This Week In Space Industry(2/12/2023)

Greetings Detectives

Welcome to Rocket Roundup, Your favorite Saturday space newsletter! We're here to share exciting space news and discoveries with you.

Let's embark on this cosmic journey together! In This Issue:

• SpaceX Acquires Parachute Maker Pioneer Aerospace

• Ursa Major Nabs $138M of Funding

• Japan's space agency suffers cyber attack

SpaceX Acquires Parachute Maker Pioneer Aerospace for $2.2 Million

SpaceX has acquired parachute vendor Pioneer Aerospace for $2.2 million after Pioneer's parent company went bankrupt. Pioneer Aerospace provides drogue parachutes for SpaceX's Dragon capsules, which are used by NASA to transport cargo and astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The drogue chutes are deployed after the Dragon capsule reenters the Earth's atmosphere, stabilizing the spacecraft and slowing it down.

The acquisition highlights the challenges of manufacturing space parachutes, which are complex and require extensive testing. Pioneer Aerospace was facing dissolution due to the bankruptcy of its parent company before the acquisition by SpaceX.

UK Joins Portugal and Spain in Atlantic Constellation

The UK is set to join the Atlantic Constellation project, initiated by Spain and Portugal, to create a small-satellite constellation aimed at enhancing climate change research and disaster monitoring. The UK Space Agency will contribute £3 million ($3.8 million) to support the development of a Pathfinder satellite for the project.

The constellation, in its initial phase, will include four spacecraft, with the UK's Open Cosmos building one of them. The constellation aims to have a total of 16 satellites equipped with Earth observation and telecommunications payloads to measure climate change indicators, support precision agriculture and energy use, and enhance disaster monitoring.

Astra secures $2.7 million in additional financing

Astra Space has secured $2.7 million in additional financing from investors, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The financing included modifying existing loans, a new $3 million loan, and the sale of stock warrants. The net proceeds from this financing were $2.7 million. The filing did not provide updates on Astra's efforts to arrange a long-term financing deal.

Astra previously secured $13.4 million in initial financing on November 6, and the company's co-founders, Chris Kemp and Adam London, offered to take the company private for $1.50 per share on November 9.

Ursa Major Nabs $138M of Funding

Ursa Major, a rocket propulsion startup, has raised $138 million in its Series D and D-1 funding rounds. The funding, led by Explorer 1 Fund and Eclipse, will support the development of the company's Lynx solid rocket motor (SRM) production process and other propulsion programs. Ursa Major specializes in building rocket engines for space launches, on-orbit propulsion, and hypersonics. The company's Hadley engine, capable of producing 5,000 lbs of thrust, is being produced at a rate of one per week. Ursa Major is also developing the Ripley engine with a thrust capability of 50,000 lbs.

The recently unveiled Lynx SRM is produced using additive manufacturing and is designed to address the demand for solid rocket motors. Ursa Major aims to become a platform-agnostic rocket supplier, focusing on propulsion rather than vertically integrating and building entire vehicles. The company believes this approach safeguards against consolidation and stagnation in launch technology. Ursa Major estimates a market vacuum of over $2 billion created by the dependence on Russian-made rocket engines in the past.

Arcfield Acquires Orion Space Solutions

Arcfield has completed its acquisition of Orion Space Solutions, a Colorado-based developer of end-to-end space mission capabilities and solutions. The acquisition enhances Arcfield's space exploration and hypersonic detection and tracking capabilities for U.S. government agencies. Orion specializes in atmospheric science, space exploration and research, and technology development, with expertise in sensor and payload design, SmallSat and CubeSat spacecraft integration and manufacturing, and space mission operations and data analysis. The combined entity aims to deliver space superiority and resiliency solutions to the U.S. Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.

Amini raises $4 million for Africa-focused environmental constellation

Kenya-based climate data startup, Amini, has raised $4 million in a seed funding round led by Salesforce Ventures and the Female Founders Fund. Amini plans to use the funds to launch its first satellite in early 2025, aiming to improve Africa-focused environmental information. The startup envisions a constellation of at least six satellites, enhancing its aggregation and analytics software to provide more precise information on drought, flood, soil, and crop health across Africa. Currently, Amini provides environmental analysis to agricultural insurers in Africa using publicly available data from European Space Agency and NASA satellites. The improved data-gathering capabilities from space are expected to expand Amini's customer base, including multinational companies seeking precise measurements of their carbon footprint and environmental impact.

• Japan's space agency suffers cyber attack
  

• SpaceX Announces a Starship Version Two is in the Works

• House Science Committee advances commercial space bill

• POLARIS successfully tests spaceplane engine

• Kratos secured a $579M Space Force contract extension to provide services to defense ground systems.

• Euroconsult Values the Global EO Market at $4.6B
  

• Amazon taps SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to help launch Kuiper satellites

DISCLAIMER: (Rocket Roundup is an independent publication and is not affiliated with any government agency or space organization)