The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has cleared the way for Inmarsat to continue operating its European Aviation Network (EAN) inflight connectivity system.

The owners of aerospace and defense group Sierra Nevada are creating an independent company to take over the former’s space business, to be called Sierra Space, which will sell to the burgeoning low-Earth-orbit and Moon commercial space markets.

Astranis, a startup aiming to provide lower-cost broadband service from geostationary orbit, has announced $250 million in new financing.

Orbital Sidekick, a San Francisco-based startup aiming to offer satellite-based hyperspectral imaging and data analytics for the energy sector and others, has wrapped up a $16 million series A investment round, as expected.

The second Mission Extension Vehicle, MEV-2, autonomously docked with the Intelsat 10-02 satellite on April 12 in its operational GEO location at 1 deg. West longitude.

Former NASA astronaut and U S. Air Force test pilot Jack Fischer has joined with the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership (BAHEP) to provide the emerging Houston Spaceport with TexSpace, a future nonprofit focused on facilitating innovation within the space enterprise.

OrbComm, the low Earth orbit constellation provider of industrial connectivity services whose roots date to 1990s commercial space efforts, will be acquired by GI Partners, a U.S.-based investor in data infrastructure businesses, in an all-cash deal worth around $1.1 billion, including net debt.

Rocket Lab plans to conduct its second parachute-assisted booster splashdown next month, as it works to evolve the Electron small satellite launch vehicle into a reusable rocket, the company said on April 8.