Future Fund, Blackbird, Funds SA, HESTA, NGS Super, Main Sequence, QIC, and Brighter Super participated in Gilmour Space’s Series E funding round.

Engine shutdown within 200 milliseconds is intended to prevent rocket plumes from excavating soil and destabilizing the spacecraft.

European engineers completed a crucial test campaign of the ExoMars descent module that will carry the Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars in 2030.

The ExoMars test campaign will proceed in the coming months with higher-speed inclined landing tests.

The descent platform has four deployable, damped legs designed to absorb impact and prevent tipping on angled or rocky landings.

The vertical drop tests used surfaces that simulate Martian terrain.

Contact sensors on the descent module were verified to command engine shutdown in less than 200 milliseconds.

Data from the ExoMars descent module tests will feed computational models to simulate landing scenarios ahead of a launch planned for 2028.

Thales Alenia Space and Airbus teams conducted dozens of vertical drop tests of a full-scale descent module replica in Turin, Italy over more than one month.

The test campaign included trials on both hard and soft surfaces using a dust whose chemical composition closely mimics Martian soil.

Benjamin Rasse is the European Space Agency team lead for the ExoMars descent module.

Blue Moon MK1 will be tested in Thermal Vacuum Chamber A at NASA Johnson Space Center.

Thermal vacuum tests combine vacuum conditions and large thermal excursions to simulate the extreme environment of space.

Blue Origin has not provided specific details on the duration or schedule of the Blue Moon MK1 thermal vacuum tests.

Blue Moon MK1 departed Florida bound for the NASA Johnson Space Center in Texas to undergo thermal vacuum testing.

Thermal Vacuum Chamber A at NASA Johnson Space Center was previously used to test vehicles from the Apollo program.

Thermal Vacuum Chamber A at NASA Johnson Space Center is described as one of the most advanced facilities for environmental qualification of spacecraft.

Blue Origin posted on X on 21 January 2026 that Blue Moon MK1 had departed Florida for testing in Thermal Vacuum Chamber A at NASA Johnson Space Center.

The transfer of Blue Moon MK1 to NASA Johnson Space Center represents the program’s entry into advanced environmental verification after completing a preliminary phase.

Thermal vacuum testing verifies structural resilience, subsystem functionality, and overall reliability of a lunar lander in the absence of atmosphere and under variable temperatures.

Blue Moon MK1 is a configuration of the Blue Moon program, Blue Origin’s initiative to develop lunar landers.

Miguel Belló Mora worked at GMV between 1985 and 2001.

Miguel Belló Mora led the Spanish space policy consolidation from institutional roles at the Agencia Espacial Española and the Perte Aeroespacial between 2022 and 2023.

Miguel Belló Mora works as a consultant for other companies.

Telespazio Ibérica is the Spanish subsidiary of the Italian company Telespazio.

Miguel Belló Mora is an aeronautical and aerospace engineer.

Miguel Belló Mora was chief executive officer of Deimos until 2022.

Telespazio Ibérica has incorporated Miguel Belló Mora as an advisor.

Deimos played a prominent role in the launch of Spain’s first two Earth observation satellites, Deimos-1 and Deimos-2.

At GMV, Miguel Belló Mora served as director of Institutional Space Programs.

Carlos Fernandez de la Peña is the chief executive officer of Telespazio Ibérica.

At GMV, Miguel Belló Mora served as director of Mission Analysis and Engineering.

Miguel Belló Mora has served as president of the British launch company Orbex Space since 2024.

Deimos is now owned by Indra.

Miguel Belló Mora founded Deimos in 2001.

At GMV, Miguel Belló Mora served as director of the company’s delegation to the European Space Agency in Germany.

TeraWave is designed as a global satellite communications network that targets enterprise customers, data centers, and government agencies.

Radio-frequency connections between TeraWave satellites in low Earth orbit and ground terminals are expected to provide connection speeds of around 144 gigabits per second.

Blue Origin intends TeraWave to provide high-speed communications to remote locations where fiber-optic deployment is difficult.

Optical links between TeraWave satellites in medium Earth orbit are designed to support data transfer rates of up to 6 terabits per second.

TeraWave will place approximately 5,280 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and 128 satellites in medium Earth orbit (MEO).

Blue Origin intends TeraWave to be used in combination with existing fiber-optic networks to provide backup communications during fiber outages and maintenance.

Blue Origin, led by Jeff Bezos, unveiled the TeraWave satellite communications network on January 21.

TeraWave is scheduled to begin launching satellites in the fourth quarter of 2027.

TeraWave satellites will use laser optical links to connect satellites to each other.

TeraWave is planned to consist of a total of 5,408 satellites.

Thales Alenia Space in France is responsible for developing DESIR’s SAR payload and the user ground segment.

Loft Orbital expects the DESIR operational phase to last at least two years.

Thales Alenia Space plans two years of operations for DESIR following its entry into service.

France’s 2026 budget documentation for Programme 191 frames DESIR as a SAR Earth observation demonstrator intended to validate the feasibility and overall architecture of a future space-based system, mature sovereign technology building blocks, and strengthen national capabilities in radar image processing.