Weekly Recap #50 + Viridian Interview

Main Topics

This week we had the privlege of interviewing Matthew Feldman, Co-Founder and CTO of Viridian Space Technologies, to learn all about their air-breathing electric propulsion for VLEO spacecraft! Catch an excerpt in this episode and subscribe to catch the full interview when it drops later this week.

On September 10th we’ll be at Space Social SF, be sure to RSVP and join us to meet all the space companies operating in the San Francisco Bay Area!

Launch

* Isar Aerospace successfully conducted their Spectrum vehicle’s second launch out of the Andoya Space Complex in Norway. [source]

* Astroscale Japan selected Isar Aerospace for the ADRAS-J2 mission to de-orbit a rocket body. [source]

* Spanish startup PLD Space added €108M to their Series C raise, now sized at €288M, to fund the deployment of their Miura rocket. [source]

* German launch company HyImpulse Technologies secured over €50M to scale commercial suborbital and orbital launch operations. [source]

Comms

* NASA awarded Blue Origin a $700M firm-fixed-price contract to deliver a high-performance Mars telecommunications orbiter to NASA by the end of 2028. [source]

* OHB won a nearly €1B IRIS2 contract for the development and production of 18 satellite platforms for the Secure Connectivity Program. [source]

* The British Government Commercial Agency selected Open Cosmos as an approved provider for the £8B Sovereign Comms Framework. [source]