The U.S. Space Force is investing $24.35 million in Rocket Lab’s new medium-lift Neutron booster, with emphasis on the rocket’s upper stage for possible use in the National Security Space Launch program. 

Blue Origin plans to fly its second group of passengers to suborbital space on Oct. 12.

Privately owned Terran Orbital plans to invest $300 million to build a factory at Kennedy Space Center capable of producing 1,000 small satellites per year.

Landsat 9, the latest satellite in a long-running Earth observation collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Department of Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey, was successfully launched on Sept. 27 from a foggy Vandenberg Space Force Station, California.

Isotropic Systems, a British flat-panel satellite antenna systems maker backed by Boeing and venture capitalists, says it has landed $37 million in fresh funding, enough to fully fund development of its multibeam ground antenna through expected product launch in 2022.

Astraius wants to use a Boeing C-17 airlifter to conduct horizontal launch of its Hera II two-stage launch vehicle, which is an adaptation of the Hera target missile used by the U.S. Defense Department to test missile defense systems.

Astroscale Japan has selected Rocket Lab to launch the first step in a two-part mission to demonstrate the removal of a large piece of space debris from low Earth orbit.

Landsat 9, the latest in a half-century of overlapping NASA/U.S. Geological Survey satellites focused on monitoring changes to the planet’s surface and natural resources, is planned for a Sept. 27 launch.