Military/Aerospace Electronics

As preparation for a commercial launch, Skyrora has 3D printed a new model of its orbital rocket engine ready for landmark tests. The Edinburgh-based rocket company – which has developed its own eco-friendly fuel, Ecosene, made of waste plastics – has begun a series of full-duration tests to qualify the updated design of its 70kN engine. The engines were created ...

Kuva Space, a Finnish Earth observation company, has won a five-year contract worth €5m to be the sole provider of hyperspectral data services for the European Commission’s Copernicus Contributing Missions program. Its microsatellites, using an embedded hyperspectral camera, will help develop commercial services for Copernicus users, related to global issues like food security, carbon capture, and geopolitical security. With an ...

Durham University is working with Viasat to better understand atmospheric turbulence in free-space optical (FSO) communications. The resulting forecasting tool will be used, the organisations say, to optimise Viasat’s ground station design and support operational decision-making such as network switching between ground stations based on atmospheric conditions. Specifically – for the first phases of the project, using a £200k investment ...

Spire Global, the space analytics company with offices in Glasgow, has successfully launched two satellites carrying optical inter-satellite link (OISL) payloads that will reduce data latency and strengthen communication security. The 6U satellites, pictured, are equipped with optical communications terminals (OCT) to send information between themselves securely and reduce the latency of data acquired, says Spire. As well as link ...

Smiths Interconnect has created an EMI flange for its high-speed NXS connectors, intended for use in satellites. It interfaces between the PCB mounted receptacle and the enclosure panel or bulkhead to minimises the risk of electrical interference flowing from external sources into the enclosure, and vise versa. The EMI receptacle has a gold plated aluminium body that is assembled into ...

GITAI, the Japanese and US space robotics startup, has highlighted the successful demonstration of its Lunar Manipulator and Rover in a simulated regolith chamber. The company’s inchworm-type robotic arm equipped with a tool changer function and its Lunar Robotic Rover were tested in the chamber. The robots executed all planned tasks, as shown in the video below. Tasks included sampling ...

STEM education projects, and support for international science partnerships, will receive a £6.6 million funding boost, the UK Space Agency (UKSA) has announced. The announcement was made at the start of the Space Comm-Expo in Farnborough, which is one of the UK’s largest space events. Beneficiaries will include space and science student projects, UK researchers working to design magnetometers for ...

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) – the Bavarian rocket startup which will be launching from the Shetland Islands – has successfully hot fired its upper stage for a full duration test, it reports. It says this marks the completion of an Integrated System Test (IST) campaign in which a staged-combustion Helix engine was integrated into an upper stage tank system and ...

The latest addition to the UK’s Satellite Applications Catapult’s network of Space Enterprise Labs has opened at the Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult in Newport, South Wales. Services at the Space Enterprise Lab (SEL) will include support for virtual meetings, business sprints, user engagement sessions, virtual whiteboards and built-in video conferencing. They will be available for use by everyone within ...

iSH, the Industrial Solutions Hub, is hosting a Space Week series of events across West Cumbria from 26-30 June. The organisation says businesses, schools and individuals are invited to a range of space-related events throughout the last week of the month to see how they could be inspired by the UK’s space sector. The first two days of the event ...