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Nanoracks Europe announced preparations to deploy FEES2, the first-ever 0.3U CubeSat from the ISS. The trackable satellite, the thickness of a cherry, was developed by GP Advanced Projects (GPAP). Production and space projects management company GPAP called the mission a “major milestone towards building the first Italian nanosatellite constellation for IoT.”

Saber Astronautics wants to bring Australians to the International Space Station (ISS) to do scientific research. The space mission operator said it has signed a deal with private spaceflight leader Axiom Space to bring Australians and Australian industry to the station’s orbiting microgravity laboratory and work on a new generation of space-developed products.

ESA and French space agency, CNES, are exploring the possibility to create a European Space Transportation Hub, ESA said. The Hub is planned to be located in the Paris region. It would bring the main European actors in space transportation together in the same location.

Today is the launch of the Space Arbitration Association, an association that will focus on providing information and organizing events around the topics of space and international arbitration. The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in space activities, which are expanding not only into new fields such as space tourism but also increasingly involve commercial actors.

NASA successfully launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission this morning on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The aim of the mission is to demonstrate that sending a large, high-speed spacecraft into the path of an asteroid could change its motion. DART will now deploy its Roll Out Solar Arrays (ROSA) to provide the power needed for its solar electric propulsion system.

The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) announced the first of a series of six launches with two Galileo satellites per launch, from Spaceport Kourou. Galileo satellites 27 and 28 will be launched on-board of a Soyuz rocket on 2nd December.  EUSPA will be in charge of Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) operations which will be overseen by a team of specialists.

The French Exotrail delivers its electric propulsion system to OHB´s microsatellite Triton-X Heavy, the company said. Exotrail signed a contract with the Luxembourg-based satellite manufacturer OHB Luxspace for the integration of Exotrail’s high thrust and flexible electric propulsion product ExoMG into the Triton-X Heavy platform, the firm said.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Space Agency at DLR support Isar Aerospace with €11 million to provide launch services for institutional payloads, the Munich-based startup said. The contract includes the provision of launch services for institutional European payloads of up to 150 kg on the first two flights

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 41st episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast #041: Stewart Bain, NorthStar Earth & Space and why our planet needs an image upgrade. Episode 041 features a special guest Stewart Bain. Cop26 in Glasgow did not manage to deliver the big hit that many would have expected.

James Webb Space Telescope’s launch date has been moved for the fourth time, to no earlier than 22nd December, NASA reported. The additional time will be used for further testing of the observatory, following a recent incident during launch preparations. Webb was previously scheduled to launch 18th December on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou.