SpaceWatch Global
• Judith Delany
At the International Space Summit, Astrolab’s Manny Shar discusses the company’s effort to develop a lunar rover in just 17 months. The project highlights the pace, engineering demands and commercial ambitions shaping the emerging market for lunar mobility systems.
Commercial Space
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The cluster brings together Europe’s near-term satellite activity: FLEX and Sentinel-3C are preparing for Vega-C launch, Airbus and Unseenlabs won France’s CASSIOPÉE SIGINT contract, and Cailabs is advancing shared optical ground infrastructure with Eutelsat. Satellogic is also expanding its Earth-observation constellation with three planned satellites.
ColliMate Space has demonstrated its Nexus software autonomously managing satellite downlinks onboard a spacecraft, marking the Silicon Valley startup’s first in-orbit demonstration. The milestone points to a potential shift toward more automated satcom operations, reducing the need for continuous ground-based orchestration of spacecraft communications.
High activity
At the International Space Summit, Astrolab’s Manny Shar discusses the company’s effort to develop a lunar rover in just 17 months. The project highlights the pace, engineering demands and commercial ambitions shaping the emerging market for lunar mobility systems.
Exolaunch said Sept. 14 it secured capacity for rideshare payloads on two upcoming launches, one involving a Japanese rocket. The agreements add launch opportunities to Exolaunch’s manifest as the provider continues arranging shared-launch access for satellite customers.
The Department of the Air Force has awarded nuclear microreactor startup Antares a $161 million contract to develop and demonstrate a nuclear reactor for spacecraft. The award advances U.S. efforts to mature space-based nuclear power for future missions.
High activity
The economics of low Earth orbit constellations may hinge less on launch prices than on custom silicon and shared terminal architectures. The design choices could shape cost, scalability and competitiveness across networks ranging from Starlink to Europe’s planned IRIS² constellation.
High activity
NOAA selected 14 providers under a new commercial environmental data framework designed to expand the agency’s use of satellite information for U.S. weather forecasting and space-weather monitoring. The arrangement formalizes a broader role for private-sector data in national environmental intelligence.
Poland’s Orbital Matter and Germany’s Dcubed are conducting on-orbit demonstrations of 3D printing in cubesats, testing additive manufacturing in the vacuum of space. The effort targets future solar arrays with booms manufactured and potentially deployed directly in orbit, reducing dependence on prebuilt structures.
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