An entrepreneur with a background in space companies and an aerospace-focused investment group are partnering to launch a new company, O-G, that aims to provide microgravity and low Earth orbit (LEO) insertion services.

For the second mission in a row, one of four main parachutes used by SpaceX Dragon capsules inflated late, NASA confirmed on Feb. 3.

The startup, which is planning to perform its first launch from Space Hub Sutherland on the Scottish mainland later this year, is the first UK-based launch provider to disclose that it has applied for such a license. 

Iceye, a Finnish Earth observation services provider with a blossoming constellation of synthetic aperture radar satellites, has landed a Series D round of venture capital worth at least $136 million, the company said Feb. 3.

The International Space Station (ISS) partnership gave its formal blessing for the four-member Axiom-1 (Ax-1) crew to visit the orbital outpost, with launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule now slated for March 30, a day earlier than previously planned. 

Funds will be used to accelerate the first phase of the ADRAS-J active debris removal project with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

After waiting out poor weather and a wayward cruise ship in Florida, SpaceX on Jan. 31 launched the newest member of Italy’s synthetic aperture radar Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation network, completing the fourth of 52 missions SpaceX plans this year.

Under a joint project to create an optical internet service connecting low-orbiting satellites with high-flying unmanned aircraft, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Sony researchers have demonstrated high-speed, large-capacity communications in a low-quality, error-prone environment.