#TAMPA, Fla. — Former professional baseball player Alex Rodriguez’s shell company got more time from investors to merge with Lynk Global, but has to give $176 million back to those opting to redeem shares rather than a potential stake in the direct-to-smartphone #satellite operator.

Slam Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that raised $575 million by listing shares on #Nasdaq in February 2021 to search for an investment opportunity, now has less than $99 million in its trust account following a separate batch of shareholder redemptions earlier this year

#Pentagon agencies team up in upcoming launch of #hypersonic tracking #satellites
Satellites developed by the Missile Defense Agency and the Space Development Agency will be part of a national security space mission currently projected for the second quarter of.

#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.