The space transportation/delivery into orbit firm D-Orbit has signed a €26-Million Contract with ESA for IRIDE Satellite Observation Program to create a new Earth observation constellation which will be launched from 2025 that will monitor critical infrastructure, air quality, and meteorological conditions. According to the contract, D-Orbit will provide one SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellite and will manage its flight operations. The contract also includes an option for an additional SAR satellite, worth €24 million. The SAR sensor will be implemented by MetaSensing, an Italian company specializing in advanced radar technologies.
Loft Orbital, having previously ordered 15 Longbow satellite buses – a derivative of the OneWeb satellite bus – from Airbus OneWeb Satellites in January 2022 has now decided to add to this order with another 15 satellites to meet growing demand for its bespoke Earth Observation satellites. The satellites will be manufactured at the Airbus OneWeb Satellites – a joint venture of Airbus Defence and Space and OneWeb – at its factory near the Kennedy Space Center on the Florida coast.
Meantime, Ball Aerospace has teamed with Loft Orbital’s US subsidiary Loft Federal and Microsoft’s Azure Orbital to produced spacecraft for the US Space Development Agency’s National Defense Space Architecture Experimental Testbed (NExT) programme using Loft’s Longbow satellite bus design.
Astra Space has won a small launch order worth US$11.5 million to launch the STP-S29B mission on behalf of hte US Department of Defense’s Space Test Program. The launch will take place in April 2025 on board the Astra 4 rocket. The flight will carry a spacecraft based on ESPA ring and some additional cubesats.
SpaceX Starship has been given an order to Transport SUV-Sized Astrolab FLEX Rover to the Moon in Mid-2026. Nearer term, Apex announced hat its first Aries technology test satellite will fly on SpaceX’s Transporter-10 rideshare mission on a Falcon 9, probably in January 2024.
True Anomaly, which is building the first of a pair of satellites, Jackal, a 275-kilogram spacecraft designed for “uncooperative” rendezvous and proximity operations, is planning to launch it on a Falcon 9 Transporter 9 rideshare mission later this year..
Outpost has reportedly won a US$1.7 million US Department of Defense to build and test its Ferry spacecraft which is designed to be able to return spacecraft to Earth.
Lunar lander company Astrobotic has bought launch services aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for its third lander mission to the Moon which will see an Astrobotic lander deliver payload customer instruments and cargo from around the world to the Moon’s South Pole in 2026.
