South Korea joins the league, NanoAvionics sells first operational cubesat, and SpaceRyde launches rocket testing facility in Canada
Precious Payload Weekly Smallsat News: June 20 – 26
We gather all the essential small satellite news—from exciting smallsat deals to lists of newly launched payloads.
Insights
This news is worth including in the weekly newsletter: deal of the smallsat year! 🇺🇸NanoAvionics has sold its 6U satellite D2 / Atlacom-1 equipped with a 1U hyperspectral imager and ongoing mission operations services. Check out the full story.
🇺🇸Firefly will launch 🇺🇸NASA’s tech demo of Starling, a satellite swarm of four 6U spacecraft, later this year from the 🇺🇸Vandenberg, California. All four swarm spacecraft will receive directives as a single entity. This swarm demo can enable easier operations, communications, and data collection from multiple locations compared to traditional constellations.
Funding
$250,000 fund from 🇺🇸Velo3D enables 🇺🇸Plasmos to test their first rocket engine and looks forward to collaboration by printing 95 % of Plasmos’ chemical-electric engine. [Source]
🇺🇸Epsilon3 gets a $15M investment from 🇺🇸Lux Capital to grow its web platform tailor-made for spacecraft manufacturing and operations. [Source]
🇺🇸NASA granted 🇺🇸Spire Global a $6 million, 12-month contract renewal to continue taking part in the organization’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program. [Source]
🇺🇸Orbion Space Technology gets contracted for an undisclosed amount by 🇺🇸General Atomics to supply its Aurora propulsion system for USSF’s demonstration weather smallsat. [Source]
🇫🇷Leanspace raises $6.34M to enable the digital transformation of space organizations using space-specific cloud services. [Source]
Headlines
🇰🇷The Nuri rocket by 🇰🇷KARI successfully put satellites into LEO for the first time. It carried PVSAT, a 162.5 kg Performance Verification Satellite with five cubesat deployers with payloads—a 6U STEP Cube Lab-II by Chosun University, 3U SNUGLITE-II by Seoul National University, a 3U MIMAN by Yonsei University, a 3U RANDEV by Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and a Nuri Test Payload. [Source]
🇮🇹D-Orbit will launch its ION Satellite Carrier to SSO aboard Spectrum launch vehicle by 🇩🇪Isar Aerospace in 2023. [Source]
🇨🇳A Kuaizhou-1A rocket carrying the Tianxing-1 satellite was launched on 22nd June from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. [Source]
🇮🇹Tyvak International and partners have successfully completed the critical design review of ESA’s first, deep-space smallsat to orbit an asteroid, Milani, which is scheduled for launch in 2024. [Source]
🇺🇸Spaceport America, a landing site located in southern New Mexico, would be hosting the Dream Chaser vehicle by 🇺🇸Sierra Space. Among other runways for the spaceplane are 🇬🇧Spaceport Cornwall, 🇺🇸Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and several other airports and landing sites in the US and 🇯🇵Japan. [Source]
🇬🇧Surrey Satellite Technology delivered THEOS-2, a 100 kg EO smallsat for 🇹🇭Thailand’s Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency to be launched in 2023. [Source]
🇨🇦SpaceRyde presents Canada’s first rocket testing facility, including manufacturing and R&D in Ontario. [Source]
🇨🇦Telesat has submitted an application for a UK license for 198 Lightspeed LEO satellites that will be launched in 2025. [Source]
RocketLab delays 🇺🇸NASA’s CAPSTONE again, from 27th to 28th June, to allow more time for booster’s flight checks. [Source]
🇺🇸NASA launched three sounding rockets from 🇦🇺Arnhem Space Centre, making it the first Australian commercial space launch. [Source]
Check out Precious Payload Weekly Smallsat News: June 6 – 19
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