Lockheed Martin, Amazon and Cisco announced they have teamed up to integrate Callisto, a unique human-machine interface technology into NASA's Orion spacecraft on the Artemis I uncrewed mission around the Moon. They will demonstrate how astronauts could benefit from far-field voice technology, AI and video calls during deep space missions.

South-Korean Innospace and Norwegian Andøya Space signed a Memorandum of Understanding to launch into polar and sun-synchronous orbit from Norway, Andøya Space announced. Established in 2017, Innospace provides manufacturing and engineering services for aerospace and defence contractors.

China’s first smart manufacturing facility for small satellites utilises smart machinery and full automation in key production processes, thus increasing production efficiency by over 40 percent. The intelligent production line is capable of producing 240 small satellites a year.

The Ariane 6 core and upper stage are on their way to Kourou, French Guiana scheduled to arrive at Europe’s Spaceport this month, ArianeGroup reported. The two stages will undergo combined testing on a new launch pad built under the supervision of the French Space Agency, CNES.

SpaceX is aiming to start the new year with a Falcon 9 rocket flight this Thursday deploying the company’s next cluster of Starlink satellites. The company’s 34th dedicated Starlink launch is carrying an undisclosed number of flat-panel satellites into orbit. The quarter-ton spacecraft use their krypton-fueled ion thrusters to maneuver to their operating orbits 540 km above Earth.

China’s main space contractor, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) announced it was planning over 40 orbital launches this year. These include six missions aiming to complete the Tiangong space station. A Long March 7 rocket will dock with Tiangong’s Tianhe

Amid ongoing negotiations in Vienna over the country’s nuclear deal, Iran announced that it launched a Simorgh rocket with three research devices into space. It was not specified what the devices were or what they would be used for. Ahmad Hosseini, spokesperson for the Iranian Defense Ministry said that the devices were sent up to a 470 km altitude.

Elon Musk said during an interview on the Lex Fridman podcast that SpaceX could be transporting people to Mars in five years. According to the SpaceX CEO, the worst case scenario is that the Starship rocket is ready for taking humans to the planet in 10 years.  Starship, “the most complex and advanced rocket” as per Musk, has already undergone static fire tests.

Start-up company, Klaus Space Transportation, announced it has successfully conducted a drop test of a newly developed Inflatable Atmospheric Decelerator (IAD) prototype this month. Founded just in October, Klaus’ aim is to make space transportation sustainable, available, and cost-efficient.

Firefly Aerospace paused preparations for its next Alpha rocket launch originally planned for early 2022, due to the U.S. government making its largest shareholder to divest its stake for national security reasons, SpaceNews reported. Noosphere Venture Partners will sell its interest in Firefly at the request of the Committee