Australian Space Agency

SWISSto12 Secures CHF 25 Million (€26.15 million) Working Capital Financing Facility from UBS for HummingSat Satellite Business

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Software, Hardware, Robotics, Drones, Technology, Satellite, Engineering, Audio, Video, Aerospace, Other Technology, Manufacturing, Telecommunications, Australian Space Agency, Partnership, SERV, ESA, Intelsat, European Space Agency, Multimedia, ZKB, Radio frequency, UBS, CHF, Safety, Radio, Communications satellite, Inmarsat

SWISSto12 , one of Europe’s fastest growing satellite and Radio Frequency product manufacturers, has announced securing a CHF 25 million (€26.15 million) working capital facility from UBS Switzerland AG, the multinational universal bank.

Key Points: 
  • SWISSto12 , one of Europe’s fastest growing satellite and Radio Frequency product manufacturers, has announced securing a CHF 25 million (€26.15 million) working capital facility from UBS Switzerland AG, the multinational universal bank.
  • The facility will provide SWISSto12 with flexible growth capital to meet strong customer demand for its geostationary SmallSat, HummingSat.
  • Image credit: SWISSto12 (Graphic: Business Wire)
    Since the company was founded in 2011, SWISSto12 has raised over €50 million in venture capital from prominent Swiss and European investors including Constantia New Business (CNB Capital), Swisscom Ventures, Swisscanto and Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB).
  • In 2022, SWISSto12 announced securing a deal to supply a HummingSat satellite to Intelsat, followed in May 2023 by a deal to supply three HummingSats to Inmarsat (acq.

LeapFrog® Magic Adventures™ Telescope Selected as Esteemed Toy of the Year® Award Finalist

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Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Learning, Human, Australian Space Agency, STEAM, Travel, Solar System, Moon, Spacecraft, European Space Agency, Marketing, Toy of the Year, NASA, Nature, Magic, Toy

CHICAGO, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today LeapFrog® announced its Magic Adventures™ Telescope is a finalist for The Toy Foundation's Toy of the Year® (TOTY®) Award in the STEAM Toy of the Year category.

Key Points: 
  • CHICAGO, Aug. 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today LeapFrog® announced its Magic Adventures™ Telescope is a finalist for The Toy Foundation's Toy of the Year® (TOTY®) Award in the STEAM Toy of the Year category.
  • "As we look ahead, we're more inspired than ever to continue helping children foster a love for learning through our products."
  • With the Magic Adventures™ Telescope , kids can discover things that are out of this world!
  • They'll be amazed at what they can see with up to 110x zoom on this real telescope.

Almost half of Moon missions fail. Why is space still so hard?

Retrieved on: 
Friday, August 25, 2023
Luna 25, Australian Space Agency, Communication, Human, Radiation, Indian Space Research Organisation, Orbit, Vikram, Light, Spacecraft, European Space Agency, History, Progress, Computer, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA, Time, Crash, Water, Monumental, United Arab Emirates, Safety, Roscosmos, Communications satellite, Nightclub, Paraffin wax, Instrumentation, Road, Interior design, Transport, Ridesharing, Moon, USSR

Now the Indian Space Research Organisation has returned in triumph, with the Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully touching down near the south pole of Earth’s rocky neighbour.

Key Points: 
  • Now the Indian Space Research Organisation has returned in triumph, with the Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully touching down near the south pole of Earth’s rocky neighbour.
  • Moon missions in particular are still a coin flip, and we have seen several high-profile failures in recent years.

An exclusive club

    • It makes sense to go there first: it’s the closest planetary body to us, at a distance of around 400,000 kilometres.
    • Yet only four countries have achieved successful “soft landings” – landings which the spacecraft survives – on the lunar surface.
    • China was the next country to join the club, with the Chang'e 3 mission in 2013.

Crashes are not uncommon

    • Attempts to contact the spacecraft on August 20 were unsuccessful, leading Roscosmos to determine Luna 25 had crashed.
    • Despite more than 60 years of spaceflight experience extending from the USSR to modern Russia, this mission failed.
    • Here's why that's unlikely

      The Luna 25 failure recalled two high-profile lunar crashes in 2019.

Space is still risky

    • Space missions are a risky business.
    • Even small satellite missions to Earth’s orbit don’t have a perfect track record, with a success rate somewhere between 40% and 70%.
    • We could compare uncrewed with crewed missions: around 98% of the latter are successful, because people are more invested in people.

The big picture

    • There are around 1.5 billion cars in the world, and perhaps 40,000 aeroplanes.
    • By contrast, there have been fewer than 20,000 space launches in all of history.
    • And we have more than a century of experience with these vehicles, in every country on the planet.

Monumental challenges remain

    • If humanity is ever to create a fully fledged space-faring civilisation, we must overcome monumental challenges.
    • To make long-duration, long-distance space travel possible, there are a huge number of problems to be solved.

Russia has declared a new space race, hoping to join forces with China. Here's why that's unlikely

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Wednesday, August 23, 2023
China Manned Space Program, Technology, Australian Space Agency, Reuters, Interview, China National Space Administration, Survival, International Space Science Institute, Spacecraft, European Space Agency, Chinese moon moth, Achievement, International Lunar Research Station, Ice, Heavenly Questions, Planet, NASA, Heavenly, Peking University, Water, Tianwen-1, Roscosmos, Communications satellite, Entertainment, Automotive industry, Mars, Moon

This week, the Russian space agency Roscosmos had hoped to return to the Moon after an absence of nearly 50 years.

Key Points: 
  • This week, the Russian space agency Roscosmos had hoped to return to the Moon after an absence of nearly 50 years.
  • The agency explained the spacecraft “switched to an off-design orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface”.
  • His statement sounds like it is less about the scientific exploration of the lunar surface, and more about geopolitical posturing.
  • These appointments have allowed me to gain unique insights into the processes driving China’s space science program.

A lunar outpost

    • The lunar south pole region is thought to contain significant water reservoirs locked in grains of ice.
    • That makes the area interesting as a potential staging post for future missions to Mars and beyond, as lunar explorers can use the water for survival.
    • In early 2021, Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly establish an International Lunar Research Station by the mid-2030s.

No need for a space race

    • China will unlikely be coerced into rushing its planned milestones.
    • As such, the notion of a “space race” involving China seems a moot point.
    • Its ageing technology pales in comparison with the leaps of modernisation we have witnessed in relation to China’s progress in space.

Venturing out to the planets

    • That mission successfully deployed the Zhurong rover (named after a Chinese mythological god of fire), a major technological feat in its own right.
    • Future plans include the development of a next-generation crewed spacecraft to replace the workhorse Shenzhou (Divine Vessel on the Heavenly River) series.
    • Read more:
      China's new space station opens for business in an increasingly competitive era of space activity

STMicroelectronics achieves Vodafone NB-IoT certification for location-aware cellular IoT modules

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 22, 2023
MQTT, SIM, GNSS, Electronics, IPv6, ST, GCF, Internet of things, ESE, Global Certification Forum, GSMA, Certification, Intel Display Power Saving Technology, LGA, Australian Space Agency, Water, Pet, STMicroelectronics, Narrowband IoT, STM, MEMS, Vodafone, ESIM, Security assurance, 3GPP, NYSE, LTE, Mobile phone

Geneva, Switzerland, August 22, 2023 – STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has announced the achievement of Vodafone NB-IoT certification of its ST87M01 NB-IoT and GNSS modules.

Key Points: 
  • Geneva, Switzerland, August 22, 2023 – STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has announced the achievement of Vodafone NB-IoT certification of its ST87M01 NB-IoT and GNSS modules.
  • The ST87M01 combines cellular IoT connectivity and geolocation in a miniaturized, low-power, integrated module featured for wide-ranging IoT and smart-industrial applications.
  • “Completing our test program with Vodafone assures our customers of a reliable and future-proof data connection for their IoT solutions that leverage this module’s novel and power-efficient features,” said Domenico Arrigo, General Manager, Industrial and Power Conversion Division, STMicroelectronics.
  • A selection of protocol stacks is available to handle popular IoT use cases, including IPv6, TCP/UDP, CoAP/LWM2M, MQTT, HTTP/HTTPS and TLS/DTLS.

Voyager Space and Airbus Announce Joint Venture to Build and Operate Starlab

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Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Airbus Defence and Space, Australian Space Agency, Venture, National Aeronautics and Space Act, Partnership, Voyager (Space Needle album), ESA, SAA, European Space Agency, International Space Station, SRR, International Space Station programme, Voyager, History, Joint venture, SSL (company), NASA, Space Act Agreement, Nanoracks, LEO, Airbus, Commercial, Safety, ISS, Communications satellite, Starlab

DENVER, Aug. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Voyager Space (Voyager), a global leader in space exploration, and Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus), the largest aeronautics and space company in Europe, today announced an agreement paving the way for a transatlantic joint venture to develop, build, and operate Starlab, a commercial space station planned to succeed the International Space Station. The US-led joint venture will bring together world-class leaders in the space domain, while further uniting American and European interests in space exploration.

Key Points: 
  • Joint Venture to serve as a commercial successor for the International Space Station, ensuring continued US and European collaboration in space
    DENVER, Aug. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Voyager Space (Voyager), a global leader in space exploration, and Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus), the largest aeronautics and space company in Europe, today announced an agreement paving the way for a transatlantic joint venture to develop, build, and operate Starlab, a commercial space station planned to succeed the International Space Station.
  • The US-led joint venture will bring together world-class leaders in the space domain, while further uniting American and European interests in space exploration.
  • "We are proud to charter the future of space stations with Airbus," says Matthew Kuta, President at Voyager Space.
  • In addition to the US entity, Starlab will have a European joint venture subsidiary to directly serve the European Space Agency (ESA) and its member state space agencies.

Voyager Space and Airbus Announce Joint Venture to Build and Operate Starlab

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Airbus Defence and Space, Australian Space Agency, Venture, National Aeronautics and Space Act, Partnership, Voyager (Space Needle album), ESA, SAA, European Space Agency, International Space Station, SRR, International Space Station programme, Voyager, History, Joint venture, SSL (company), NASA, Space Act Agreement, Nanoracks, LEO, Airbus, Commercial, Safety, ISS, Communications satellite, Starlab

DENVER, Aug. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Voyager Space (Voyager), a global leader in space exploration, and Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus), the largest aeronautics and space company in Europe, today announced an agreement paving the way for a transatlantic joint venture to develop, build, and operate Starlab, a commercial space station planned to succeed the International Space Station. The US-led joint venture will bring together world-class leaders in the space domain, while further uniting American and European interests in space exploration.

Key Points: 
  • Joint Venture to serve as a commercial successor for the International Space Station, ensuring continued US and European collaboration in space
    DENVER, Aug. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Voyager Space (Voyager), a global leader in space exploration, and Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus), the largest aeronautics and space company in Europe, today announced an agreement paving the way for a transatlantic joint venture to develop, build, and operate Starlab, a commercial space station planned to succeed the International Space Station.
  • The US-led joint venture will bring together world-class leaders in the space domain, while further uniting American and European interests in space exploration.
  • "We are proud to charter the future of space stations with Airbus," says Matthew Kuta, President at Voyager Space.
  • In addition to the US entity, Starlab will have a European joint venture subsidiary to directly serve the European Space Agency (ESA) and its member state space agencies.

Wind River VxWorks Serves as Software Foundation for Astroscale Sustainable Space Systems

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Data Management, Aerospace, Technology, Manufacturing, Satellite, Apps, Applications, Software, Engineering, Mobile, Wireless, Hardware, Electronic Design Automation, Australian Space Agency, Partnership, OBC, Single-board computer, ADR, ESA, OneWeb, Spacecraft, European Space Agency, Multimedia, History, Astroscale, IOD, VxWorks, Robotics, Renewable energy

View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230719286092/en/

Key Points: 
  • View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230719286092/en/
    Astroscale develops innovative solutions to create sustainable space systems and mitigate the growing and hazardous buildup of debris in space.
  • “Astroscale is addressing the hazardous matter of space debris, and we’re proud to help them advance their mission to develop sustainable space programs,” said Avijit Sinha, chief product officer, Wind River.
  • “Our industry-leading technology demonstrates the continuing Wind River leadership in real-time software solutions for mission-critical systems.
  • For more than three decades, Wind River has delivered the most proven software platform to bring dozens of intelligent systems to space, resulting in some of the most significant space missions in history.

AROBS Engineering is the prime industrial partner and consortium leader for the independent software verification and validation of the Space Rider project

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Orbit, Australian Space Agency, European Space Agency, Commercial software, Multimedia, Engineering, ESA, Communications satellite, Mobile phone

In-orbit technology demonstration and validation for applications for:

Key Points: 
  • In-orbit technology demonstration and validation for applications for:
    Surveillance applications such as Earth disaster monitoring and satellite inspection.
  • With 20+ years of experience in aerospace, AROBS Engineering will deliver custom software development with an in-depth understanding of networking technology and solutions for the future of Avionics and Aerospace Systems.
  • Recently, AROBS Engineering announced that it is one of the ClearSpace and the European Space Agency (ESA) industrial partners to deliver an embedded software solution for the ClearSpace-1 program.
  • AROBS Engineering provides premium embedded software development services to clients in 15 countries in Europe and North America.

AROBS Engineering is the prime industrial partner and consortium leader for the independent software verification and validation of the Space Rider project

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Australian Space Agency, Architecture, European Space Agency, Space Rider, Module, ESA, Engineering, AOM

CLUJ-NAPOCA, Romania, July 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AROBS Engineering, part of AROBS Group, is the prime industrial partner and consortium leader for the technical specifications, architecture, code development, and testing systems validation for SpaceRider, Europe's first reusable space transportation system.

Key Points: 
  • CLUJ-NAPOCA, Romania, July 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AROBS Engineering, part of AROBS Group, is the prime industrial partner and consortium leader for the technical specifications, architecture, code development, and testing systems validation for SpaceRider, Europe's first reusable space transportation system.
  • Such activities will be carried out under the Space Rider Program funded by the European Space Agency (ESA).
  • Space Rider aims to provide an affordable, independent, reusable end-to-end integrated space transportation system for routine access and return from low orbit.
  • Space Rider will have the potential to allow the following:
    Free-flying applications such as experiments in microgravity for: