Government

Imagine walking on a remote beach away from the polluting lights of a city. You look up and see thousands upon thousands of stars blanketing the heavens, bisected by the pale glow of our Milky Way—the galactic disc in which we live. You pick up a grain of sand and hold it at arms’ length to cover a minuscule portion of the night sky. What might lie in that tiny patch?

Space-based deliverables and services have become an integral part of life in most of the developed world. The space domain has witnessed a rapid increase in commercial capabilities and a growing number of nations worldwide are seeking to acquire space-derived benefits and in-house competences. Space thus is a dynamic environment

During this week’s Space Café, SpaceWatch.Global Publisher Torsten Kriening sat down with Chiara Moenter event coordinator, Space Cafe Benelux and Space Cafe Radio Host at SpaceWatch.Global and the co-founder of “SDG18: Space for All”. Currently, she is doing her masters in Sustainability Science at Maastricht University.

Europe has to accelerate the development of its space assets and architectures to “weigh in on the global stage”, the European commissioner for internal market, Thierry Breton, said. The commission will therefore launch the European Space Launcher Alliance, the "first ever" Space Partnership and a European Space & Defence Strategy, he said.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris charged the National Space Council to focus on the rules and norms governing space, leveraging space to tackle the climate crisis, and building a diverse space and STEM workforce, NASA said. The agency also announced a “strategic, first-of-its-kind partnership" with the European Space Agency (ESA) to observe Earth, its climate and changing environment.

Governments around the world spent $6.6 billion on government telecommunications programs in 2021, Euroconsult said. European countries spent over $2 billion on satcom, with France, the UK and Germany as leaders. Over the decade, governments worldwide are forecasted to invest over $70 billion in both civil and defence satellite communications systems.

The new German government has nominated Anna Christmann from Bündnis 90/Die Grünen as Coordinator of the Federal Government for German Aerospace. She succeeds Thomas Jarzombek from Düsseldorf, member of Bundestag since 2009 for the christian democrats CDU. The German aerospace coordinator sits within the Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection in Berlin.

NASA has awarded a $415.6 million to three U.S. companies to design commercial space stations, the U.S. agency said last week. The companies that received awards are Blue Origin ($130 million), Nanoracks ($160 million) and Northrop Grumman ($125.6 million).

In this Space Café Radio - Special on the recent Russian Anti-Satellite Test – SpaceWatch.Global contributing editor Dr. Emma Gatti spoke with her guests about "Is Space an asset, or a weapon?" In this special episode of Space Cafè Radio, we explore the political and strategic implications of the 15th of November 2021 Russian ASAT attack.

The member states of the European Space Agency (ESA) want to “accelerate the use of space in Europe to tackle the urgent and unprecedented societal, economic and security challenges faced by Europe and its citizens,” ESA said after a meeting of the countries´ ministers in charge of space in Matosinhos, Portugal.