Space has become a crowded place. Astronomers estimate that over 10,000 active satellites were in orbit last month — four times as many as just five years ago.

The surge in launches has ignited excitement about a new space race. But the cosmic traffic may be heading for a catastrophic crash.

Back on Earth, the UK’s Space Operations Centre is tracking the threats with growing alarm. In July alone, the centre warned British satellite operators of 1,795 collision risks. Across the previous six months, almost 12,000 alerts were sent.

Yet not every accident can be averted. In 2021, a Chinese military satellite was damaged by a chunk of Russian rocket. In March, a piece of space junk smashed through a Florida roof.

With satellite constellations proliferating, the threat of further accidents is increasing. That’s given spacetech startups a new focus: collision avoidance.

Europe has become fertile ground for their plans.

How to avoid space collisions

Several startups have turned their attentions to space junk.

Over 130 million lumps of trash are currently hurtling around Earth at speeds of up to 15km per second. If one of them hits a satellite, the impact can be devastating.

Spacetech offers an array of ways to tidy up the mess.

Swiss startup ClearSpace wants to use a litter-picking robot. The company has signed a contract with French rocket giant Arianespace for the debut mission.

Norway’s Solstorm has an entirely different idea: harnessing solar wind energy to deorbit the junk. The startup also offers collision detection.

Spanish startup IENAI has another propulsion plan. The company harnesses electrospray thrusters to avoid collisions and de-orbit defunct satellites.

ClearSpace aims to complete the first-ever removal of space debris from orbit in 2025. Credit: ESA

France has also produced eye-catching solutions.

One is Look Up Space, which builds radars on Earth to track junk in the skies. Another is Dark, which is constructing a rocket-powered boxing glove to punch debris away.

Across the German border, Munich’s Vyoma concentrates on space traffic management. By combining a sensor network with real-time mapping of space, the company could reduce collision risks.

Preparing for lift-off

All these startups still need to prove their concepts work in practice. Space experts hope that happens quickly.

“The risk of collision in the most crowded orbit — 800km from Earth — is now one in 1,000,” Pascal Lecointe, a space insurance expert, said in January.

“Just a few decades ago, when there were far fewer satellites and less space debris, the risk of collision was one in 1 million. “

With satellite launches showing no signs of slowing down, Lecointe expects the threat to grow. “We’re likely to see that risk climb even more to perhaps 1 in 100 over the next decade.”

SportAI has grand plans for tennis analytics. The startup wants to not only enhance a player’s technique, but also the racket they swing.

The Norway-based business analyses sports footage in real-time. It then delivers instant, personalised feedback.

For tennis players, the system serves up coaching advice. For racket makers and retailers, the insights can return product recommendations.

“The AI analyses a player’s technique, identifying specific needs based on their style and level of play and recommends equipment that enhances their performance,” Lauren Pedersen, SportsAI’s CEO, told TNW.

“It can identify the need for specific racket weights, or specifications suited to advanced players compared to beginners, or suggest gear tailored to all-court players versus baseliners.”

Pedersen has an athletic interest in the benefits. Before co-founding SportsAI, she was an NCAA tennis player. She now represents Norway at the ITF Masters World Championships.

Originally from New Zealand, Pedersen moved to Oslo in 2007 and shifted her focus to startups.

After spells at tech firms Opera and Airthings, she co-founded SportAI in 2023.

Computer vision for tennis
The platform assesses individual tennis shots. Credit: SportAI

SportAI can analyse video from mobile phones, cameras mounted at courts, or broadcast feeds.

Through a combination of machine learning and computer vision, the system interprets the biomechanical data. Insights are then delivered straight to users.

The approach removes the need for manual tagging and specific hardware. Consequently, SportAI can cut the costs of advanced analytics.

The SaaS platform also promises to broaden access to athletic insights. Businesses can directly integrate the software with their coaching, equipment, and broadcast coverage.

A fresh cash injection — announced today — could accelerate the uptake. The $1.8mn seed round was led by Skyfall Ventures, a VC firm based in Oslo.

Further funds came from two sportsmen: Dekel Valtzer, a former tennis pro and now a startup founder, and Magnus Carlsen, the highest-ranked chess player of all time. Carlsen also led SportAI’s pre-seed round and is an advisor to the company.

With the new funds, SportsAI aims to accelerate the reach of sports analytics. The company also plans to soon announces its first commercial contract.

SportsAI isn’t ready to disclose the partner’s name, but Pedersen did offer clues.

She describes the mystery business as a “prominent global platform that connects over a million racket sports players” and “oversees thousands of courts.”

Through the collaboration, SportAI will provide “AI-driven enhancements,” such as “personalised technique analysis and detailed match statistics.” Watch this space for the results on the court.

In a world-first, the spacecraft completed a high-risk slingshot manoeuvre around the moon and Earth to take a shortcut to Jupiter.

Read more: Next stop, Venus: Juice succeeds in first lunar-Earth flyby

Europe’s Juice spacecraft has completed the world’s first lunar-Earth flyby.

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer — aka Juice — harnessed the gravity of Earth to sling itself in the direction of Venus.

The route will provide a shortcut to Jupiter through the inner Solar System.

Juice made it closest approach to the Moon at 23:15 CEST on August 19. Gravitational forces then guided the spacecraft towards a closest approach to Earth at 23:56 CEST the next day.

The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the manoeuvre. By harnessing the gravity of both the Moon and Earth, ESA successfully altered the flight’s speed and direction. 

ESA shared this image of the moon taken by Juice. Credit: ESA

The Moon flyby first accelerated Juice by 0.9km/s relative to the Sun. The Earth flyby then reduced that speed by 4.8km/s.

Over the entire flyby, the spacecraft was deflected by an angle of 100° compared to its prior trajectory.

“The gravity assist flyby was flawless, everything went without a hitch, and we were thrilled to see Juice coming back so close to Earth,” says Ignacio Tanco, an operations manager for the mission.

Juice is now on course to meet Venus in August 2025. A Venus flyby will then boost the spacecraft back past Earth, before two further boosts send it to Jupiter. It’s slated to arrive there in July 2031.

Juice will then study three of Jupiter’s 92 known moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa.

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CEO Anthony Mc Loughlin, who founded the company last year, has previously worked with Airbus, Mercedes and Rolls Royce, helping them to adopt analytics and AI.

Read more: AI start-up Better Futures raises €500,000 in pre-seed round

The company focused on making legacy chips is owned by Chinese electronics maker WingTech.

Read more: Dutch-based chipmaker Nexperia invests $200m in Germany

Eindhoven-based startup Axelera has raised $68mn as it looks to take its AI chip business global. One of the lead investors is Samsung Catalyst, the venture arm of the semiconductor giant Samsung Electronics.  

Axelera is developing AI chips that enable computer vision and generative AI in edge devices like robots and drones.

Because they’re located within the devices themselves, the AI chips can process data in milliseconds without the need to upload or download data to the cloud. This delivers high computing performance at a fraction of the cost and energy consumption of centralised AI models, said the startup.   

Axelera leverages what’s known as in-memory computing. That’s when data is stored in the main memory (RAM) instead of on traditional disk storage. This makes for even faster data processing and retrieval.  

“To truly harness the value of AI, organisations need a solution that delivers high-performance and efficiency while balancing cost,” said Fabrizio Del Maffeo, co-founder and CEO at Axelera AI. 

Axelera builds the chips, known as AI processing units (AIPUs), as well as the software that runs them. Dubbed Metis, the startup claims that the chip is the world’s most powerful AIPU for edge devices. 

Axelera claims it has built the world’s most powerful AI processing unit for edge devices. Credit: Axelera
Democratising AI 

Axelera’s chips make use of the instruction set architecture (ISA) RISC-V. An ISA acts like a bridge between the hardware and the software. It specifies both what the processor is capable of doing as well as how it gets done. 

RISC-V is a low-cost, efficient, and flexible ISA that can be customised to specific use cases. Crucially, unlike most ISAs, it is open source, which means no single entity controls it.

“Our mission is to democratise access to artificial intelligence,” said Del Maffeo. 

By specialising in edge AI, and developing both the software and hardware components, Axelera looks to give itself a competitive edge in a booming AI chip market dominated by the likes of Nvidia, Intel, and IBM. 

Speaking of IBM, Del Maffeo, who previously worked at Belgium-based tech lab Imec, co-founded Axelera alongside Evangelos Eleftheriou, a former veteran at the American tech giant.   

Axelera plans to put its AI processing units into full production in the latter half of this year. It looks to expand its presence in North America, where it already has an office, and into new industries such as automotive, digital healthcare, and surveillance. The startup is also exploring the development of high performance AI chips for data centres and supercomputers. 

Hailing from Eindhoven, Axelera exists in one of the most mature semiconductor tech hubs in the world. The city is home to Philips-founded NXP Semiconductors and ASML, which produces chip-making machines for almost every major semiconductor manufacturer on Earth. 

This latest funding round brings Axelera’s total raised to $120mn. New investors include the Samsung Catalyst Fund, European Innovation Council Fund, Innovation Industries Strategic Partnership Fund, and Invest-NL.