Government

The Chairman of the Space Committee of the Egyptian Engineers Syndicate, Dr. Muhandes Ahmed Faraj, has disclosed Egypt's plans to launch two new satellites, one of which will assist in climate change monitoring in Africa. Faraj made the disclosure during the Egyptian Space Committee of the Syndicate of Engineers' recently concluded conference on Egypt's efforts to develop its space capabilities

The Australian Government has announced its commitment never to conduct destructive, direct-ascent anti‑satellite missile testing, consistent with its role as a responsible actor in space. When a party performs such tests, these tests generate large amounts of debris that remain in space for years. The debris subsequently threatens satellites and other space objects, risking the long-term sustainability of human activity in space.

Continuing its cooperation with African countries, China has taken steps to strengthen its relations with Namibia in the space industry. China recently organized a "Talk with Taikonauts" session with eight African countries; Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Algeria, and Senegal

This year the 23rd AMOS (Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies) Conference, held in Hawaii from the 27th to the 30th of September 2022, hosted 1212 in-person attendees at the Wailea Beach Resort and 259 guests virtually. The conference sold-out way in advance. Maybe a sign of a post-Covid desire to travel, or maybe a sign that Hawaii never loses its exotic allure, nevertheless the enthusiastic attendance also reflected a growing interest in space sustainability and space commerce initiatives across all sectors, from national governments to private companies, from non-governmental entities to the science community.

Myriota, a secure, low-power satellite connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT) company, has announced an agreement with ISILAUNCH to send Kanyini into orbit. This will kickstart its ambitious mission to help take care of people and the planet. Under the Launch Services Agreement, Myriota has booked a spot for South Australia’s home-grown satellite to launch on a SpaceX Transporter mission in 2023.

SSC has disclosed an agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) for data reception support of the Biomass satellite scheduled for launch in late 2023 to explore and gather vital data about the Earth’s forests.

Zimbabwe and Uganda are preparing to launch their respective first satellites into space on 6 November 2022. The satellites, ZimSat-1, and PearlAfricaSat-1 are launching into space as part of the BIRDS-5 constellation which also includes a 2U CubeSat from Japan

The International Space University (ISU) is organizing the French Edition of the 4th CASSINI Hackathon. The hackathon will hold from 4-6 November 2022 and is co-organised by the European Commission and EUSPA. It will feature topics related to "Space and the Financial World."

Rocket Lab,  a leading launch and space systems company, has announced its selection by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to supply solar panels. The solar panels will power NASA’s shoe-box-sized mobile robots within the Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Explorers (CADRE) program.

The very existence of human life on earth today is dependent on space-based services. From banking and money transfers to streaming online content and using maps, the internet and other technological capabilities are being widely used by everyone across the world. From the individual level to the international level, space-based services play a crucial role. However, there are still many challenges and threats within the space domain, that need to be addressed at the national, regional, and global levels. All these imply the fact that space is both a competent and vulnerable domain in the contemporary world.