#SANTA FE, N.M. — Japanese Earth observation company #Axelspace has raised nearly $44 million to both expand its satellite constellation and provide smallsats for other applications.

The Tokyo-based company announced Dec. 21 that it raised 6.24 billion yen ($43.9 million) in a Series D round from several Japanese companies and venture funds. The company, which last raised 2.58 billion yen in a Series C round in 2021, has brought in 14.3 billion yen since its founding in 2008.

The company currently operates five microsatellites that provide medium-resolution imagery through a service it calls AxelGlobe. Four of those #satellites launched in 2021, three years after its first satellite. #Axelspace said the new funding will support expansion of its satellite constellation but did not provide details about the plans

#HELSINKI — #China added a new pair of satellites to its #Beidou positioning and navigation system late Monday, but spent stages from the launch landed within inhabited areas.

A Long March 3B equipped with a Yuanzheng-1 upper stage lifted off from the Xichang #Satellite Launch Center at 10:26 p.m. Eastern Dec. 25 (0326 UTC, Dec. 26), successfully delivering two Beidou satellites into medium Earth orbit (MEO).

#HELSINKI — Japan’s SLIM robotic #spacecraft entered lunar orbit Dec. 25, setting up a moon landing attempt scheduled for Jan. 19.

#SLIM completed a roughly three-minute-long lunar orbit insertion burn at 2:51 a.m. Eastern (0751 UTC), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Christmas Day.

#SLIM is now in a 600 x 4,000-kilometer polar lunar orbit, as planned. The #spacecraft is currently in a normal condition, #JAXA stated. It will soon begin gradually lowering its orbit in preparation for landing.

#SANTA FE, N.M. — A problem with the upper stage of a Firefly #Aerospace Alpha #rocket placed a #Lockheed Martin technology demonstration satellite into the wrong orbit on a Dec. 22 launch.

The Alpha #rocket lifted off from #Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:32 p.m. Eastern on a mission called “Fly the Lightning” by Firefly. The launch was originally scheduled for Dec. 20 but postponed two days because of weather.

The #rocket’s ascent appeared to go as planned, and launch controllers reported that the upper stage had achieved a nominal transfer orbit. Firefly then said a second burn of the upper stage was planned to take place about 40 minutes later to circularize the orbit, followed by payload separation.

#WASHINGTON — The White House used a Dec. 20 meeting of the National Space Council to discuss the importance of international cooperation but offered few new initiatives along those lines.

The purpose of the meeting, the third by the council during the Biden administration and the first since September 2022, was to highlight what the White House described in a fact sheet as “extraordinary progress in broadening and deepening international #space partnerships across a range of areas.”

Those partnerships, Vice President #KamalaHarris said in opening remarks, were vital to U.S. leadership in space. “In the coming years, one of the primary ways we will continue to extend that leadership is by strengthening our international partnerships.”

#HELSINKI — Leading Chinese launch startup Galactic Energy has secured $154 million in funding for the development of its reusable Pallas-1 #rocket.

Galactic Energy announced the 1.1 billion yuan C and C+ funding rounds Dec. 18. The funding will go towards research and development of reusable launch vehicle technology for the Pallas-1 medium-lift rocket and related infrastructure.

The rounds were led by Ziyang Heavy Industry Fund and joined by Bengbu Investment Group, Langfang Linkong, Founder Hesheng Investment, Jintuo Capital, and further undisclosed Investors, according to a company statement.