The newsletter for space professionals

Spaceleaks daily: Mar 4, 2021

Worldwide:

China to develop two super-heavy launchers for moon missions
11th Australian Space Forum (March 31) to spotlight the space sector
Russian cosmonauts successfully complete works on the external surface of the ISS

Business:

Thales Alenia Space lands 2nd generation Galileo deal
Astrobotic selects lander engines & more for Griffin/VIPER Mission
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa seeks 8 crewmembers for moon-bound mission on SpaceX’s Starship
Spaceflight Inc. signs multiple launch agreements to start 2021
Slingshot Aerospace names the company’s board of advisors
VIPER lunar rover mission cost increases
Delayed Indonesian broadband satellite SATRIA fully funded
Comtech completes UHP Networks acquisition after acquisition of Gilat Satellite Networks fell apart

Technology:

SpaceX launches, lands and explodes SN10
New design for Russian super-heavy methane-powered launch vehicle completed
Air Force Research Lab, NORTHCOM eye commercial internet satellites for Arctic
Australian Space Consortium to leverage Q-CTRL’s quantum-based technologies
NASA funds research on nuclear-powered solar sails to quickly explore outer planets
NASA, Navy test diving technology that could be used on the moon
Kleos Space completes design review on 2nd KSF1 satellite batch

Yesterday, SpaceX’s SN10 landed in one piece but the landing legs appeared to fail, leaving the rocket standing but leaning at the landing pad, and ultimately collapsing after concluding the official video feed (but captured by NASASpaceflight – min 10:39:00).

Here is an update on space-financing rounds in February 2021, and a cool ESA infographic showing that we’re launching more than ever.

All last week’s news in a single newsletter here.