Andrew Parsonson

ESA has awarded OHB a €248 million contract to build 20 satellites for EUMETSAT’s EPS-Sterna Arctic weather monitoring constellation. europeanspaceflight.com/esa-awards-ohb…

ESA plans to offer a €50 million incentive to launch the demonstration missions for its LEO Cargo Return Services initiative aboard European rockets. europeanspaceflight.com/esa-to-incenti…

Unfavorable weather conditions have pushed the launch date of the next Isar Aerospace Spectrum flight to no earlier than 23 March. Image credit: Isar Aerospace

Sirius Space Services has acquired AMM-42 to bolster its in-house manufacturing as it prepares for the launch of its Sirius 1B demonstrator in 2027. europeanspaceflight.com/sirius-space-s…

The European Defence Agency has awarded a €15.65 million contract to a consortium led by Sener to design a military satellite optimised for very low Earth orbit. europeanspaceflight.com/european-defen…

Andøya Space succesfully launched its ICI-5b two-stage sounding rocket on 11 March from its suborbital launch facility in Norway. While the company stated that the rocket had been "built by Andøya Space", it added that the two rocket motors used were "off‑the‑shelf units delivered by NASA." Video credit: Andøya Space

Tokyo-headquartered Astroscale has selected Isar Aerospace to launch its ELSA-M orbital debris removal demonstrator no earlier than 2028. europeanspaceflight.com/isar-aerospace…

Thales Alenia Space has selected US-based Astrobotic to develop wheels for the Italian Space Agency's mobile lunar habitat. europeanspaceflight.com/thales-alenia-…

Cyprus has become the first country to make use of the EU’s GOVSATCOM secure satellite communications service. europeanspaceflight.com/cyprus-first-t…

ESA has issued a call for European SMEs to design a spaceplane-based launch system that incorporates novel propulsion technologies. europeanspaceflight.com/esa-calls-on-e…

The company was founded in 2023 and is developing a pair of spaceplanes to perform suborbital and orbital missions. The BANGER engine will power its suborbital spaceplane ENVOL, which will be capable of reaching altitudes of up to 200 km.

AndroMach put its camera a little too close to the business end of its BANGER engine during a recent hot-fire test. Video credit: AndroMach

Avio has been awarded a $65 million contract for the development of a solid rocket motor just days after shareholders approved contentious changes to the company’s bylaws. europeanspaceflight.com/avio-lands-65-…

@SmileSimplify The pair were also tech demonstrators. So, the continued use of the Occulter for close-proximity operations could be valuable, but I would assume much of that work has already been done.

@AndrewParsonson Is the Occulter spacecraft's only contribution to the mission to create artificial eclipses? Or could it do other scientific experiments/observations on its own if it's determined that the Coronagraph spacecraft is permanently lost?

ESA has lost contact with one of two PROBA-3 spacecraft after an anomaly forced it into survival mode. europeanspaceflight.com/esa-has-lost-c…

Both stages of Rocket Factory Augsburg’s RFA ONE rocket for its first flight have arrived at SaxaVord. According to the company, the launch is expected in the summer, meaning anytime between June and the end of August. Image credit: RFA

Austrian space propulsion company ENPULSION has secured €22.5 million in new funding to expand its footprint in the US market. europeanspaceflight.com/enpulsion-secu…

@LionnetPierre The article has a breakdown of what has been spent on Sutherland and SaxaVord. It's really not all that significant. Like all of the UK's launch projects, it's a lot of rhetoric and little spending.

@AndrewParsonson The scottish spaceport obsession is still strong. Has anyone tracked how much the UK has already spent on this?

A new £500 million space sector spending package announced by the UK government on 4 March includes £20 million to accelerate the development of spaceport infrastructure in Scotland. europeanspaceflight.com/the-uk-will-in…