cedar Ventures also participated.
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🛰️ CORE SERVICES

🇺🇸 Benchmark Space Systems wins propulsion systems contract
The Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Benchmark Space Systems $4.9 million to develop propulsion systems for ASCENT monopropellant.
The two-year award announced Sept. 5 covers development of Benchmark 22-newton to 100-newton propulsion systems for ASCENT. ASCENT is a non-toxic propellant developed by the Air Force Research Lab.
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🇺🇸 Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander to deliver 6 payloads to the moon
NASA has selected Intuitive Machines to deliver a set of payloads to the south polar region of the moon in 2027, the first award under a commercial lunar lander program in nearly a year and a half.
NASA announced Aug. 29 that it awarded a task order valued at $116.9 million through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program to Intuitive Machines. That company’s Nova-C lander will deliver six payloads, with a combined mass of 79 kilograms, to the south polar region of the moon in 2027.
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🇺🇸 Raytheon wins contract to supply satcom antennas for military aircraft
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Raytheon Technologies (RTX) a $51.7 million contract to develop satellite communications antennas for military aircraft, the Department of Defense announced Aug. 29.
The three-year contract falls under the Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program, which aims to create advanced satcom networks leveraging commercial space internet constellations like Starlink, OneWeb, SES’s O3b and others.
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🛰️ PRODUCT, PARTNERSHIPS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

🇺🇸Lonestar Data Holdings announces partnership with Valkyrie Intelligence
Valkyrie Intelligence announces a strategic partnership with Lonestar Data Holdings, a leader in advanced data storage solutions. Valkyrie’s knowledge graphs will be included in Lonestar's payload scheduled to land on the Moon in late 2024 onboard Intuitive Machine’s IM-2 Mission. This mission will test the operations of Valkyrie’s Graph Database (GDB) and the viability of using this technology on astrophysics data stored onboard by the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
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🚀 LAUNCH CONTRACTS AND MISSIONS

🇪🇺 Arianespace’s Vega launch vehicle flies for the final time
The final flight of the original version of Europe’s Vega rocket successfully placed an Earth observation satellites into orbit Sept. 4.
Vega deployed its payload, the Sentinel-2C satellite, into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 775 kilometers nearly an hour after liftoff.
Sentinel-2C is a 1,143-kilogram spacecraft built by Airbus Defence and Space for the Copernicus Earth observation program of the European Commission and European Space Agency. The spacecraft carries a camera that provides imagery in 13 visible and shortwave infrared bands at a resolution of 10 meters.
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🇺🇸 Evolution Space launches test rocket from a sea based platform
Evolution Space, a Mojave, California-based startup, announced Sept. 3 it successfully flew a sub-scale test rocket from a sea-based platform operated by The Spaceport Company. The launch took place Aug. 31 over the Gulf of Mexico.
The solid propulsion test vehicle, designed as a sub-orbital, sub-hypersonic rocket, reached an altitude of 55,500 feet. A sub-scale test flight uses a smaller, scaled-down version of the final rocket design in order to gather data and validate design concepts ahead of full-scale development.
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🇨🇳 Long March 4B takes classified Yaogan-43 satellites to orbit
China launched a second group of classified Yaogan-43 satellites late Monday, adding to a group of nine satellites already in orbit.
No details regarding the satellites were released. The satellites were described by CASC and Chinese state media as mainly used for carrying out tests on new technologies of low orbit constellations.
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🌎️ CUSTOMERS OF THE SPACE INDUSTRY

🇺🇸 Verizon launches satellite enables services for Android with Skylo
Verizon is launching satellite-enabled emergency text and location services this fall for compatible Android smartphones in the United States at no extra cost for customers.
The telecoms giant announced a partnership Aug. 28 to deliver the service with Skylo, which has developed ground infrastructure enabling L-band geostationary satellites to reach devices using the latest standards-based chipsets. 
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🇫🇷 🇯🇵 Eutelsat OneWeb signs with Softbank for connectivity services
Eutelsat has signed a new, multi-year deal with SoftBank which will see the company integrate Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO connectivity services into its offering and provide a new element to the company’s satellite communication services.
SoftBank plans to use OneWeb’s connectivity services to deliver a robust bandwidth- and communication speed-guaranteed service to customers including corporations and government entities. It will directly interconnect with SoftBank’s closed network service ‘SmartVPN’ for additional security communications.
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🇺🇸🇲🇷 Globalstar enters 5G partnership with Liquid Intelligent Technologies
Globalstar signed a strategic partnership with Liquid Intelligent Technologies to deliver 5G connectivity solutions across Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf. 
The partnership announced Wednesday will provide Liquid with exclusive rights to sell and distribute Globalstar’s XCOM RAN private networks 5G access solution in the Gulf, Middle East, and Africa regions
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🇯🇵 Infostellar to support Panasonic’s satellite 
Infostellar Inc., a Ground Segment as a Service (GSaaS) provider, is going to support Panasonic Group’s CURTIS satellite by providing multiple ground stations through the company’s StellarStation platform. 
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🇩🇪 🇬🇧 Inmarsat signs up with shipping group, Hapag Lloyd
Inmarsat Maritime, a Viasat company, has announced that global container liner shipping group Hapag-Lloyd is among the first to trial NexusWave, the fully managed service that delivers an unparalleled global service orchestrated by bringing together a multi-orbit, multi-band set of connectivity networks into a single network solution.
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🇺🇸 🇦🇺 Lynk Global to address connectivity gaps in Australia
TPG Telecom has partnered with the world’s leading satellite-direct-tomobile-phone operator Lynk Global to eliminate mobile coverage dead zones around Australia. The non-exclusive, service launch agreement paves the way for TPG Telecom to address mobile connectivity gaps in rural and remote Australia by connecting standard mobile phones to Lynk’s growing constellation of Low Earth Orbit Satellites
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📜 REGULATORY & GOVERNMENT

🇺🇸Space Development Agency extends contract for satellite ground systems
General Dynamics Mission Systems, a unit of defense contractor General Dynamics, has been awarded a $491 million contract extension by the Space Development Agency for satellite ground systems, the Pentagon announced Aug. 30.
The modification nearly doubles the company’s existing contract with the Space Development Agency (SDA) to approximately $900 million through 2029
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🇮🇹Telespazio wins contract to setup satellite navigation technologies center
Telespazio will play a key role in an ambitious new space project in Italy which will see the creation of Italy’s first national center for the development of satellite navigation skills and technologies. It has won a new contract from the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to be the prime contractor on this project. The ‘National GNSS Competence Centre’ will be developed and managed by Telespazio. Telespazio announced the contract win on Sept. 3.
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