Transcript
Maria Varmazis (0:01)
You're listening to the N2K space network.
Dave (0:10)
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Maria Varmazis (1:29)
I'm Maria Varmazis and this is T minus T minus 20 seconds. IonQ has completed its acquisition of Capella Space Corporation. Black Sky Technologies has been awarded a multi million dollar contract with a customer. Taiwan has approved a project to drive the development of 6G and low Earth orbit satellite systems by 2030. Spaceport Cornwall has been selected to join the UK Ministry of Defense's Hypersonic Technologies and Capability Development Framework. UKSA has awarded new funding to support satellite communications development and boost the nation's space cl. It is Wednesday, everybody. Thank you for joining me. Here's today's intel briefing. The UK Space Agency's UK Space Conference 2025 kicked off in Manchester earlier today. The event brings together leading players in the United Kingdom's space sector and beyond to discuss future growth plans and renew the sector's focus on generating economic growth and advancing national security goals. We are expecting a flurry of European updates over the next few days, but day one belongs to the Brits. The UK Space Agency has awarded new funding to support satellite communications development and boost the nation's space clusters. Four new projects have been awarded £4.5 million to push the boundaries of satellite based 5G and 6G systems. Among these, MDA Space UK's SkyFi mission is aims to deliver 5 and 6G connectivity capabilities directly to devices via low Earth orbit satellites. Orbit Fab's radical project is focused on developing in orbit refueling systems for telecommunications satellites. SSTL's Lunar Communications System will enable deep space communications capabilities, while ViaSat's hybrid GeoLeo network is designed to provide global 5G direct to device coverage and an additional £1.6 million will go to the UK's Space Cluster network and UKSA says that the funding will stimulate innovation and economic growth and will enable space clusters to collaborate in areas of shared capability, supporting space companies to forge stronger local partnerships and take advantage of expertise across the whole of the United Kingdom and Staying in the UK for our next story, Spaceport Cornwall has been selected to join the UK Ministry of Defense's Hypersonic Technologies and Capability Development Framework. The seven year one billion pound framework brings together 90 organizations from across industry and academia to rapidly develop advanced hypersonic defense capabilities for the uk. It is designed to accelerate capability development through to technology readiness level 9 TRL 9. In other words, enabling rapid progression from early research through to operational deployment. Spaceport Cornwall says that its development in the Hypersonic framework reinforces its role in as a hub for cutting edge aerospace and defense innovation. The announcement comes as the European Space Agency shared its plans for hypersonic testing, selecting Fraser Nash to partner on a fully reusable experimental aerospace vehicle named the Invictus and you can read more about that by following the link in our show notes. Moving on, Taiwan has approved an approximately $830 million project to drive the development of 6G and low earth orbit satellite systems by 2030. The six year initiative spearheaded by the National Science and Technology Council is designed to strengthen Taiwan's position in the next generation of global communications. Premier Cho Rong Thai underscored the need to invest in future facing technologies like 6G and satellite broadband to secure a leading role in shaping digital connectivity. The project prioritizes domestic innovation with goals that include launching 6G commercial services, building a competitive local satellite ecosystem and modernizing legal frameworks to enable faster tech deployment. Now, Taiwan is targeting 80% self sufficiency in base station hardware and software by 2030. Local R& D will focus on advanced chips, components and network equipment. The plan also includes the development of a homegrown LEO satellite system, leveraging domestically produced components to reduce reliance on foreign technology and and attract at least three global satellite service providers. For our next story, Earth observation company Black Sky Technologies has been awarded a multimillion dollar contract with a new international customer that combines immediate Gen 3 and Gen 2 subscription based imagery and analytics services and follow on ground segment modernization services and through this agreement the unnamed customer will receive immediate subscription based access to to assured services, which Blacksky says guarantees tasking capacity for persistent monitoring over a customer's area of interest or areas of interest. Blacksky will also upgrade the customer's existing ground station and mission operations center with direct downlink and uplink communications capabilities for faster, locally controlled intelligence and IONQ has completed its acquisition of Capella Space Corporation. With the acquisition now finalized, Ionq says it will begin developing a space based quantum Key distribution, or QKD network by integrating Capella's satellite infrastructure with its own quantum technology. And once complete, this QKD network will enable secure communications that will prevent encryption keys from being intercepted or copied without detection. The future is now, folks. And that wraps up Today's Intelligence Briefing. N2K senior producer Alice Carruth joins me now with some of the other stories that we are keeping an eye on. Alice, what do you got for us?