Our Space Café WebTalk “33 minutes with Nicole Thalhofer: The BDLI – Lobby of the German Space Industry and Organizer of the Unique ILA Space Pavilion” took place on Tuesday, 10th May. Nicole Thalhofer is the Head of Space Department and Lawyer at the German Aerospace Industries Association (BDLI).

German Rivada Space Networks, a new company launching a constellation of 600 low-Earth-orbit communication satellites, announced a pledge of US $112 million toward creating an Open Access Platform for the ITU Partner2Connect Digital Coalition to help bridge the digital divide. 

Italian Officina Stellare announced that it signed an investment agreement with shareholders Virgilio Holding, Astro Alliance, MIRAK Enterprise, Gino Bucciol and Nettar Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Satellogic, a geospatial company and leader in sub-meter resolution Earth observation data collection. 

Sub-meter resolution Earth observation data collection company Satellogic, announced that it has entered into a teaming agreement with German real-time risk and disaster intelligence provider Mayday.ai, to improve data intelligence for risk and disaster management.

Sustainable in-orbit services company ClearSpace, is joining the Net Zero Space initiative launched by the Paris Peace Forum to avoid generating and actively remove debris from orbit, the company said. The program brings major industry players together to ensure safe and sustainable space operations.

UK-based spaceflight company Orbex, has unveiled the first full-scale prototype of the Prime orbital launch vehicle on its dedicated launch pad. Prime is designed to launch small satellites to orbit and it is the first microlauncher developed in Europe to reach this stage of technical readiness. Orbex is now preparing for the first vertical rocket launch in history from UK soil.

The Republic of Colombia signed the Artemis Accords at NASA Headquarters where Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucía Ramírez signed the agreement on behalf of the country. The countries also celebrate the 200th anniversary of the US–Colombia diplomatic relations.

US/UAE space tech company Precious Payload announced the acquisition of German space tech company HOSTmi, to fast-forward the commercialization of the European space industry. The partnership will utilize Precious Payload’s developer tools and smart solutions to strengthen existing HOSTmi services and lead joint projects.

Space4Impact, EPFL’s Space Center eSpace, E2MC Ventures, and Space Innovation joined forces to launch an online course on the New Space Economy. The program is available on edX as a free EPFLx course. Learners can watch more than 30 video lectures by space experts from various domains within startups, academia, the private sector, and public institutions in Switzerland.

The United States’ National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is partnering with the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) on the historic first commercial rocket to be launched from the UK, the MOD announced. The launch will be carried out by Virgin Orbit, sending 9 multinational rideshares to orbit aboard its LauncherOne and a modified Boeing 747 aircraft.