Russia plans to launch four spherical satellites into orbit in 2025, for calibrating ground optical stations and serving other purposes for the Glonass navigation system, state procurement data shows.

According to files from Russian space agency Roscosmos, released on the state procurement website, Russia plans to launch the four satellites from the Vostochny spaceport using the Russian Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket.

Three Gonets-M communications satellites will be launched together with the four spherical satellites.

In January, …

Acting on behalf of the European Commission, ESA has signed two contracts for an overall amount of €1.47 billion, to design and build the first batch of the second generation of Europe’s Galileo navigation satellites.
Following an intense process of open competition, these contracts have been awarded to Thales Alenia Space (Italy) and Airbus Defence & Space (Germany) to create …

The Hera Drone Hub has announced Altitude Angel, the world’s most trusted UTM (unified traffic management, or U-Space) technology provider, is to provide UTM through its GuardianUTM Enterprise platform to the world’s first urban test centre in a CTR.
With the inauguration of Hera Drone Hub in March this year, the Spanish city of Zaragoza became …

Kongsberg Geospatial, developers of the TerraLens Geospatial Software Development Kit (SDK), and Pegasus Imagery Ltd. an aerospace company developing advanced autonomous aircraft and sensor systems, announced today that they have signed an MOU to work together to advance the development of safe, autonomous Unmanned Aircraft.
Pegasus designs, manufactures and operates autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to …

Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, has announced its partnership with the Telangana government to lead a consortium tasked with the development and execution of the drone deliveries of medical supplies to remote areas under the ‘Medicines from the Sky’ project. As part of the consortium, Flipkart will utilise learnings from its tech-enabled supply chain to …

The government of India has invited bids for the use of drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines and drugs to remote and difficult-to-reach areas to ensure last-mile coverage in select locations of the country.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) conducted a successful feasibility study in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and has developed …

Sony Electronics Inc. has announced their first-ever professional drone, the “Airpeak S1”.  An introductory model in the new Airpeak line, the S1 is the world’s smallest drone that can be equipped with a full-size mirrorless interchangeable-lens Alpha camera, opening up a new world of creative possibilities.
The new drone utilizes a proprietary motor, propeller, control system and …

GMV has been awarded by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) with the contract for the implementation of the Galileo High Accuracy Data Generator (HADG), which will be the facility in charge of generating the high-accuracy corrections data to enable the provision of the Galileo High Accuracy Initial Service (HAS).
The purpose of …

Trimble has announced that Infotech, a leader in infrastructure construction software solutions, is adding high-accuracy positioning and measurement capabilities to its Mobile Inspector Measure Service application through an integration with Trimble AccessTM field software. Infotech provides field staff with simple, yet powerful and configurable, mobile apps to manage data collection and inspection activities for digital delivery of civil infrastructure including …

Iridium Communications Inc. has announced that it has made a strategic investment in DDK Positioning (DDK), an Aberdeen, Scotland based provider of enhanced Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) accuracy solutions. DDK uses the Iridium® network to provide global precision positioning services that can augment GNSS constellations, including GPS and Galileo, to significantly enhance their accuracy for critical industrial applications. DDK is also …