Techstars Space Startup Digest

German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg has selected the Norwegian launch facility Andøya Spaceport for a 2022 maiden flight of the company’s RFA One small-satellite launch vehicle.

These remotely located group of islands in the South Pacific with a population of just five million people has a tradition of punching above its weight. New Zealand is a primary industries powerhouse; probably hosts the best known and successful rugby team on Earth, the All Blacks; and is seen internationally as a champion in the fight against COVID-19. The space sector is emerging as another such area—ironic, considering that locals refer themselves as kiwis, the name of a local flightless bird!

When Nobu Okada founded Astroscale in 2013, there were only a few Japanese space startups. But in the past few years, as Astroscale has gained global prominence with its vision of sustainable space, Japan’s space startup industry has grown to include more than 40 ventures. Okada says that space has become more democratized in Japan and the Japanese government has promoted policies to encourage people and companies to join the space industry, leading to significant growth.

Michael Toman, lead climate change economist at the World Bank’s Development Research Group, discusses on the Resources Radio podcast the commercialization and privatization of outer space.

Space solutions company Redwire on Thursday said it has acquired Roccor, a designer and manufacturer of subsystems and products for small satellites. Roccor, which is based in Longmont, Colo., provides structures and systems for small satellites.

NASA has tapped the Houston-based company Intuitive Machines to land a drill on the south pole of the moon in 2022.

New Zealand launch provider Rocket Lab has put its 15th commercial payload into space, delivering 10 Earth observation satellites each to their own orbit. The company is getting back into its stride after an upset in July dampened plans to set a record for launch turnaround time.

ABL Space Systems has completed integrated stage testing of its RS1 small satellite launch vehicle, the company announced Oct. 22. Testing was performed on the RS1 second stage with the in-house designed E2 liquid rocket engine at the Area 1-56 test site on Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Japanese space startup Axelspace, which has developed 5 microsatellites to date, has announced it will be developing critical components to prepare for the mass production of next-generation microsatellites. This initiative aims to lower cost and shorten the delivery time of satellites. I

D-Orbit secured 15 million euros financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) in September, marking the first time that the EIB has funded a space firm — the funds will advance the expansion of the company, whose goal is to redefine the standards of the orbital transportation industry.

Austin and El Segundo-based Slingshot Aerospace was born out of a realization that while there is a massive amount of information collected by observation technology aboard satellites, airplanes, drones and beyond, the analytics and turnaround of said info into something actionable often took a long time