China

China launched three astronauts to its Tiangong space station on Tuesday, putting a civilian into orbit for the first time as it pursues plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by the end of the decade, according to Times of India. 

Black Ops is our bi-monthly appointment with space geopolitics. This new series sees as visitor guest Dr. Namrata Goswami in dialogue with chief editor Dr. Emma Gatti

After the GLOC 2023 in Oslo, the SpaceWatch.Global team, Dr. Emma Gatti, Remco Timmermans and Torsten Kriening used the unique opportunity to talk with CGTV Space Reporter Wu Lei.

The Space Arbitration Association, supported by SpaceWatch.Global is featuring a new event series: Space Arbitration Regionally. The second event will take place on 30 May 2023 at 2 pm CEST and 8 am ET and focus on Asia.

In the third episode, Namrata and Emma will discuss the rise of the Chinese Space industry. From the projects for an independent Moon base to their progress in every sector of the space tech and military domain, China’s declared ambition is to become the strongest world power in 50 years from now, and space is one of their main tools to reach such a goal.

In this Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Peter Garretson,  Senior Fellow in Defense Studies with the American Foreign Policy Council and co-director if its Space Policy Initiative, and host of the Space Strategy Podcast.  He was previously the director of Air University’s Space Horizons Task Force, an Air Force think tank for space, and was a founder and deputy director of the U.S. Space Force’s Schriever Scholars Strategy Seminar, America’s premier military space strategy program.

The past four weeks have been eventful for the US Air Force. On Wednesday, February 1st 2023 an unknown floating balloon, the size of three school buses, was spotted flying over Billings, Montana, at around 18 km above the ground. On Friday, February 3rd, Mao Ning, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Foreign Minister’s spokesperson, released a note claiming that the airship was  “of a civilian nature, used for scientific research such as meteorology. Affected by the westerly wind and its control ability is limited, the airship seriously deviated from the scheduled route. China regrets that the airship strayed into the United States due to force majeure”.

The Hague Institute for Global Justice has introduced The Washington Compact on Norms of Behavior for Commercial Space Operations, marking a historic milestone for the global space industry. The unveiling happened at the Metropolitan Club, D.C., on 7 February 2023. As a result, the Washington Compact demonstrates the international community's commitment to the sustainable commercial use of outer space for the benefit of all humankind.

Galactic Energy, a rocket startup in China, launched five satellites into orbit on Monday, January 9, improving the private company’s ambition to become the Chinese rival to SpaceX.

The Republic of Djibouti has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hong Kong Aerospace Technology Group Limited and Touchroad International Holdings Group to develop an international commercial spaceport in its northern Obock Region of Djibouti.