RocketLab carries NASA’s mission to the Moon, and Relativity will launch OneWeb aboard Terran R
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We provide a weekly roundup of the small satellite industry's news, from exciting deals to new payloads.
Launch Updates
????Virgin Orbit’s first night-time launch successfully carried seven small payloads aboard its LauncherOne rocket [Source]:?
A PSLV-C53 carrying three Singaporean satellites (DS-EO and NeuSAR both by ????Starec Initiative, and Scoob-1 by Nanyang Technological University) along with six research payloads ( including ????Digantara’s ‘ROBI’ and ????Dhruva Space’s ‘DSOD 1U’ [Source]) was launched as a part of the second dedicated commercial mission of ISRO’s commercial arm NewSpace India Limited. [Source]
Highlights
A new era of space exploration began with a successful launch of ????NASA’s CAPSTONE mission aboard a private launch vehicle — RocketLab’s Electron booster on 28th June. The mission will enter lunar orbit on the 13th of November. [Source]
Congratulations to Stephen of ????Virgin Orbit for the partnership with the ????Brazilian Space Agency. The company formed a Brazilian subsidiary, Virgin Orbit Brasil Ltda. (VOBRA), to enable LauncherOne operations from the ????Alcantara Launch Center. [Source]
????OneWeb signed a multi-year, multi-launch agreement with ????Relativity for the launch of OneWeb Gen 2 satellites on Terran R reusable launch vehicle starting 2025 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. [Source] You can track manifested launches of Relativity in Precious Payload’s comprehensive launch schedule for small satellites.
Glad to highlight that our partner ????Turion Space will launch its first DROID spacecraft with Exolaunch aboard Falcon 9 rideshare in early 2023 using Exolaunch's CarboNIX separation system. [Source] You can book a launch with Turion here.
Funding
????Expace raised $237M funds for R&D, improving its Kuaizhou solid launch vehicle series, and developing its liquid propellant launchers. [Source]
????Avio acquired $358M in funding to support a small, two-stage demonstration rocket launch by 2026 with new liquid oxygen and methane engine. [Source]
????Venture Orbital Systems (soon to rebrand as ‘Latitude’) received €10M in funding to accelerate the development of its Navier rocket engine for its launch vehicle, Zephyr, which will be launched in 2024. [Source]
Headlines
????Plasmos is developing and building a reusable space tug using ????Velo3D’s propulsion system that will cut manufacturing and development costs by 65%. [Source]?
????Kepler plans to use ????D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier for its Kepler-20 and Kepler-21 satellites launch in Q1 of 2023. [Source]?
????Agile Space Industries, which delivers additive manufactured chemical thrusters and engines, plans to consolidate its design, manufacturing, and production processes in the new facility in ????Colorado. [Source]?
????NanoAvionics released videos and photos from space in 4K resolution taken by the company’s MP42 microsatellite, which was launched in April 2022, flying Australia's Great Barrier Reef. [Source]
????Sierra Space, ????Turkish Space Agency, and ????ESEN Sistem Entegrasyon signed a five-year contract for potential partnerships in space projects, including the use of the Dream Chaser spacecraft and inflatable modules for the Orbital Reef space station. [Source]
Thanks!
Companies highlighted in this market update: Virgin Orbit, Spire, SatRevolution S.A., SteamJet Space Systems, Dhruva Space, Relativity Space, Latitude (ex-Venture Orbital Systems), Plasmos, AGILE Space Industries, AVIO, Brazilian Space Agency (AEB/MCTI) and others.