News

Euroconsult, the space consulting and market intelligence firm, estimates the Earth Observation (EO) manufacturing market to grow to US $76.1B in revenue by 2030. The data were released in the company’s ''Earth Observation Satellite Systems Market'' report. Between 2011-2020, 65% of EO satellite launches were commercial but only captured a negligible 4% of the market value.

Intelsat buys two software-defined satellites from Thales Alenia Space, the satellite operator said. The two satellites will advance Intelsat’s software-defined 5G GEO network and enables “greater agility, flexibility and orchestration across edge, satellite and core”, Intelsat said.

Airbus Crisa, an affiliate company of Airbus, has signed a contract with Northrop Grumman to develop the Power Management and Distribution (PMAD) system for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), Airbus announced. The contract worth over US $50M marks Airbus’ first contribution to the Lunar Gateway, part of NASA’s Artemis program.

Space infrastructure company, Masten, announced they were already preparing for their second Moon mission, although Mission 1 has not left Earth yet. The company claims that they are capable of launching Mission 2 as early as six months after Mission 1.  Masten’s first mission to the Moon, landing near the Haworth Crater, is scheduled for the end of 2023.

Space consulting and market intelligence company, Euroconsult, estimates that the global space economy totaled US $370B last year. The figures leading up to the estimation can be found in their Space Economy report for 2021. These include the commercial and governmental space market (US $337B), internal costs and R&D of government organizations (US $33B).

In our next Space Café “Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland”, Host Steven Freeland, Emeritus Professor of International Law at Western Sydney University, Sydney and Professorial Fellow at Bond University, Australia, and Co-Host Torsten Kriening, SpaceWatch.Global’s Publisher, welcome Gérardine Goh Escolar and Guoyu Wang at the wonderful and cosy Café in Singapore.

A research team led by Profs. Lin Yangting and Lin Honglei from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS) observed water signals in Moon surface reflectance spectral data. The discovery is the first evidence of in-situ detection of water on our natural satellite.

President Joe Biden has nominated Navy Vice Admiral Frank Whitworth to lead the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the institution responsible for analyzing and distributing satellite imagery for intelligence purposes. Career intelligence official Whitworth, currently serves as a director among top military officers advising the president and senior defense officials.

Rocket engineers at Gilmour Space Technologies have successfully test fired the most powerful rocket engine ever developed in Australia, Gilmour Space reported.The company achieved the full thrust of 110 kN (kilonewtons) during the 75-second test. Generating enough force to lift four SUVs off the ground, the test is a significant milestone for Gilmour Space.

The James Webb Space Telescope team successfully deployed the telescope’s 6.4-metre long gold-coated primary mirror, completing the final stage of deployments. Science operations are due to start this summer. The two wings of Webb’s primary mirror had to folded to fit inside Ariane 5’s fairing.