Spy satelllite company Kleos Space gets launch window

Six months after the launch of its satellites was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, intelligence data company Kleos Space (ASX:KSS) says it now expects them to head into orbit in early November.

US launch ridesharing company Spaceflight has arranged the launch with Newspace India, the commercial arm of India’s space agency.

Spaceflight has told Kleos that the four scouting satellites are now set to launched from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India in the first half of November, the company said Friday.

The four satellites have been mission-ready since the middle of 2019, and were shipped to the launch site in February, anticipating a launch in March. But that changed due to the pandemic.

Kleos Space is launching the satellite as part of its Kleos Scouting Mission, a plan to sell reconnaissance data via subscription to governments, intelligence agencies and businesses interested in locating threats and tracking assets.

Eventually, Kleos hopes to have as many as 20 satellites in orbit, although the company suffered a setback in July when the payload of a Rocket Lab spacecraft launched from New Zealand failed to reach orbit.

Elsewhere on the ASX on Friday:

Nearmap raises $72m

Nearmap (ASX:NEA) said it had completed a $72.1m placement at $2.77 a share, a 4.2 per cent discount to Wednesday’s closing price.

The aerial mapping company said it will use the funds to accelerate growth opportunities and invest in rolling out its fourth-generation camera system.

You can read more about that here.

Aurora Labs raising $3.5m

3D metal printer company Aurora Labs (ASx:A3D) launched a $3.5m capital raising, and said it had received firm commitments to raise $2m in an institutional placement at 8.5c per share.

The funds will be used to develop and commercialise its RMP-1 industrial 3D metal printer, after a prototype was finished late last year.