Government

The European Space Agency has launched the Euclid Space Telescope, an orbital telescope built to shed light on mysterious cosmic phenomena known as dark energy and dark matter. The space telescope launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, United States of America. The mission has cost about $1.4 billion and has a design lifespan of about six years. Furthermore, the Agency expects it to transform astrophysics and potentially the understanding of the very nature of gravity itself.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has announced the appointment of Aarti Holla-Maini of the United Kingdom as Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in Vienna. She will succeed Simonetta Di Pippo of Italy. The Secretary-General also extended his appreciation to the Chief, Committee, Policy and Legal Affairs Section, Niklas Hedman, who will continue to serve as Acting Director of UNOOSA until Ms. Holla-Maini assumes this position.

The Board of The Global Satellite Operators Association (GSOA) has announced the election of Telesat’s CEO, Dan Goldberg, as its new Chair. The body also elected Eva Berneke, CEO of Eutelsat, as co-Vice Chair, alongside Ali Al Hashemi, CEO of Yahsat, whom the body appointed earlier this year.

Virgin Galactic has announced the four-person crew and target date for its Galactic-01 commercial spaceflight. The three-person crew from the Italian Air Force and National Research Council of Italy will board VSS Unity for a 90-minute flight to conduct a series of suborbital science experiments.

Ecuador and India have joined the ever-growing list of countries to become parties to the Artemis Accords, becoming the 26th and 27th signatories, respectively. Ecuador formally joined the Accords during a ceremony at the Ecuador embassy in Washington on Wednesday, with Karen Feldstein, NASA associate administrator for International and Interagency Relations, participating in the ceremony for the agency, and Gustavo Manrique Miranda, Ecuador’s foreign affairs minister, for Ecuador. On the other hand, the White House disclosed India's decision to become a signatory on Thursday, with NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also agreeing to a joint mission to the International Space Station in 2024,

D-Orbit has secured four multi-million contracts under the framework of Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). These contracts represent a great opportunity for the Company to take part in national projects that will mark historical milestones in the space sector and cooperate with some of the most renowned and innovative Italian companies in the industry.

Finnish Earth observation Company Kuva Space has received a five-year commercial contract worth €5M from the European Space Agency (ESA) to be the world’s sole provider of hyperspectral data services for the European Commission’s Copernicus Contributing Missions (CCM) program. As a result, Kuva Space will demonstrate its technological capabilities to monitor farming and aquaculture crops, forests, methane release, and harmful algae blooms in seas and coastal areas.

OroraTech has signed a multi-million contract with the European Space Agency to deliver data to the European Union as part of the Copernicus Contributing Mission (CCM). Leveraging its recently launched in-orbit thermal sensor network, OroraTech will contribute vital data to critical sectors such as emergency services, climate change analysis, marine management, and land management.

Astroscale Holdings Inc. has announced the opening of Astroscale France SAS (“Astroscale France”) and a contract with the French national space agency, Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The contract, which both parties will sign on June 20 at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, formalizes a partnership between Astroscale France and CNES. Furthermore, it includes a funded study for active debris removal of French space debris. In addition, both parties will determine the specific debris in early 2024.

EnduroSat`s Balkan Constellation will join the European Union (EU) and the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Copernicus Contributing missions after its selection. The selection happened in the presence of Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market of the European Union, and Dr. Joseph Aschbacher, ESA DG.