Virgin Orbit, the airborne small-satellite rocket launch upstart that announced its intent to go public Aug. 23, apparently will build and offer a fleet of Earth-observation and internet of things (IoT) satellites starting in 2023, according to investor materials.

Australia has approved a launch permit for tiSPACE, a Taiwanese rocket startup, to test launch its Hapith I rocket from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex by the end of 2021.

Despite the worldwide pandemic, the global space economy grew 4.4% last year to reach $447 billion, with the commercial sector accounting for the bulk of the increase, a new Space Foundation report shows.

Virgin Orbit, the small-satellite launching startup under aerospace entrepreneur Richard Branson’s portfolio that started operations this year, plans to end 2021 as a publicly traded company after a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company, executives announced Aug. 23.

Collins Aerospace is to develop an environmental control and life-support system (ECLSS) for a privately owned and operated outpost in low Earth orbit for an unidentified customer.

Millennium Space Systems says last month’s early re-entry of an experimental spacecraft successfully demonstrated the ability of deployable tape technology to significantly accelerate de-orbiting a satellite.

The latest deployment increased the OneWeb low-Earth constellation to 288 spacecraft.

The rise of launch companies like SpaceX and Rocket Lab have shown the U.S. government how it can leverage the investment of private companies to reduce its costs and improve its technologies.