Astronomy Prints 🌌: Pitching Orion as a service

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Pitching Orion as a service

10/01/2025

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Maldives plots $50 million fund for sovereign space capabilities

By Jason Rainbow

The Maldives is looking to raise $50 million for a space agency fund that aims to be the first of its kind for an island nation, targeting sovereign infrastructure and support for other developing states facing climate and security challenges.

The Maldives Space Fund (MSF), based in the United Arab Emirates for regulatory oversight, was announced Oct. 1 during the International Astronautical Congress.

Close to $5 million in pre-commitments has already been secured from investors including family offices in the Middle East, according to Rajeeshwaran Moorthy, a space venture capitalist advising the Maldives' three-year-old space agency on the fund.

Synspective purchases 10 additional Electron launches

Synspective, a Japanese company developing a constellation of radar imaging satellites, has signed a deal with Rocket Lab for an additional 10 Electron launches, each carrying a single StriX radar imaging satellite. The launches will take place from Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

Australia and UK extend Space Bridge partnership

Australia and the United Kingdom renewed their commitment to space-related cooperation at the International Astronautical Congress. Enrico Palermo, Australian Space Agency head, and Paul Bate, UK Space Agency chief executive, re-signed the Space Bridge Framework Arrangement. Space Bridge was established in 2021 to expand investment, research and cooperation.

Private mission study a step toward offering Orion as a service

Lockheed Martin announced an agreement with BioAstra, a nonprofit organization, to study flying a mission in Orion beyond Earth orbit to perform biomedical research. The agreement is one of the first steps by Lockheed Martin in its efforts to offer the spacecraft as a service.

States have an obligation to warn satellite operators of cyber threats — IAC paper

States have a responsibility rooted in international legal principles to inform citizens, including commercial spacecraft operators, of cyber threats, Diane Howard, former commercial space policy director for the White House National Space Council, said at the International Astronautical Congress as she presented a research paper titled "State Responsibility in Orbital Conflicts: Legal Implications of Cyber-Enabled Counterspace Operations under the Outer Space Treaty."

ExLabs wins Space Force contract for reconfigurable space platform

The U.S. Space Force has awarded a $1.9 million contract to Southern California startups ExLabs for development of its reconfigurable spacecraft platform. Under the Direct-to-Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research contract from the Space Force Space Systems Command, ExLabs will develop SERVSAM, "a heavy-class, reconfigurable spacecraft designed for flexible mission profiles in all orbital regimes," according to an ExLabs press release.

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