Satellite servicing startup Astroscale has unveiled a docking plate it hopes will become standard on all future low Earth orbit satellites to enable their capture and removal from orbit.

The airless lunar environment will require some customized assessments by those inspired to initiate scientific inquiries or invest in the commercial ventures that NASA hopes will help it establish a sustained human presence at the Moon. This is where Houston’s Aegis Aerospace believes it could become game changing.

In a search to add suppliers to help it build rockets, United Launch Alliance visited Wichita aerospace suppliers Nov. 10, accompanied by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas).

Satellite operator Iridium announced on Nov. 10 that its Certus 100 satellite communications service is now commercially available for aviation and other applications.

U.S.-based satellite communications provider Viasat on Nov. 8 announced a definitive agreement to acquire UK-based Inmarsat in a transaction valued at $7.3 billion that would create an unrivaled, multiband space and terrestrial network serving aviation, maritime and other markets.

ANA Holdings has an agreement that sets the stage for the purchase of 20 Virgin One LauncherOne rocket flights that would take off from Japan.

Three-year-old New York startup Innovative Rocket Technologies on Nov. 4 said it has signed an agreement with two-year-old Turion Space of Irvine, California, to launch 20 of the latter’s proposed Droid orbital-debris-removing satellites to low Earth orbit via iRocket’s planned Shockwave launcher.

UK startup Isotropic Systems has demonstrated the first simultaneous connections with communications satellites in different orbits, its solid-state terminal linking to SES spacecraft in both geostationary and medium Earth orbits at the same time.