Government

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully launched the second developmental flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV-D2) today, February 10, 2023, at 09:18 hours IST from the first launch pad at SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. The SSLV-D2 mission aims to inject EOS-07, Janus-1, and AzaadiSAT-2 satellites into a 450 km circular orbit in its 15-minute flight.

Three European Service Modules (ESMs) are currently undergoing integration in parallel in Airbus’ Bremen cleanrooms. Consequently, the integration of ESM-3 is almost complete, and ESM-4 is well underway. As a result, the newly arrived ESM-5 structure is undergoing initial integration. Each ESM requires the integration of more than 22,000 elements.

Following the violent earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria on the night of 6 February, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has made satellite images from the COSMO-SkyMed radar constellation available

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.