News

NASA and SpaceX provided an update on the preparations of the Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) with NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines, Jessica Watkins, and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. Lindgren will serve as spacecraft commander, Hines will be the pilot, while Watkins and Cristoforetti are assigned as mission specialists.

In this Space Café Radio – on tour in Brussels at the 14th European Space Conference in the Egmont Palace, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency ESA about the strategic accelerators, Space for a green future, Rapid and resilient crisis response and Protection of space assets.

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Ran Livne, Director General of the Ramon Foundation, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global. A conversation about the upcoming Rakia mission. Ran has been the director-general of the Ramon Foundation since June 2015

SAR data provider and expert in NatCat solutions, Iceye, announced the closing of a US $136 million series D funding round, led by investor Seraphim Space. New strategic investors include BAE Systems and Kajima Ventures among others. Molten Ventures, Services Group of America, Space Capital, Promus Ventures and many more have also participated in the funding round.

The United States has refuted China’s diplomatic accusation that SpaceX’s Starlink satellites have endangered its crewed space station, in an official note verbale to the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs in Vienna. Beijing issued their note verbale in December to the same UN office.

During this week’s Space Café, SpaceWatch.Global Publisher Torsten Kriening caught up with Berlin-based litigation expert and ‘space geek’ Dr Jan Frohloff. Having completed undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and Kings College in London,

Turion Space has selected NanoAvionics’ small satellite bus MP42 as the basis for its ‘Droid-1’ spacecraft. Droid-1 is designed for reconnaissance missions in low Earth orbit (LEO) and is to launch in Q1 2023. The satellite will be capable of taking extremely accurate measurements of space objects using its onboard sensors.

KSAT adds satellite and mission control as a service to their portfolio, thus becoming the one-stop solution for all ground operation requirements. A dedicated group will perform adapted satellite and payload services from the company’s Satellite Operation Center, the company said.

Rocket Lab USA announced it will open a new space systems complex in Littleton, Colorado to support growing customer demand for flight software, mission simulation, and Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) services. Rocket Lab set its foot in Colorado in October last year when it acquired aerospace engineering firm, Advanced Solutions (ASI).

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Dr Nanja Strecker, managing director of ESA Business Incubation Centre (BIC) Switzerland, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global. Accelerating the Swiss Space ecosystem. Dr Nanja Strecker is an experienced innovation expert