WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said the Space Force is making progress in the organization of its acquisition office and expects to see new proposals to accelerate acquisition programs.

Inside the March 15th issue:

* The State of Space Finance

* SPAC – Can you still spell space without SPAC

* M&A Space merger boom appears right on time

This story was updated March 22 with comments from Eutelsat and Airbus.

TAMPA, Fla. — Eutelsat Communications has ordered a geostationary (GEO) satellite called Eutelsat 36D from Airbus for a launch in 2024.

Canberra, Australia (SPX) Mar 23, 2021
UNSW Canberra Space's M2 CubeSat satellites successfully launched with Rocket Lab's 'They Go Up So Fast' mission from New Zealand earlier today, representing a significant step forward in Australia's sovereign space capabilities. The M2 mission, a collaboration between UNSW Canberra Space and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), brings together emerging technologies that deliver advanced

Toronto, Canada (SPX) Mar 23, 2021
Kepler Communications welcomed two new satellites into their constellation today, further expanding the active constellation to 15 satellites in total. These two satellites, KEPLER-6 and KEPLER-7, were successfully launched via Soyuz 2 out of Baikonur Cosmodrome as part of the CAS500-1 mission at approximately 02:07 AM EDT. Once fully operational within the constellation these will add add

Washington DC (UPI) Mar 22, 2021
NASA's plan to fly a helicopter on Mars for the first time in a few weeks could start a new era of interplanetary exploration like the space agency's little Sojourner rover did in the 1990s, according to several experts. The Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, will be dropped from the Perseverance rover soon, but NASA hasn't determined the exact date. The rover ejected a shield that covered the

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 23, 2021
The United States is leading the way to a new era of commercial space transportation with a final rule that streamlines the licensing process for private sector launch and reentry operations. "Innovation in commercial space transportation is increasing dramatically, and policy needs to keep up. This rule will help us to prepare for future U.S. leadership in commercial space transportation

Moscow (Sputnik) Mar 23, 2021
Russia's Fregat upper stage has placed all the 38 satellites in target orbits after the launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos, said on Monday. "Separation of 33 satellites has taken place," Rogozin said, adding that five satellites were placed in orbit earlier. The rocket was launched from the Baikonur space

New Delhi (Sputnik) Mar 23, 2021
The ISRO has been keen on roping in the domestic private sector to finance the rocket manufacturing and satellite launch business so that it can itself focus on research and the heavy satellite launch market. Hoping to get a share of the global satellite launch business, India allocated a $1.4 billion fund for NewSpace India Ltd. India's state owned NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) has prepared t

Darmstadt, Germany (SPX) Mar 23, 2021
External gravitational forces, predominantly from the Sun and Moon, are constantly and predictably acting on our planet. While the Sun's enormous gravity keeps Earth in orbit, the gentle tug of the Moon has, over billions of years, quite dramatically slowed its spin, increasing the length of a day on Earth. When the Earth first formed, a day was somewhere between six and eight hours long a