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This Space Café WebTalk will feature Katherine Courtney, Former UK Space Agency CEO, Chair of the Global Network on Sustainability in Space, and Founder of PrimarySpace, London, United Kingdom, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global.

Luxembourg, 28 April 2021. – OHB wants to launch with Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) in 2024 and 2025, the company said. OHB Cosmos and the Luxembourg-based OHB affiliate LuxSpace signed a contract for a dedicated launch with RFA for upcoming missions scheduled for mid-2024 and 2025, OHB said.

Luxembourg, 28 April 2021. – Eutelsat invests in OneWeb and acquires a 24% stake for $550 million, “becoming a leading shareholder of the company alongside the UK Government and Bharti Global”, Eutelsat announced. OneWeb will operate 648 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), offering “significant” regional coverage by the end of 2021 and global coverage in 2022, Eutelsat said.

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.

Luxembourg, 28 April 2021. – JUICE is on its way: the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA) left Airbus’ satellite integration centre in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and is now on its way to the Large Space Simulator (LSS) chamber of ESA in Noordwijk, Netherlands, Airbus said.

This Space Café Germany will feature ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, former Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations, and today international coordinator and special advisor to the ESA Director-General, in conversation with Andreas Schepers, Senior Space Communicator and friend of SpaceWatch.Global.

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Laura Seward Forczyk, owner of space consulting firm Astralytical, Atlanta, USA, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global. My Ticket to Space! This Space Café will focus on the status of commercial human spaceflight. We will try to answer questions on suborbital vs orbital flight or commercial space stations.

Luxembourg, 27 April 2021. – Elon Musk shocked his audience when he admitted that “a bunch of people will probably die” in the attempt to get to Mars. “You might die, it’s going to be uncomfortable and probably won’t have good food,” Musk told Peter Diamandis, the founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation for scientific discovery, according to numerous media reports.

Luxembourg, 27 April 2021. – The European Space Agency (ESA) has asked a consortium around Inmarsat to develop a natural disaster early warning system. The London-based satellite operator, the research organization SINTEF and the Norwegian company Geonor have been awarded a three-year contract with ESA, Inmarsat said.

Luxembourg, 27 April 2021. – “Faster and farther”: NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity flew a third time, rising five meters high and 50 meters far at a top speed of 2 meters per second, the U.S. space agency said. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California received a first bunch of data and images that the Perseverance rover, serving as a communications base station, captured.