The second episode of this special series of Space Cafe Black Ops with Dr. Namrata Goswami as resident guest is focused on the US. How did the nation build its space power, what are the differences between the space race during the cold war and today?

The coming of the end of the ISS era brings forward a series of fundamental questions: what will happen after the ISS is discontinued? Is a new epoch of privately-owned, low orbit on the rise?

Isar Aerospace – a European launch service company – and US-based Spaceflight Inc. have announced they have signed a multi-launch services agreement. Spaceflight, a launch services provider, has secured one dedicated launch to a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) in 2026, launching from Andøya, Norway.

Australian Space Company’s ELA (Equatorial Launch Australia) forecasts an orbital launch by the end of the year at Arnhem Space Centre, located in Australia Northern Territories. Arnhem Space Centre has been previously used by NASA in 2022 to launch three suborbital sounding rockets, however it has never been used for orbital launches. ELA would like to try to break this milestone by the second half of 2023.

DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Agency) has initiated a project to incentivise operators with large numbers of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to gain situational awareness throughout LEO, Breaking Defense said.

Danish nanosatellites manufacturer and operator GomSpace has announced that the Jens Maaløe, Chairman of the Board of Directors, will retire with immediate effect due to health issues. Niels Buus, GomSpace’s CEO, will also step down after nine years of service.

Global satellite communications firm, GapSat has newly acquired British consulting firm, QBX. This move will expand the frequency range at which they will be able to operate.

Director-General Timo Pesonen on behalf of the European Commission signed a Copernicus Cooperation Arrangement with the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) of Japan.

SpiderOak raised $16.4 million in an investment round led by Empyrean Technology Solutions, a space technology platform connected to Madison Dearborn Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. 

The President of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), Mr. Giorgio Saccoccia, announced today the guidelines and objectives of the national space agency for 2023. ASI, recently back from a very successful CM22, explained that for 2023 it intends to carry on its long-standing collaboration with ESA and NASA, open new strategic international goals, and keep pushing its national interests.