SpaceNews.com
• Jason Rainbow
Singapore-based Astrum Space plans to merge with a publicly listed blank-check company in a transaction valuing the direct-to-device satellite venture at about $1 billion. The deal places Astrum among space startups using public-market combinations to fund connectivity ambitions and potentially expand investor access.
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Singapore-based Astrum Space plans to merge with a publicly listed blank-check company in a transaction valuing the direct-to-device satellite venture at about $1 billion. The deal places Astrum among space startups using public-market combinations to fund connectivity ambitions and potentially expand investor access.
Lite Coms’ Lite Sat 1.3A terminal, paired with Comtech’s GTC Type 2-certified SLM-5650B modem, is now available in a validated remote-terminal configuration for SES O3b mPOWER Sovereign Services and Hybrid Sovereign Gateway architectures, expanding a certified option for government and defense SATCOM users.
Kepler Communications will combine its optical data relay infrastructure with NorthStar’s space domain awareness services under a strategic partnership. The agreement also includes a hosted payload arrangement, linking high-speed space-based communications infrastructure with capabilities for monitoring and characterizing objects in orbit.
A new Government Accountability Office audit details the U.S. Space Force’s expanding use of privately collected space data and analytics, including nearly $124 million in purchases through its commercial data marketplace over less than three years. The findings highlight growing government demand for commercial space-derived intelligence.
A private spacecraft failed to reach NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, ending efforts to arrest the telescope’s atmospheric decay. Swift is now expected to fall back to Earth in the near future, but NASA has not yet provided a timeline or predicted reentry location.
NorthStar Earth & Space plans to place 11 optical space-domain-awareness sensors on Kepler Communications data-relay satellites in 2028, shifting its orbital-tracking architecture after the failure of its first four spacecraft. The deployment would expand NorthStar’s planned ability to monitor objects in orbit without relying solely on dedicated tracking satellites.
A Mission Space report estimates that solar storms will generate $20.65 billion in losses in 2026, with annual costs more than doubling to $44.27 billion by 2035. The forecast underscores the growing economic exposure of space-based and terrestrial systems to severe space-weather events.
Colorado-based quantum technology company Infleqtion will continue developing a mission to launch what NASA describes as the world’s first space-based quantum gravity sensor under a $20 million contract. The work advances quantum sensing for space applications, with the mission’s objective and launch timing not disclosed in the article.
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