Government

Luxembourg, 28 April 2021. – The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in the U.S. accepted to modify SpaceX’s Starlink license in the low Earth orbit (LEO), the commission said. Subject to a couple of conditions, the FCC granted SpaceX to change the primary operational altitude for 2814 satellites from the original 1100 to 1300 kilometer range to the new 540 to 570 kilometer range.

At its fourth meeting on 21 April 2021, the preparatory group for the European Space Traffic Management (STM) Conference set 7 July 2021 as the date for this event in virtual format. “With the progress we made at the hearing in March and the mapping we conducted at our preparatory group meeting this week, we are well prepared for an early July date” said Kai-Uwe Schrogl,

In March 2021 the UK Ministry of Defence published its Defence Command Paper, ‘Defence in a Competitive Age’ referred to as the DCP, dovetailing the UK Government’s ‘Global Britain in a Competitive Age: the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy’ referred to as the IR. To much less fanfare a Defence and Security Industrial Strategy,

Paris, 21 April 2021. – European space experts call for a better control of space debris and regulation of space traffic, the Financial Times (FT) reports. The launch of thousands of new satellites in ‘mega-constellations’ to improve global internet access will exacerbate the growing problem of space debris, the FT quoted experts from a conference of the European Space Agency (ESA) yesterday.

Paris, 21 April 2021. – The European Space Agency (ESA) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cooperate “to better address major global issues such as food security, and to take further advantage of the digital transformation in agriculture”, ESA said.

A European-wide survey aimed at identifying user needs and use cases for future EU GOVSATCOM services will be carried out by EU Member States and EU agencies within the ENTRUSTED project. The survey is addressed to governmental and institutional users managing security-critical missions, operations and infrastructures. Information will be collected between April and June.

Paris, 19 April 2021. – China intends to expand its destructive anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon arsenal to target U.S. satellites, the annual report of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) concluded.„China has already fielded ground-based ASAT missiles intended to destroy satellites in LEO and ground-based ASAT lasers probably intended to blind or damage sensitive space-based optical sensors on LEO satellites,” the unclassified report published last week found.

Paris, 19 April 2021. – U.S. president Joe Biden names former NASA astronaut Pam Melroy to serve as the agency’s deputy administrator, alongside Bill Nelson who was named 14th NASA administrator in March. “Pam’s experience as an astronaut, space shuttle commander, and U.S. Air Force test pilot would bring to NASA a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing the agency,” acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk commented.

by Blaine Curcio and Jean Deville As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Orbital Gateway Consulting we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “DFH Episode 8 – Chinese Space from a US Perspective (feat. Ian Christensen & Rob Ronci)", originally published 12 April 2021 here.

Macron names Philippe Baptiste new head of French CNES