Features

SpaceWatch.Global is proud to introduce its #SWGLQuickTakes, a new feature series for subscribers that takes a topical space issue and polls the leading experts to provide an in-depth yet quick views on the context and background of what is going on. To start the series off, we asked three leading …

Firefly is well and truly ignited again. A new formation of the company with solid investors behind it is now paving the way for what has the potential to be a very successful business. International asset management firm, Noosphere Ventures, as lead investor, is set to take Firefly to the next level and beyond with an evolutionary strategy and approach that sees the development two launch vehicles to satisfy the full breadth of the dedicated small satellite launch market and for broader in-space applications as well.

SpaceWatch.Global last spoke to Gernot Groemer, Founder and Administrative Director of the Austrian Space Forum last year when we covered the Forum’s work and activities on the Mars Analogue missions.

It was reported that S7 Space was ready to order up to 50 rockets from Roscosmos with an option for another 35 if Soyuz-5 met the company's requirements. However, as the general director of S7 Space Sergey Sopov pointed out, the Russian government had lost interest in his company immediately after the deal had been closed.

The recent pronouncement by President Donald Trump that called for the creation of a separate U.S. Space Force has been met with some consternation by a number of commentators around the world. This reaction seems more concerned with the controversial persona of President Trump rather than with the policy substance behind the rhetoric.

Alexander Shaenko is a Moscow-based engineer and space enthusiast, the driving force behind the Mayak cubesat developed by space enthusiasts that was launched in 2017. He is currently working on a new space-related project. We talked to him about his past and present activities, his views on the current situation in the Russian space sector, ways to engage young people in space projects and much more.

The UK space sector is on the cusp of entering a new and golden age. As a country, the UK already has a thriving space sector with leading companies that have pioneered the small satellite industry, for example.

Olga Nikolaevna Gershenzon is the deputy director general of the engineering company LoReTT, as well as a co-founder of the SCANEX holding. She has more than 25 years of experience in the field of practical application of remote sensing in various branches of economy.

UK-based Effective Space is set to launch its first Space Drone spacecraft in 2020 which will introduce life extension services to satellite operators. The company has received very encouraging feedback on its plans and other potential lines of business such as accommodating new constellations in LEO.

Lunar Orbital Platform – Gateway (LOP-G) is a future international lunar orbiting outpost, planned to be built in the 2020s. We talked about the development of the project, its tasks and goals as well as about Russia’s participation with Oleg Valerievich Kotov, pilot-cosmonaut of the Russian Federation, recipient of the Hero of the Russian Federation medal, veteran of three space missions, currently Deputy Director for Science at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.