Space Business Briefs: Starlink Problems, Investments, Contract Awards, Mission Updates (Image Credit: Payload)
Starlink is having problems, ISAR just raised $165 million, and Boeing’s Starliner is delayed again.
SpaceX has been experiencing unspecified problems with the 21 advanced Starlink V2 Mini broadband satellites launched on Feb. 27.
“Lot of new technology in Starlink V2, so we’re experiencing some issues, as expected, Some sats will be deorbited, others will be tested thoroughly before raising altitude above Space Station,” CEO Elon Musk tweeted.
Starlink V2 Mini satellites are larger and more capable than the more than 4,000 V1 and V1.5 spacecraft the company has launched. They have about four times the capacity of the earlier satellites.
Musk Denies Fundraising Report
Musk has denied a report by The Information that SpaceX has been negotiating investment from Saudi Arabia’s investment fund and an Abu Dhabi company as part of a multi-billion funding round that would value the company at $140 billion.
Raises
- Germany’s Isar Aerospace raised $165 million Series C round to continue development and conduct flight tests of the company’s Spectrum small-satellite launch vehicle.
- California-based Frontier Aerospace closed a $10 million Series A round from AEI HorizonX to develop its in-space propulsion technology.
- Singapore-based Equatorial Space Systems raised US $1.5 million to develop the company’s family of commercial Dorado sounding rockets.
Contracts
- NOAA has awarded contracts to PlanetiQ of Golden, Colorado, and Spire Global of Vienna, Virginia, for radio occultation data that assist weather forecasting. The contracts are worth $59.3 million to be shared between the two companies.
- Thales Alenia Space has won a contract from the European Space Agency to produce six synthetic aperture radar satellites and an optical satellite for Italy’s IRIDE Earth observation constellation.
- SpaceWERX has awarded a $1.6 million contract to Arkisys to demonstrating the building of a standalone, 3-axis stabilized satellite. The company is partnered with Novawurks, Motiv Space Systems, Qediq, iBoss, and Texas A&M Engineering.
- The Australian Space Agency has awarded contracts worth AUS $4 million (US $2.7 million) apiece to two consortia to produce initial designs of a lunar rover.
Business News
- Lockheed Martin has formed a new company, Crescent Space Services, to focus on developing the lunar economy with communications and other services.
- SkyFi‘s customers will be able to task Satellogic’s sub-meter resolution Earth observation satellites through an app or SkyFi’s website under a new partnership.
Mission Updates
- NASA and Boeing announced the delay of a crewed flight test of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station from late April to no earlier than July 21 due to processing delays.
- ispace‘s HAKUTO-R spacecraft has entered lunar orbit in advance of planned landing in late April. If successful, ispace will become the first private company to land a spacecraft on the moon.
- The first satellite built under ESA’s Neosat Partnership Project, Eutelsat Hotbird 13F, reached geostationary orbit after spending five months raising its orbit using electric propulsion.
- BlackSky‘s two newest satellites, BlackSky 18 and BlackSky 19, were commissioned and began revenue service within 18 hours after they were launched aboard a Rocket Lab Electron booster from New Zealand.
Etc.
- U.S. Space Force has announced a new University Consortium Research Opportunity titled, “Beyond Geostationary Earth Orbit (xGEO) Operations and Space Domain Awareness (SDA).” The research opportunity is being done in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and Universities Space Research Association.
- For All Moonkind has launched a Lunar Policy Handbook to serve as a reference guide for governments and private entities on how to explore the moon.
