It has now been a week since SpaceX's IFT 3 took off and kept us in suspense. All space enthusiasts around the globe are eagerly waiting for the promised new era in which access to space becomes the new normal, in which prices will fall to a fraction of their current level and new business models will emerge.
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Opinion – The Moon is a Harsh Success
There’s been no shortage of recent attempts at clarifying what the problems are with the definitions of success or failure for a Moon mission. Bearing in mind the pressure applied on CEOs, leadership, and crews of many a lunar-aiming venture business, and equally knowing perfectly well how challenging is to land on the Moon, it is nevertheless important for the insiders of the sector to develop considerations worthy of lunar stakeholders as they sort out their concerns.
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Venture Space – February 2024
If the space-tech industry was lumbering towards the launchpad in January ($475m globally), then February was liftoff: space-tech startups raised a whopping $1.7b in funding in February.The month was bolstered by a massive $932m public-private investment into China’s Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), but also featured a $355m investment into RocketLabs (US) and a €85m investment into UnseenLabs (France). These megadeals join 30 smaller deals in a historically strong month for spacetech startups worldwide.
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Climate – The first case of Space Washing?
On the 26th of January 2024, 118 marine conservation and environmental organizations signed a petition asking Iridium to stop producing their Short Burst Data (SBD) modules, real-time GPS tracking devices, because such service is used in dFADs, short for drifting fish aggregating devices, fishing tools scientifically proven to be environmentally harmful. Iridium’s answer acknowledged the potential issue, but declined the criticism. Whether the responsibility lies in the hands of the satellite tracking service providers, or with wholesale satellite network operators such as Iridium, it’s the first crack in a canvas painted by a domain that refuses to accept and take action upon a bitter reality: Space-based technology is dual-use in every sense, and the extreme efficiency and power of our services can, is and will be used for crimes against the environment, if not thoroughly regulated.
Read More »Space Cafè Radio – EUSPA Mini Series ep.03 – Understanding GOVSATCOM with Dr Georgios Synnefakis
The last episode of EUSPA's Mini series see the intervention of Georgios Synnefakis, GOVSATCOM program manager at EUSPA. Emma Gatti, Editor in Chief of SpaceWatch.Global, and Dr. Synnefakis discussed the importance of GOVSATCOM in providing secure satellite communications to governmental users in various scenarios, including crisis management and critical infrastructure support.
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Venture Space – January 2024
2024 is off to a strong start for space-tech startups raising capital in the VC space, with over $475m USD (442m EUR) raised in January alone. At this pace, however, the annual space tech investment ecosystem projects to an annual $5.8b, a contraction versus 2023 levels of approximately $7.1b. Across 25 deals, and an average of $19m per deal, just under half of deals were located in the United States (7) and United Kingdom (5) with strong presence in Europe coming from France (3) and Italy (3).
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Economy | ARTEMIS DELAYS AND ESA: CONNECTING THE DOTS
ESA held its Annual Directors General Press Conference at its PARIS HQ on 11 January 2024. A recording is available here and a slide deck here. Among the many topics covered, one generated several burning questions: NASA having just a few days earlier announced Artemis II and III delays, would that impact ESA, and if yes, how?
Read More »Artemis II pushed to September 2025
The schedules for Artemis II and Artemis III have been postponed to September 2025 for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon, and September 2026 for Artemis III, which is planned to land the first astronauts near the lunar South Pole, NASA announced.
Read More »Peregrine One anomaly explained
The possible cause of Peregrine spacecrafts's propulsion anomaly might be a valve between the helium pressurant and the oxidizer, which might have failed to reseal after actuation during inizialization, Astrobotic announced on their X channel.
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Frontiers | Peregrine Mission 1: the odds catch up
By nighttime stateside, early European/Middle East/Africa morning today, and mid-day in Asia, the successfully launched Astrobotic Peregrine lander was confirmed having run into problems terminally dooming Mission 1. Astrobotic’s confirmed the issue reporting on their social media and press releases. And like with any failure, let’s take a healing look at facts and lessons learned. The first lesson is the obvious one: yes, space is hard.
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