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During the early years of spaceflight only nation states had the resources to develop and fly spacecraft. Both the U.S. space program and Soviet space program were operated using mainly military (ex Airforce) pilots as astronauts. During this period, no commercial space launches were available to private operators, and no private organization was able to offer space launches.
In the 1980s, the European Space Agency created Arianespace, the world's first commercial space transportation company, and, following the Challenger disaster, the American government deregulated the American space transportation market as well. In the 1990s the Russian government sold their majority stake in RSC Energia to private investors (although it has recently renationalized the Russian space sector in 2013–2014. [1] ) These events for the first time allowed private organizations to purchase, develop and offer space launch services; beginning the period of private spaceflight in the late-1980s and early-1990s.
There are 10 major companies that build large, commercial, Geosynchronous satellite platforms:
Company | Location | No of satellites launched | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Airbus Defence and Space | Europe (France/Germany/Spain/United Kingdom) | formerly Astrium | |
OHB SE | Europe (Germany/Italy/Luxembourg/Sweden/France/Belgium) | ||
Boeing Defense, Space & Security | United States | formerly Boeing Integrated Defense Systems | |
INVAP | Argentina | 6 | INVAP is developing new satellites ARSAT-3 SAOCOM SABIA-Mar |
JSC Information Satellite Systems | Russia | 1200 [2] | formerly NPO PM |
Lockheed Martin Space | United States | ||
Northrop Grumman | United States | formerly Orbital ATK | |
Raytheon | United States | One of worlds largest space sensor providers. | |
Maxar Space | United States | 285 [3] [4] | formerly Space Systems Loral, formally SSL, subsidiary of Maxar Technologies |
Thales Alenia Space | Europe (France/Italy/United Kingdom/Spain/Belgium/Germany/Poland) | formerly Alcatel Alenia Space |
In addition to those above, the following companies have successfully built and launched (smaller) satellite platforms:
Company | Location | No of satellites launched | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
AeroAstro, Inc. | United States | Closed [5] | |
Argotec | Italy | CubeSats and Small Satellites | |
British Aerospace | United Kingdom | purchased Marconi Electronic Systems, to form BAE Systems | |
CBERS | Brazil China | 5 | |
EnduroSat | Europe (Bulgaria) | CubeSats and Nanosatellites | |
Fairchild Space and Electronics Division | United States | sold to Matra Marconi Space, then sold to Orbital Sciences Corporation | |
Fokker Space & Systems | Netherlands | then Dutch Space, now part of EADS Astrium Satellites | |
GAUSS Srl | Italy | 9 | CubeSats and Small Satellites (<50 kg) |
General Electric | United States | then merged into Martin Marietta, now part of Lockheed Martin | |
Hawker Siddeley Dynamics | United Kingdom | now part of EADS Astrium Satellites | |
Dhruva Space [6] | India | Nano Satellites (>8 to <35 kg) | |
GomSpace [7] | Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden | Nano and Micro Satellites (1 to 50 kg) for global tracking, Earth observation and science, communications, constellations, Internet-of-Things, defence and security, and deep-space missions. | |
Hera Systems | United States | 1 | Smart satellite bus provider. Spacecraft manufacturing and integration services, for small satellites (50–250 kg). |
Hughes Aircraft | United States | purchased by Boeing | |
IHI Corporation | Japan | ||
In-Space Missions [8] | United Kingdom | Launching first satellite in Q2 2020 | |
Innovative Solutions in Space [9] | Netherlands | 490 | CubeSats |
Libre Space Foundation [10] | Greece | 3 | CubeSats, PocketQubes |
NPO Lavochkin | Russia | ||
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | Japan | ||
Northrop Grumman Space Technology | United States | ||
NanoAvionics | United States | 90 | CubeSats and Small Sats |
Pumpkin, Inc. [11] | United States | CubeSat Kit | |
OneWeb | United Kingdom | 640 [12] | OneWeb satellite constellation |
Planet Labs | United States | ≥592 [13] | Earth observation satellite constellation |
Philco Ford | United States | then Ford Aerospace, now Space Systems/Loral | |
QinetiQ Space N.V. | Belgium | 3 | then Verhaert Space |
Rockwell | United States | purchased by Boeing | |
RKK Energiya | Russia | produced Sputnik 1 | |
Satrec Initiative | Korea | 5 | |
SPAR Aerospace | Canada | 8 | bought by MacDonald Dettwiler |
Sierra Space | United States | formerly SpaceDev, owned by Sierra Space | |
SpaceX | United States | 6700 [14] | largest commercial satellite constellation operator in the world with the Starlink constellation [15] |
Spectrum Astro | United States | bought by General Dynamics | |
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd | United Kingdom | now part of Airbus Defence & Space | |
Swales Aerospace | United States | bought by Alliant Techsystems, now Orbital ATK | |
TRANSPACE Technologies [16] | India | On-Board Satellite Systems Fabrication, Testing and Reliability Analysis | |
TRW | United States | nearly 200 [17] | now part of Northrop Grumman Space Technology |
TsSKB-Progress | Russia | manufacturer of Bion-M, Foton-M, Resurs-P and Persona | |
Xovian [18] | India | Nanosat and services | |
York Space Systems | United States | 1 [19] | Up to 250 kg spacecraft production and launch services [20] |
Yuzhnoye Design Bureau | Ukraine | ||
Company | Location | No. of successful launches | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Arianespace | Europe (France/Germany/Italy/Belgium/Switzerland/Sweden/Spain/Netherlands/Norway/Denmark) | 244/256 | Ariane (rocket family) |
Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering | Netherlands | Suborbital student-built sounding rockets | |
ISRO | India | 65/72 | PSLV, GSLV, LVM3, SSLV |
COSMOS International | Russia/Germany | commercialises the Kosmos-3M launcher | |
Eurockot Launch Services | Europe (Germany/France/United Kingdom/Spain/Netherlands/Russia) | 29/31 [21] | owned by EADS Astrium |
International Launch Services | United States Russia | 97/100[ when? ][ citation needed ] | |
Iranian Space Agency [22] | Iran | 4/15 | |
INNOSPACE Co., Ltd. | Republic of Korea | Successfully done Sub-Orbital Launch (HANBIT-TLV-Mar. 2023) Under Development (Hybrid Rocket) HANBIT-Nano | |
ISC Kosmotras | Russia/Ukraine/Kazakhstan | ||
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | Japan | 81/85 | |
Northrop Grumman | United States | 81/90 | manufacturer of Antares, Minotaur and Pegasus |
PLD Space | Spain | manufacturer of Miura 1 and Miura 5 | |
Rocket Lab | New Zealand/United States | 46/50 | manufacturer of Electron launch vehicle |
Space One | Japan | manufacturer of the KAIROS launch vehicle | |
SpaceX | United States | 390/398 | Falcon 1, Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship |
Sea Launch | United States/Russia/Ukraine/Norway | 32/36 [ when? ][ citation needed ] | provider of Sea Launch and Land Launch service |
Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau | Russia | commercialises the Volna and Shtil' launchers | |
NPO Mashinostroyeniya | Russia | commercialises the Strela launcher | |
Starsem | Europe (Germany/France/United Kingdom/Spain/Netherlands/Italy/Belgium/Switzerland/Sweden/Norway/Denmark/ and Russia) | commercialises the Soyuz launcher | |
The Spaceship Company | United States | Reusable spaceship launched from the White Knight Aircraft for space tourism and zero-g experimentation | |
TsSKB-Progress | Russia | manufacturer of Soyuz launch vehicle | |
United Launch Alliance | United States | 147/148 | |
Vaya Space | United States | formerly known as Rocket Crafters, manufacturer of Dauntless [23] | |
United Start Launch | United States Russia | commercialises the Start-1 launcher [24] | |
Virgin Galactic | United States | Space Tourism Using 'The Spaceship Company spacecraft | |
Virgin Orbit | United States / United Kingdom | 4/6 | manufacturer of LauncherOne air-launched launch vehicle |
Blue Origin | United States | manufacturer of the New Shepard suborbital rocket and New Glenn | |
Independence-X Aerospace | Malaysia | manufacturer of DNLV launch vehicle | |
Borneo SubOrbitals | Malaysia | manufacturer of unnamed suborbital rocket | |
Relativity Space | United States | 0/1 | 95% 3D printed rocket |
Stoke Space | United States | Areospike 2nd stage engine |
Commercial wings of national space agencies:
Company | Location | No. of probes launched | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Brown Engineering Company | Huntsville, AL United States | Rover for Apollo lunar program | |
China National Space Administration | China | for Chang'e 3 program in 2013 | |
Deep Space Industries | Mountain View, CA United States | ||
Lavochkin | Russia | rovers for Lunokhod 1 | |
NASA JPL | United States | for ATHLETE lunar missions, Mars Pathfinder, Opportunity and Spirit rover | |
ISRO | India | Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-2, Mars Orbiter Mission | |
Planetary Resources | Redmond, WA United States | Arkyd-100 for asteroid searching |
Company | Location | Production | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Orbital Machines AS | Trondheim, Norway and Berlin, Germany | Electric propellant pumps for launch vehicles and spacecraft | |
Comat | Flourens, France | Space Equipment mechanism expert, from design to MAIT (Manufacturing, Assembly, Integration, Test). SmallSat off-the-shelf solutions including ADCS (reaction wheels range), SADM, deployable structure and electric propulsion (Plasma Jet Pack) | COMAT's reaction wheels and deployable antennas have been selected for use on the upcoming Kineis IoT constellation. |
Astro- und Feinwerktechnik Adlershof GmbH | Berlin, Germany | Design, Manufacturing, Assembly, Integration and Verification of small satellite buses (TET-1, launched July 2012) and components. Attitude control components (reaction wheels, gyro system, GPS receiver, magnetometer) Supplier of space systems and ISS payload NightPod | |
Bradford Space | New York, NY | Supplier of green propulsion systems, rocket engines, Sun sensors, reaction wheels, acceleration measurement units, and astronaut workstations. | Over 100 thrusters in-space |
Dynetics | Madison, AL United States | used on Sundancer and Ares I | |
Tethers Unlimited, Inc. | Seattle, WA United States | De-Orbiting Devices, Deployable Solar Arrays, Propulsion Systems, Radio Communications, and Robotics | |
RUAG Space | Switzerland | Structures, Fairings, Mechanisms, Opto-Electronics | |
AB 360 Space | United States | manufacturer of CLEPS-C100 Combined electric Propulsion systems, Adjustable Thruster Engines for Mars travel | |
GAUSS Srl | Rome, Italy | Complete Space Platforms, Nanosatellites Structures and Deployers, OBDH, EPS, Radio Communications, Solar Panels and Groundstation systems | |
GomSpace | Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden | 1U to 16U platforms and structures, propulsion systems, software-defined radio, S-/X-/VHF band antennas, ADCS suite, electrical power systems, solar panels, on-board computers, ground equipment etc. | |
Andrews Space | Seattle, WA United States | ||
Jena-Optronik [25] | Jena, Germany | Attitude and Orbit Control Systems (AOCS) sensors: star sensors, Sun sensors, rendezvous- and docking sensors; Optical space instruments and components: multi-spectral imager (e.g. JSS 56 for RapidEye satellite constellation), efficient radiometer (e.g. METimage), electronic as well as opto-mechanical subsystems and components for operational Earth observation (e.g. for Copernicus Sentinel missions) | |
Pumpkin, Inc | San Francisco, CA United States | CubeSat Kits [26] | |
Mynaric | Munich Germany | Laser communication equipment for airborne and spaceborne communication networks, so called constellations. | |
Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace [27] | Kongsberg Norway | Kongsberg Adaptive Rotational Mechanism Assembly [KARMA] in configuration as Solar Array Drive Mechanism (SADM), used on Rosetta (spacecraft), Mars Express, Venus Express, Sentinel 1, Sentinel 3 and BepiColombo MTM. Drive electronics for Sentinel 1 and BepiColombo MTM. Booster attachment struts, including separation function, for Ariane 5. | |
Production Corporation Polyot | Russia | ||
Rocketstar Robotics Inc [28] | Camarillo, CA United States | Space Interferometry Mission Optical Shutter Mechanisms | |
Sierra Space | United States | formerly SpaceDev, owned by Sierra Space | |
Clyde Space | Glasgow, Scotland | Power System Electronics, Batteries, Solar Panels, Attitude Control Systems | Acquired by ÅAC Microtec [29] |
Astro Aerospace [30] | Carpinteria, CA United States | Deployable mechanisms, spacecraft structures, AstroMesh deployable reflector, deployable booms, large and small aperature mesh reflector antennas, STEM (Storable Tubular Extendable Member), hinge mechanisms, | A special business unit of Northrop Grumman |
TRANSPACE Technologies [31] | Bangalore, KA India | On-Board Satellite Sub-Systems Fabrication, Testing, Reliability Analysis and PCB Design | Approved Vendor for ISRO Satellite Center, India |
RadioBro Corporation [32] | Huntsville, Alabama United States | Small Spacecraft Communications, Flight Readiness Testing, Training Services [33] | |
Howco Additive Manufacturing [34] | Houston, Texas, United States | 3D Printing Aerospace Components in In718 and Titanium | |
Solar MEMS Technologies [35] | Spain | Sun Sensors for Satellites [36] | |
krypton technology solutions | United States | Small Spacecraft components, on-orbit servicing,1U to 24U spacecraft buses | |
CisLunar Industries | United States | Power supplies for electric propulsion systems and space hardware |
Company name | Country | Engine | Engine type | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dawn Aerospace | Netherlands | B20, B1, SatDrive, Cubedrive | Bi-Propellant, Cold Gass | Nitrous Oxide based, turnkey propulsion systems |
ArianeGroup | Lampoldshausen, Germany | S10, S20, S200, S400 CHT-1N, CHT-20N, CHT-400N RIT-10, RIT-2x | propellant and Monopropellant Thrusters, Gridded Ion Thrusters | Main manufacturer for Propulsion Systems, Equipments and Services in Europe, serving major space projects like ATV, ORION-ESM, ExoMars, JUICE, MTG, GEO and EO satellites with Propulsion Solutions. |
Comat | Flourens, France | Plasma Jet Pack | Vacuum Arc thruster ; Modular installation (PPSU + Nozzles) | To be used on @Isispace and @U-space platforms for French and European missions. Modular Thruster with up to 4 nozzles per PPSCU. |
AB 360 Space | Washington DC, United States | CLEPS X-100, CLEPS C100 | hybrid Thrusters, Combined Liquid Electric Propulsion Systems, Methane/ Oxygen Ion Thrusters | Uses Electric and Liquid Propulsion simultaneously for space propulsion for LEO/MEOsatellites [37] |
Moog-ISP (In Space Propulsion) | Westcott, Buckinghamshire United Kingdom Niagara Falls, NY United States | All Forms of Chemical Propulsion including Main Apogee Engines and AOCS Thrusters | Bipropellant and Monopropellant Product Families Include: LEROS, MONARC Thruster, LTT Thruster | Division of Moog Inc. |
Bradford Space | New York, NY | LMP-103s thrusters, Water based thrusters | LMP-103s green monopropellant propulsion systems & thrusters, COMET water based propulsion systems | >100 thrusters on flight satellites |
Busek | Natick, Massachusetts United States | BHT-200, BHT-1500, BHT-20k, BET-1, BmP-220, BIT-1, BIT-3, BIT-7, uPPT-3 | Hall-effect thruster, Gridded Ion, Electrospray, micro Pulsed Plasma, Green Monopropellant, Electrothermal, Hollow Cathodes, Field Emission Cathode | TacSat-2, FalconSat-5, FalconSat-6, ST-7/LISA Pathfinder. Licensed technology for BPT-4000 aboard AEHF 1, AEHF 2, AEHF 3. Propulsion options ranging from CubeSats to GEO Communications Satellites to Asteroid Redirect Mission Spacecraft. [38] |
Aerojet Rocketdyne | Rancho Cordova, California United States | Numerous | liquid rocket engine, Solid rocket engine, Hall-effect thruster, Gridded Ion thruster. | |
Hanwha Aerospace | South Korea | KRE-075, KRE-007 and Monopropellant Thrusters | Bipropellant, Monopropellant and Motor | Hanwha aerospace manufacturing liquid rocket engine for KSLV-II and monopropellant enginesd spacecraft (Lunar Orbiter, KOMPSAT series, etc.). The engines are co-developed with KARI. |
American Rocket Company | United States | hybrid rocket | intellectual property acquired by SpaceDev | |
CU Aerospace | Champaign, IL United States | PUC, CHIPS, PPT-11 | MCD [39] / Resistojet / PPT [40] | Small satellite / CubeSat Propulsion Modules [41] |
VIPER | liquid rocket engine | reusable rocket engine [42] | ||
Ad Astra Rocket Company | Webster, TX United States | VASIMR | magnetoplasma | may be used for future Mars missions |
Enpulsion GmbH | Wiener Neustadt, Austria | Propulsion Systems for Cubesats, Small Sats, and Medium/Large Satellites | Field Emission Electric Propulsion | Enpulsion is commercializing a technology that has been developed for ESA science missions for more than 10 years. [43] |
PLD Space | Spain | TREPEL family | used on Miura Rockets | |
Reaction Engines Ltd. | Oxfordshire, England United Kingdom | SABRE | combined cycle precooled jet engine and closed cycle rocket engine | planned to be used in Skylon |
LIA Aerospace Ltd. | England United Kingdom | KX11 | Pressure Fed, bipropellant, green, non-toxic, storable regen cooled | used in Zonda 1.0 |
Sierra Space | United States | VR35K-A [44] | hybrid rocket, liquid rocket engine [45] | Commercial space subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation |
SpaceDev | Poway, CA United States | hybrid rocket | acquired by Sierra Space; used on SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo | |
SpaceX | Hawthorne, California, United States | Merlin / Raptor / Draco / Kestrel | liquid rocket engine | used on SpaceX rockets and spacecraft (Falcon, Starship, Dragon) |
ArianeGroup | Vernon, France | Vinci / Viking / Vulcain / HM7B | liquid rocket engine | used on Ariane rockets |
NPO Energomash | Russia | liquid rocket engine | used on R-7, Molniya, Soyuz, Energia, Zenit, Atlas III, Atlas V, Angara, Antares | |
KBKhA | Russia | liquid rocket engine | used on Soyuz, Proton, Energia | |
KBKhM | Russia | liquid rocket engine | used on Vostok, Voskhod, Zenit, Soyuz, Progress, Salyut 1, Salyut 4, Salyut 6, Salyut 7, Mir Core Module, Zvezda, GSLV Mk I | |
NIIMash | Russia | liquid rocket engine | used on Almaz, Buran, Briz-M | |
TsNIIMash | Russia | used on STEX | ||
Kuznetsov Design Bureau | Russia | liquid rocket engine | used on N1, Soyuz-2-1v, Antares | |
OKB Fakel | Russia | Hall-effect thruster | used on SMART-1, LS-1300 | |
Proton-PM | Russia | liquid rocket engine | used on Proton, Angara | |
Keldysh Research Center | Russia | |||
Voronezh Mechanical Plant | Russia | liquid rocket engine | used on Vostok, Voskhod, Molniya, Soyuz, Proton, Energia, Luna | |
Yuzhnoye Design Office / Yuzhmash | Ukraine |
| used on
| |
Independence-X Aerospace | Malaysia | ID-1, ID-2, ID-3 and unnamed 2-stage rocket engine for DNLV | solid rocket motor and liquid rocket engine | used on ID-1, ID-2 and DNLV rocket |
Borneo SubOrbitals | Malaysia | hybrid rocket | used on yet-to-be-named rocket | |
Apollo Fusion | United States | ACE, ACE Max | Hall-effect thruster | To be used on Spaceflight, Inc.'s Sherpa-LTE space tug [46] |
Benchmark Space Systems | United States | Starling, Halcyon, Peregrine | Warm gas thruster, High-test peroxide thruster, Hypergolic thruster | To be used on Spaceflight, Inc.'s Sherpa-LTC space tug [46] |
ThrustMe | France | NPT30, I2T5 | Gridded ion thruster, [47] [48] Cold gas thruster [49] | first in-orbit demonstration of an electric propulsion system powered by iodine [50] [51] |
In spacecraft propulsion, a Hall-effect thruster (HET) is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field. Hall-effect thrusters are sometimes referred to as Hall thrusters or Hall-current thrusters. Hall-effect thrusters use a magnetic field to limit the electrons' axial motion and then use them to ionize propellant, efficiently accelerate the ions to produce thrust, and neutralize the ions in the plume. The Hall-effect thruster is classed as a moderate specific impulse space propulsion technology and has benefited from considerable theoretical and experimental research since the 1960s.
An ion thruster, ion drive, or ion engine is a form of electric propulsion used for spacecraft propulsion. An ion thruster creates a cloud of positive ions from a neutral gas by ionizing it to extract some electrons from its atoms. The ions are then accelerated using electricity to create thrust. Ion thrusters are categorized as either electrostatic or electromagnetic.
DigitalGlobe was an American commercial vendor of space imagery and geospatial content, and operator of civilian remote sensing spacecraft. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange on 14 May 2009, selling 14.7 million shares at US$19.00 each to raise US$279 million in capital. On 5 October 2017, Maxar Technologies completed its acquisition of DigitalGlobe.
A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of 10 cm (3.9 in) cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than 2 kg (4.4 lb) per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats are deployed into orbit from the International Space Station, or launched as secondary payloads on a launch vehicle. As of December 2023, more than 2,300 CubeSats have been launched.
A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under 1,200 kg (2,600 lb). While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites can be built small to reduce the large economic cost of launch vehicles and the costs associated with construction. Miniature satellites, especially in large numbers, may be more useful than fewer, larger ones for some purposes – for example, gathering of scientific data and radio relay. Technical challenges in the construction of small satellites may include the lack of sufficient power storage or of room for a propulsion system.
This article compares different orbital launcher families. The article is organized into two tables: the first contains a list of currently active and under-development launcher families, while the second contains a list of retired launcher families.
Busek Company Incorporated is an American spacecraft propulsion company that builds thrusters, electronics, and various systems for spacecraft.
SkySat is a constellation of sub-meter resolution Earth observation satellites owned by Planet Labs, providing imagery, high-definition video and analytics services. Planet acquired the satellites with their purchase of Terra Bella, a Mountain View, California-based company founded in 2009 by Dan Berkenstock, Julian Mann, John Fenwick, and Ching-Yu Hu, from Google in 2017.
LEROS is a family of chemical rocket engines manufactured by Nammo at Westcott, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. LEROS engines have been used as primary apogee engines for telecommunications satellites such as the Lockheed Martin A2100 as well as deep space missions such as Juno.
Spaceflight Industries, Inc. is an American private aerospace company based out of Herndon, Virginia, that specializes in geospatial intelligence services. It sold its satellite rideshare business, Spaceflight, Inc., in June 2020.
Thomas John Mueller is an American aerospace engineer and rocket engine designer. He was employee No.1 of SpaceX and is the founder and now CEO of Impulse Space.
Lunar IceCube is a NASA nanosatellite orbiter mission that was intended to prospect, locate, and estimate amount and composition of water ice deposits on the Moon for future exploitation. It was launched as a secondary payload mission on Artemis 1, the first flight of the Space Launch System (SLS), on 16 November 2022. As of February 2023 it is unknown whether NASA team has contact with satellite or not.
Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper, or LunaH-Map, was one of the 10 CubeSats launched with Artemis 1 on 16 November 2022. Along with Lunar IceCube and LunIR, LunaH-Map will help investigate the possible presence of water-ice on the Moon. Arizona State University began development of LunaH-Map after being awarded a contract by NASA in early 2015. The development team consisted of about 20 professionals and students led by Craig Hardgrove, the principal investigator. The mission is a part of NASA's SIMPLEx program.
The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a space station which is planned to be assembled in orbit around the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts as part of the Artemis program. It is a multinational collaborative project: participants include NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The Gateway is planned to be the first space station beyond low Earth orbit.
Miura 5 is a two-stage European orbital recoverable launch vehicle currently under development by the Spanish company PLD Space. In a standard two-stage configuration, it will have a length of 34 m, be capable of inserting 1000 kg of payload into a low Earth orbit (LEO), featuring an optional kick stage that can circularize the orbits of satellites.
Bellatrix Aerospace is an Indian private aerospace manufacturer and small satellite manufacturing company, headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. The company was established in 2015 and in June 2022, the company raised $8 million in a Series A funding round to pursue the development of in-space propulsion systems.
The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), previously known as the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle propulsion system, is a planned solar electric ion propulsion module being developed by Maxar Technologies for NASA. It is one of the major components of the Lunar Gateway. The PPE will allow access to the entire lunar surface and a wide range of lunar orbits and double as a space tug for visiting craft.
ThrustMe is a deep tech company that designs miniaturized aerospace thrusters for small satellites, increasing the life of satellites and making them more affordable.
Dawn Aerospace is a space transportation company building both in-space propulsion systems and a space launch vehicle. The company currently manufactures satellite propulsion systems with lower greenhouse potential and nontoxic materials, as well as an uncrewed suborbital spaceplane with rapidly reusable flight characteristics.
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