News

In this episode of Space Café Radio, SpaceWatch.Global’s publisher, Torsten Kriening, talks with Nicole Thalhofer, head of Space at the BDLI - German Aerospace Industries Association, about the new German Space Strategy, released at the end of September 2023. The strategy identifies nine fields of action for the German Federal Government. These action fields include: European and international cooperation, Space as a growth market - High-tech and New Space, Climate change, resources, and environmental protection, Digitalization, data, and downstream, Security, strategic capability, and global stability, Sustainable use of space, Space research, International space exploration, Space in dialogue and talent acquisition

Bob Smith, the now retiring former CEO of Blue Origin, was invited at the Financial Times Investing in Space Summit in June 2023 to provide an overview of the future of Orbital Reef, the commercial space station being developed jointly by Blue Origin and Sierra Space. His statements about Orbital Reef were considered a bit disappointing by the inner circle of Space analysts, but nothing in Smith’s tone hinted at the shocking developments that just unfolded.

Ubotica Technologies, an Irish space company, announced on the 10th of October the formation of a new US corporate entity alongside the opening of its new US headquarters situated within the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI).

A European Space Agency (ESA) - funded study has reported the state of Antarctica's ice shelves, relying on information from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and ESA’s CryoSat satellite missions. The study, which has been published in the journal Science Advances, is based on 100,000 satellite radar images to produce a major assessment of the ‘state of the health’ of Antarctica’s ice shelves.

Relativity Space, an American 3D printing rocket company, announced on the 11th of October that it has signed a multi-year, multi-launch Launch Services Agreement (LSA) with Intelsat. Under the agreement Relativity will launch Intelsat satellites on Terran R as early as 2026.

ICEYE and the European Space Agency have partnered to participate in the Civil Security from Space Program (CSS) to revolutionize disaster and crisis management from the vantage point of space. This is the first CSS Partnership contract under the CSS program and aims to develop an advanced suite of natural catastrophe monitoring services.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded Skyrora, Viasat, and CGI a contract under the Commercial Space Transportation Services program to demonstrate InRange, a space-based launch vehicle telemetry relay system which will benefit launch vehicle providers across the industry globally. InRange will enable Skyrora to achieve continuous transmission of telemetry data during flight, from launch to payload deployment.

Astrobotic, an American company developing space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions, announced on the 10th of October that it has successfully completed a flight test campaign for the University of Central Florida (UCF). The flight test took place last week at the company’s facility in Mojave, California. 

ESA announced the latest focused product release from the Gaia mission. Gaia was launched in 2013 and is mapping our galaxy and beyond in great detail, completing the most accurate stellar census. 

OroraTech has announced the extension of its management board in preparation for its next growth phase. As a result, the Company appointed Dr Martin Langer as its new Chief Executive Officer, taking over from Co-Founder Thomas Grübler.