SAN FRANCISCO — Weather data company ClimaCell announced plans Feb. 24 to launch dozens of radar satellites.“We are building the first of its kind proprietary satellites equipped with radar, and launching them into space to improve weather monitoring and forecasting capabilities,” Shimon Elkabetz, ClimaCell CEO and co-founder, said in a statement.Boston-based ClimaCell plans to monitor global weather with mini-fridge-size satellites scheduled to begin launching into low Earth orbit next year. ClimaCell is developing the weather radar and hiring another company to provide the satellite...…SAN FRANCISCO — Weather data company ClimaCell announced plans Feb. 24 to launch dozens of radar satellites.“We are building the first of its kind proprietary satellites equipped with radar, and launching them into space to improve weather monitoring and forecasting capabilities,” Shimon Elkabetz, ClimaCell CEO and co-founder, said in a statement.Boston-based ClimaCell plans to monitor global weather with mini-fridge-size satellites scheduled to begin launching into low Earth orbit next year. ClimaCell is developing the weather radar and hiring another company to provide the satellite...WW…

SAN FRANCISCO – Albedo, the latest space company to join the well-known Y Combinator startup accelerator, plans to establish a satellite constellation offering Earth imagery with a resolution of 10 centimeters per pixel.That’s the same resolution that caused a stir when former President Trump in August 2019. At the time, geospatial imagery experts that cost more than $1 billion dollars. (NRO satellite prices and capabilities are classified.)Albedo plans to reduce the cost of gathering electro-optical imagery with 10-centimeter resolution as well as thermal imagery with two-meter resolution...…SAN FRANCISCO – Albedo, the latest space company to join the well-known Y Combinator startup accelerator, plans to establish a satellite constellation offering Earth imagery with a resolution of 10 centimeters per pixel.That’s the same resolution that caused a stir when former President Trump in August 2019. At the time, geospatial imagery experts that cost more than $1 billion dollars. (NRO satellite prices and capabilities are classified.)Albedo plans to reduce the cost of gathering electro-optical imagery with 10-centimeter resolution as well as thermal imagery with two-meter resolution...WW…

This article was updated Nov. 17 at 8 pm Eastern time with information about the Astro Digital satellite housing the Orbit Fab tanker and Accion System thrusters to be demonstrated on the same spacecraft.SAN FRANCISCO – Orbit Fab, a startup preparing to establish fuel depots in space, announced an agreement Nov. 17 with Spaceflight Inc. to send its first microsatellite into orbit in 2021.Under the agreement, Orbit Fab’s first operational fuel depot, Tanker-001 Tenzing, will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 as early as June 2021. Tanker-001 Tenzing will store a green propellant in sun...…This article was updated Nov. 17 at 8 pm Eastern time with information about the Astro Digital satellite housing the Orbit Fab tanker and Accion System thrusters to be demonstrated on the same spacecraft.SAN FRANCISCO – Orbit Fab, a startup preparing to establish fuel depots in space, announced an agreement Nov. 17 with Spaceflight Inc. to send its first microsatellite into orbit in 2021.Under the agreement, Orbit Fab’s first operational fuel depot, Tanker-001 Tenzing, will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 as early as June 2021. Tanker-001 Tenzing will store a green propellant in sun...WW…

This article was updated Nov. 17 at midnight Eastern time with comments from MDA CEO Mike Greenley.SAN FRANCISCO – MDA signed multiple contracts with to provide hardware and software for the Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot (SPIDER), a technology demonstration planned for NASA’s On‑orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) mission.The contracts provide clues to the opportunities ahead for MDA as it applies technologies developed and demonstrated through large institutional programs to emerging commercial markets for on-orbit servicing and assembly as well as future markets...…This article was updated Nov. 17 at midnight Eastern time with comments from MDA CEO Mike Greenley.SAN FRANCISCO – MDA signed multiple contracts with to provide hardware and software for the Space Infrastructure Dexterous Robot (SPIDER), a technology demonstration planned for NASA’s On‑orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) mission.The contracts provide clues to the opportunities ahead for MDA as it applies technologies developed and demonstrated through large institutional programs to emerging commercial markets for on-orbit servicing and assembly as well as future markets...WW…

SAN FRANCISCO – Frontier Aerospace, a small Simi Valley, California, company, has completed the design of attitude control thrusters developed with NASA and Astrobotic Technologies for deep space missions.“We are well on our way to qualifying both 150 and 10 [pounds of thrust] engines for Astrobotic’s near-term Peregrine lunar lander mission,” Frontier Aerospace announced Nov. 2 on LinkedIn.Frontier Aerospace has been developing and testing rocket engines fueled by nitrogen oxides mixed with monomethyl hydrazine propellants through a NASA program called Thruster for the Advancement of...…SAN FRANCISCO – Frontier Aerospace, a small Simi Valley, California, company, has completed the design of attitude control thrusters developed with NASA and Astrobotic Technologies for deep space missions.“We are well on our way to qualifying both 150 and 10 [pounds of thrust] engines for Astrobotic’s near-term Peregrine lunar lander mission,” Frontier Aerospace announced Nov. 2 on LinkedIn.Frontier Aerospace has been developing and testing rocket engines fueled by nitrogen oxides mixed with monomethyl hydrazine propellants through a NASA program called Thruster for the Advancement of...WW…

SAN FRANCISCO – Revenues for Lithuanian Nanosatellite manufacturer NanoAvionics tripled in the last 12 months as the company signed contracts with startups and industry veterans.“As the market for nanosatellites and cubesats matures, NanoAvionics is very well placed with its price points and capability,” NanoAvionics US CEO Brent Abbott told SpaceNews.NanoAvionics, a spin-off from Vilnius University founded in 2014, announced orders in 2020 from British , a and .“We’re going to hopefully be announcing a couple more commercial and noncommercial orders rather soon,” Abbott said.NanoAvionics...…SAN FRANCISCO – Revenues for Lithuanian Nanosatellite manufacturer NanoAvionics tripled in the last 12 months as the company signed contracts with startups and industry veterans.“As the market for nanosatellites and cubesats matures, NanoAvionics is very well placed with its price points and capability,” NanoAvionics US CEO Brent Abbott told SpaceNews.NanoAvionics, a spin-off from Vilnius University founded in 2014, announced orders in 2020 from British , a and .“We’re going to hopefully be announcing a couple more commercial and noncommercial orders rather soon,” Abbott said.NanoAvionics...WW…

SAN FRANCISCO – Swarm Technologies is working with Exolaunch of Germany to send 24 SpaceBee satellites into orbit on the SpaceX Falcon 9 small satellite rideshare mission scheduled to launch in December.Swarm to offer global internet-of-things service with a constellation of 150 Spacebee satellites, which are one-quarter the size of a single cubesat.Exolaunch, a rideshare launch and satellite deployment company based in Berlin, will handle launch, integration and deployment of SpaceBee satellites in sun-synchronous orbit, according to an Aug. 3 news release.Earlier this year, Exolaunch to...…SAN FRANCISCO – Swarm Technologies is working with Exolaunch of Germany to send 24 SpaceBee satellites into orbit on the SpaceX Falcon 9 small satellite rideshare mission scheduled to launch in December.Swarm to offer global internet-of-things service with a constellation of 150 Spacebee satellites, which are one-quarter the size of a single cubesat.Exolaunch, a rideshare launch and satellite deployment company based in Berlin, will handle launch, integration and deployment of SpaceBee satellites in sun-synchronous orbit, according to an Aug. 3 news release.Earlier this year, Exolaunch to...WW…

SAN FRANCISCO – Planet unveiled a cloud-based dashboard and API June 9 to allow customers to task the firm’s growing SkySat constellation.It was the latest step in Planet’s campaign to enhance its SkySat product line. Over the last six months, the company has lowered the altitude of 15 SkySats in orbit to improve resolution and on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets to expand the constellation and improve revisit rates.All the changes are designed to give government and commercial customers easy access to high-resolution imagery of locations at different times throughout the day and “a better sense of...…SAN FRANCISCO – Planet unveiled a cloud-based dashboard and API June 9 to allow customers to task the firm’s growing SkySat constellation.It was the latest step in Planet’s campaign to enhance its SkySat product line. Over the last six months, the company has lowered the altitude of 15 SkySats in orbit to improve resolution and on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets to expand the constellation and improve revisit rates.All the changes are designed to give government and commercial customers easy access to high-resolution imagery of locations at different times throughout the day and “a better sense of...WW…