New SPAC merger, payload hosting opportunity, and European mini launcher Maia

Precious Payload Market Update: January 24, 2022 — January 30, 2022

This week’s newsletter from Precious Payload highlights some of the best smallsat and NewSpace launchers news. There’re, as usual, some insights and news we want to feature: 

• You don’t want to miss this chance to launch your payload with a new MBRSC-UNOOSA hosting opportunity. They provide a 5U slot in the payload hosting opportunity (PHI-1) for space companies from United Nations member states and can select more than one payload.​ (Source)
• After the announcement of the partnership of Virgin Orbit and Satrevolution, we can see that they do work closely in tandem now. Satrevolution is winning the contracts to build the satellites automatically matching the Virgin launch opportunities.
• And of course, congratulations to our friends from D-Orbit on announcing a SPAC merger. D-Orbit is going public via a SPAC merger with Breeze Holdings in Q3 2022. The company got a $1.4 billion evaluation. (Source)

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Astroscale halts its ELSA-d mission demonstrating autonomous capture in orbit after it detected anomalous spacecraft conditions. (Source)

Kenyan-based SayariLabs partners with EnduroSat to launch the country’s first software-defined 3U nanosat TAIFA-1 aboard Falcon 9 in Q4 2022. (Source)

Japanese Axelspace Corporation will launch four additional GRUS microsatellites for its AxelGlobe EO constellation aboard GKLS’ Soyuz-2 rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Q4 2022. (Source)

Xplore plans to use OrbitalAstro’s standardized satellite platform ORB-6 for its space imaging missions in Q4 2022. (Source)

Satellogic begins trading on the Nasdaq under ticker sign $SATL. (Source)

Argentine IoT pico-satellite startup Innova Space seeks $1.5M in private funding to develop its Libertadores de América constellation of 90 satellites with commercial services planned from 2024. (Source)

Toronto-based Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) will develop and launch two smallsats, for the StarBurst and Aspera missions of NASA Astrophysics Pioneers Program. (Source)

Chinese space debris mitigation satellite Shijian-21 demonstrates its space tug capabilities around the GSO by docking with the defunct Beidou-2 G2 navigation satellite and towing it to a high graveyard orbit. (Source)

Pakistan Space and Upper Research Commission (SUPARCO) and Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) partner to develop communication satellites and other space projects. (Source)

Oman plans to launch its first Satrevolution-built cubesat for deep space research aboard the Virgin Orbit launch vehicle from Spaceport Cornwall to LEO in 2022. An additional mission to deep space is targeted for launch in 2024. (Source)

12 launch companies secure the NASA’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract to launch its science and technology payloads in the coming 5 years: ABL, Astra, Blue Origin, L2 Solutions, Northrop Grumman, Phantom Space, Relativity Space, Rocket Lab, Spaceflight, SpaceX, ULA, Virgin Orbit. (Source)

Galactic Energy raises $200M in two funding rounds held last year and plans to launch its first medium-lift reusable LV Pallas-1 in early 2023. (Source)

Skyroot Aerospace raises $4.5M via bridge round led by Google investor Ram Shriram and plans to accelerate its first rocket launch, Vikram-1 in 2022. (Source)

Isar Aerospace wins $11.32M as an award from the European Commission and plans of launching its first Spectrum rocket by Q4 2022. (Source)

ABL Space Systems recent test accident which destroyed the upper stage of its RS1 rocket is likely to delay its first flight by three months. (Source) 

Chinese launch company, Deep Blue Aerospace raises $31.5 M to enhance the development of its partially reusable LV, Nebula-1. (Source)

Scrubbed: SpaceX delays the launch of Italian Space Agency’s CSG-2 mission and its next batch of Starlink satellites from Florida due to bad weather. (Source)

ArianeGroup plans to build a new mini launcher called Maia and a whole new European launcher family with a reusable first stage. (Source)

Check out Precious Payload Market Update: January 17, 2022 — January 23, 2022