Military/Aerospace Electronics

The UK government has announced new funding for what it describes as “space sustainability” projects, which span industry and academia. Basically, the 13 projects will help track, and potentially remove, debris in space, in accordance with the UK’s National Space Strategy, which was released in September 2021 and identified a need for the UK to lead in “making space safe ...

As part of the Cassini Entrepreneurship Initiative, the European Commision has backed a “Cassini Seed and Growth Funding Facility”. The idea is to is attract more venture capital funds to invest in European small and medium size companies involved in space technology or digital services using space data. The fund is said to have an investment capacity of at least ...

ESA is looking into using lasers to send data from Earth to geostationary orbit. It operates the European Data Relay System (EDRS) – two payloads, on two different satellites, which communicate with a constellation of low earth orbit planet-monitoring satellites called Sentinels. Currently Sentinel-EDRS communication is by laser and the EDRS-Earth downlink is radio. “The challenge is that the growing ...

The Blue Origin space company, owned by Jeff Bezos, is buying the Colorado-headquartered Honeybee Robotics, which specialises in space-based robotic systems. Honeybee will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Origin, which is headquartered in Kent, Washington. And the deal – between Honeybee’s parent company, Ensign-Bickford Industries, and Blue Origin – is expected to close in mid-February. According to the companies, Honeybee’s experience in planetary ...

The geochemist and internationally recognised space scientist Laurie Leshin will be the next Director of Nasa JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), becoming the first female to be appointed to the role. Assuming her role in May, she succeeds Lt. Gen. Larry D. James USAF (Retired), who currently serves as JPL interim director. With 20 years of leadership experience, she joins JPL ...

Boosting the prospects for multi-national lunar exploration, Israel has become the 15th country to sign up to Nasa’s Artemis Accords. The accords are intended to be a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among the various nations participating in NASA’s lunar exploration plans. “Israel already has demonstrated its commitment to Artemis with the contribution of the AstroRad ...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is blocking Lockheed Martin’s proposed $4.4 billion acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, on grounds of competition. Lockheed Martin announced its plans – which were subject to regulatory approval – last year, in January 2021. The FTC, however, has now decided that Aerojet Rocketdyne – which it describes as the last independent U.S. supplier of missile ...

Airbus and Iceye are among the first five commercial operators of radar satellites to be chosen to supply their data to the U.S. government. The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has announced the award of five contracts with Airbus (U.S.), Capella Space, Iceye (U.S.), PredaSAR and Umbra. Basically, the aim is to ensure the U.S. government has access to the ...

Microchip is offering a 28Vin space-grade dc-dc converter built from discrete components. Why discrete components and not hybrid construction? “They are easier to customize than alternative space-grade power converters so they can meet specific voltage, current and other needs,” said Microchip v-p of discrete products Leon Gross. Custom versions are available “with reasonable lead time and modest NRE cost,” said ...

The European Space Agency (ESA) and European Union (EU) will be holding a Space Summit in February to identify how best to boost Europe’s space ambitions. It will consider how best space-related technology can address environmental, economic and security challenges, says the ESA. Specifically, EU strategies for secure connectivity and for space traffic management. Taking place on 16 February in ...