Collins Aerospace is to develop an environmental control and life-support system (ECLSS) for a privately owned and operated outpost in low Earth orbit for an unidentified customer.

Millennium Space Systems says last month’s early re-entry of an experimental spacecraft successfully demonstrated the ability of deployable tape technology to significantly accelerate de-orbiting a satellite.

The latest deployment increased the OneWeb low-Earth constellation to 288 spacecraft.

The rise of launch companies like SpaceX and Rocket Lab have shown the U.S. government how it can leverage the investment of private companies to reduce its costs and improve its technologies.

Low-Earth-orbit launch upstart Rocket Lab will become a publicly traded company Aug. 25 after shareholders approved a reverse merger with Vector Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, grossing three-quarters of a billion dollars for the 15-year-old rocket company.

Blue Origin’s next New Shepard flight will test the upgraded lidar and descent landing computer NASA is developing to enable lunar landings at sites that were considered too challenging during the Apollo era.

Microsoft will provide the use of its cloud and be a customer to SES for its O3b mPower satellite constellation, which will dramatically improve connectivity for governments and military customers, according to the CEO of SES.

Big data analytics disruptor Palantir Technologies and BlackSky, a startup with a burgeoning constellation of imaging satellites and its own data analytics service, are partnering to offer their combined services for allied government customers.