Government

Nová Palmovka will officially become the new headquarters of the European Union Agency for the Space programme (EUSPA). EUSPA continues to expand its operations in the Czech Republic, and EUSPA and the Czech government have signed a joint memorandum of understanding to support the relocation of the seat of the agency from Prague's Holešovice to the nearby "Nová Palmovka" facility.  

The second episode of this special series of Space Cafe Black Ops with Dr. Namrata Goswami as resident guest is focused on the US. How did the nation build its space power, what are the differences between the space race during the cold war and today?

NASA has invited U.S. and Indian space agencies dignitaries and media members to see the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR)’s science payload in a Jet Propulsion Laboratory clean room. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar is an Earth science satellite that NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) are jointly building. NASA invited the dignitaries to get a look at it before shipping it out to its last stop in Southern India before launching it into orbit. 

NASA has selected veteran astronaut Joe Acaba as chief of the Astronaut Office at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. As a result, Acaba will take the place of NASA astronaut Drew Feustel, who spent two years as deputy chief and has been acting chief of the office since NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman left the post late last year.

Capella Space has announced the formation of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Capella Federal. The new entity enables the company to further support its U.S. Government and defense agency customers by providing expanded access to its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery with increased security and continued on-demand reliability.

The African Union Commission (AUC) and the Egyptian Government have, via a signed agreement, formally inaugurated and declared the African Space Agency (AfSA) open and operational on January 25 2023. The agreement establishes the general framework regulating the relationship between the parties, which will serve as a platform for space research and innovation on the continent.

Airbus has signed a contract with the Belgian Ministry of Defense to provide tactical satellite communications services for a 15-year period. The Armed Forces will utilize channels of the Airbus UHF (Ultra High Frequency) military communications hosted payload on board a commercial telecommunications satellite manufactured by Airbus.

NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced a collaboration to demonstrate an in-space nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) engine. They will collaborate on the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program, enabling NASA crewed missions to Mars. The non-reimbursable agreement will benefit both agencies and outline the roles, responsibilities, and processes to speed up development efforts.

Spanish Government satellite operator Hisdesat has awarded GMV a contract to build and develop the ground segment of the SPAINSAT NG program satellites. These two new satellites, scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2025, will replace the operator’s current SpainSat and XTAR-EUR satellites and significantly improve their performance and capabilities. 

The European Space Agency (ESA), the European Commission, and Promus Ventures have joined efforts for a Space Index which Euronext will launch, develop, and maintain. This is the first Euronext European space-related index to measure the stock market performance of European companies in the space sector. Through the partnership, the European Commission, ESA, and Promus Ventures intend to provide their expert advice in their respective areas of activity to Euronext in relation to the index.