News

Launch service provider Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) has successfully hot-fired its upper stage for a full duration of 280 seconds. This marks the successful completion of the Integrated System Test (IST) campaign, in which the Company integrated a staged combustion Helix engine into an upper-stage tank system and hot fired several times prior to completing the full duration in the final test. 

Inmarsat Maritime, a Viasat business, has announced its new Fleet Reach coastal LTE service for maritime connectivity, which brings uninterrupted high-speed broadband to merchant, offshore, energy, and fishing customers – even when they are sailing near the coast or are docked in-port.

This Space Café Austria will feature Margit Mischkulnig, Head of Department for Space Affairs at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, in conversation with Sabine Pongruber, Founder and CEO of WEME Global and a friend of SpaceWatch.Global. "Austria's Footprint in Space" In our upcoming Space Café Austria, we're going to delve into the real-life impact of Austria's leadership in Energy Transition with Space Data.

The Maldives hosted its first ever space conference last month. The Space for Island Nations Conference 2023, or ‘SINC’ for short. Of course the name ‘SINC’ was chosen with a wink. Small island nations are in trouble. As the flattest country on Earth (an average of 1.2 metres above sea level and only 0.4% of land area), the threat posed to the Maldives by climate change has been known for decades.

On the 1st of June following the opening session of  the European Navigation Conference (ENC) the main procurement batch of Galileo Second Generation initiated last summer has been finalised. The system is ready for its In Orbit Validation development phase.

The Pentagon has announced on the 1st of June that it has agreed to purchase Starlink satellite internet terminals from SpaceX for use in Ukraine. The Pentagon has declined to offer additional contract details, including the price, scope and timeline of the delivery. 

Pixxel has announced $36 Million in a Series B funding round with participation from new investors such as Google, along with existing investors Radical Ventures, Lightspeed, Blume Ventures, growX, Sparta, and Athera. The new funds will advance Pixxel’s mission to build the world’s first and highest-resolution hyperspectral satellite constellation, delivering actionable climate insights on a planetary scale. It will also help further the development of Aurora: Pixxel’s AI-powered analytics platform to make hyperspectral analysis accessible for everyone.

Viasat Inc., a global communications company, has announced the completion of its acquisition of Inmarsat. The combined company enhances its scale and scope to continue to drive growth in the increasingly dynamic and competitive satellite communications industry. In addition, the company’s assets, once fully integrated, will tentatively increase the pace and scope of innovation in the global satellite connectivity sector. Furthermore, it will offer new and better capabilities to customers that will address the ever-increasing speed, flexibility, reliability, coverage, and security they demand.

In this  Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global Editor in Chief Dr. Emma Gatti spoke with Savino Ruà,  International Relations Officer at DG DEFIS (European Commission) and  Cecilia Donati, Policy Officer Digital and Space for Development at DG INTPA (European Commission) about the recent NewSpace Africa Conference 2023, which took place in Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast, between the 26th and 27th of April 2023.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and ESA announced on the 31st of May that they have opened the third round of applications for the Fellowship Programme on the Large Diameter Centrifuge Facility Hypergravity Experiment Series (HyperGES).