Features

The moment the decommissioned ISS burns through re-entry and plunges into the Pacific Ocean will be heart-breaking. Granted, we will still have the Chinese Tiangong space station as a symbol of governmental and entrepreneurial prowess. But once the (American) private sector is solely in charge of orbital space stations other than Chinese ones, albeit with some friends and allies governments support as anchor customers, what will happen with global micro-G accessibility?

Back in the 70’s, the Japanese space agency JAXA run an experiment called the Japanese Cat's Whisker Experiment. It took place aboard Skylab between May 1973 and February 1974, the same year Pink Floyd released “The Dark Side of the Moon”. Contrary to what you might think, it did not involve cats.

The United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) recently hosted closed meetings of the Legal Subcommittee’s Working Group on Space Resource Activity at its headquarters in Vienna. The Working Group has just completed the first year of its five-year mandate to review the regulation of such activity, including possible “additional international governance instruments”. Although it had planned to meet only during the Legal Subcommittee’s annual two-week session earlier this year, the Working Group failed at that time to agree on even a preliminary statement.

Space Exploration is an ever growing field full of excitement and challenges never faced before by the human race. In the past with Artemis, Space-X, Mars exploration, solar-robot exploration, the James Webb telescope we have had a great legacy in space exploration. However, it is time for the younger generation to continue developing these innovations and projects.

We are just halfway through 2023 and I have accumulated enough miles in the Space conference business that I feel I can sit down and put down some ideas, or notes at least, on what we at SpaceWatch.Global have seen and learned through the lens of the media in the past weeks and months. We have visited six countries, met thousands of people, and saw some new trends. But are these trends destined to ever be solved? Or are they just buzzwords echoed over and over again?

Like last year, the SpaceWatch.Global newsroom has gathered together to analyse  the Financial Time Investing In Space 2023 Summit, held in London on the 5th and 6th of June 2023. The second Summit kept the format of the inaugural one, with a mixed audience of venture capitalists, space experts, space industrials, and agency representatives. We observed a few leitmotifs seen during the first edition, like the importance every year some speaker gives to find a better name for the Space industry

On the 5th and 6th of June 2023, the Financial Time’s held its second Investing In Space conference. Similarly to last year, it was held in a hybrid form. The first day online, the second day live from London. Titled “Balancing Optimism with Realism”, the two-day summit hosted a selection of investors, innovators, government, and end-users for analyses of the opportunities of space.

The Financial Times Investing In Space Summit took place in person and online on 05-06 June 2023, under the motto "Balancing optimism with realism". In Part 1 (LINK) we covered the state of the space market and its investment value. We also looked at why the future for UK space looks bright, and how different countries can have differentiated space investment and capacity-building strategies. In Part 2, we will look at more stories behind the numbers, bold visions, disruptions, opportunities, emerging markets such as space-based solar power as potential remediation to climate issues, space resource utilization, and Moon mining, and even alternative modes of access to space. Readers who missed this event are encouraged to check out the Video-On-Demand.

The Financial Times Investing In Space Summit < https://ftspace.live.ft.com/agenda > took place in person and online on 05-06 June 2023, under the motto "Balancing optimism with realism". Indeed it was the first significant space investment and financing conference to take place after the rise of interest rates by the US FED, together with other macro headwinds, such as conflict-driven economic deterioration. This thorough and intensive FT conference did a fairly good job of articulating trends and putting the spotlight on both mainstream markets (launchers, constellations) and emerging space activities, Moon included.

In Portugal, the Institute of Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC TEC) is seeking new ways to apply scientific action to support solutions both in space and on Earth.