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Kepler Communications announced today it has selected Innovative Space Logistics B.V. (ISL), part of the Innovative Solutions in Space (ISIS) group of the Netherlands, as their launch contractor, and that their first satellite will launch on an Indian  Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket this November.

In this weeks Short Cuts we talk about the emerging satellite servicing business at MDA, they hope, Planet Labs sees growth opportunities in Canada and has 88 satellites launched, the Canadian Space Agency awards drone contracts fro earth observation and more.

The days of on-orbit servicing, or satellite servicing, living in obscurity are over. On February 7, Orbital ATK, Inc. and their subsidiary Space Logistics LLC, filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia to stop the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from awarding Space Systems Loral (SSL), a subsidiary of Canada’s MDA, a contract to to develop satellite servicing of spacecraft in geostationary orbit …

In July 2015 Planet Labs made a significant purchase in acquiring Lethbridge based Blackbridge and its Rapideye constellation of five satellites. Combined with Planet’s Dove satellites, they are now offering an ever expanding suite of imagery products, with the precision agriculture and mapping segments leading the way.

MDA’s U.S. subsidiary, Space Systems Loral (SSL), today entered into an agreement with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop satellite servicing of spacecraft in geostationary orbit (GEO) for the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program.

It seems every couple of years another group comes along claiming they’ll setup a spaceport in Canada with Nova Scotia being the preferred location. The latest is Maritime Launch Services (MLS), a newly registered company in Nova Scotia with roots in the U.S and the Ukraine. What sets it apart from recent previous efforts is the experienced principals involved.

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has revealed the final 72 candidates and provided profiles of those aiming to become one Canada’s next two astronauts. For the final 72 it’s an opportunity to chase a dream so few get a chance to. The prize at the end of the selection is years of training and at least one, if not more, opportunities to fly to the International …

In this weeks Short Cuts we talk about the upcoming budget, moonshots, the universe as a hologram, the making of the RADARSAT Satellite Constellation, our new feature Startup Files, our new Culture section and more.

Alone, stranded 11.9 light years from Earth in the Tau Ceti system after an accident, Deep Six chronicles the lives of 250 intrepid astronauts and their military escorts on a perilous deep space mission trying to establish humanity’s first outpost outside of our own system, only to experience a hostile first encounter. Exoplanet Tau Ceti F had been discovered two centuries earlier and is now known as …

Space is hard. While startups success rates are slowly increasing in low earth orbit (LEO), it’s even harder for startups looking beyond low earth orbit. In fact, no company with the goal of operating a commercial enterprise near or on the moon, can call themselves a success, yet. But just maybe we’ll the emergence of one as a the result of the Google Lunar XPRIZE.