Frontiers

In this latest episode of Space Café Radio, our editor in chief Emma Gatti converses with guest Patrizia Caraveo, research director at the Italian Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) about Europe’s challenges within the space industry. The conversation revolves around the recent news of the EU commissioning the launch of part …

ESA’s Integral space telescope detected an extremely bright and long-lasting gamma-ray burst (GRB) on the 9th of October. GRB are the outpouring of energy from exploding stars or from the collision of two super-dense neutron stars. The blast has been named GRB 221009A is probably one of the brightest GRB ever detected according to Mirko Piersanti, lead author of the team publishing the results on the 14th of November. The nearest rival is ten times weaker. This GRB took place in a galaxy almost 2 billion light-years away, yet it still had enough energy to affect the Earth. 

The National Aerospace Services Company (NASCOM), the Sultanate of Oman's premier aerospace company, has awarded the UK Launch Service Limited the first major contract to deliver the plan for Etlaq Spaceport. 

Airbus’ patented Detumbler device launched on Saturday, 11 November and will undergo tests in space on the mission in association with Exotrail and EnduroSat early in 2024. Airbus developed the Detumbler in 2021, with support from the French Space Agency CNES under their Tech4SpaceCare initiative.

UnseenLabs, a provider of radio frequency (RF) data and solutions for maritime domain awareness, announced the successful launch of its two satellites BRO-10 and BRO-11. They were launched as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-9 mission via Exolaunch on the 11th of November from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. 

Chester Crone, Business Development Director at Moog Space and Defense Group , spoke to us at #SpaceTechEurope! Since the early days of spaceflight, Moog's technology has enabled exploration across the solar system. Chester shares insights into Moog's innovative solutions powering the next generation of space missions. Discover how this technology pioneer with over 70 years of expertise continues to develop the critical systems needed for the journey to the Moon, Mars, and beyond! From the Apollo program to Artemis, Moog is accelerating humanity's reach into the cosmos.

It’s Bremen time! The space community is gathering for one of the events to discuss trends, technologies and the exciting space stuff you may dream about. Our Publisher Torsten Kriening is in Bremen for the Space Tech Expo Europe and will report for you from the event. 3 days, over 650 exhibitors and many cool space stuff to see. Stay tuned for more

The 2023 edition of the legendary von Braun Space Exploration Symposium took place on October 25-27 2023 in the regular location, Huntsville, Alabama (recordings of sessions are available here). Its focus however was interestingly unusual: “Advancing Space: from LEO to Lunar and Beyond” featured a diverse program covering commercial, policy, and strategic communication concerns.

OKAPI: Orbits has announced the launch of its latest innovation, OKAPI: Astrolabe, which aims to transform critical Conjunction Coordination and deliver unprecedented convenience and efficiency to Satellite Operators globally. The innovation seamlessly blends interoperability and decision-making processes to provide an intuitive and direct communication experience. Furthermore, combining the Astrolabe with OKAPI: Aether offers all-inclusive services like automated assessments of conjunction event criticality, maneuver evaluation, in-depth insights about in-orbit assets, and predictive evolution forecasting in a consolidated workspace. 

Djibouti has launched its first satellite, Djibouti 1A, into orbit, aboard Space's Transporter-9 smallsat rideshare mission on November 11 2023.  According to Space in Africa, the East African Country developed the satellite through a joint capacity-building program between Djibouti and its technical partner, the Centre Spatial Universitaire de Montpellier (CSUM). As a result, Djiboutian engineers and technicians in France designed, constructed and tested the satellite.