Asia Pacific

Japan-based Global lunar exploration company ispace, has received a license from the Japanese government to conduct business activity on the Moon as part of its first lunar mission, the company said. The approval is the first granted under Japan’s Act on the Promotion of Business Activities for the Exploration and Development of Space Resources (Space Resources Act). 

OneWeb CEO Sunil Bharti Mittal has announced that it will become ready for service in the second half of 2023 as it will complete the launch of its constellations by March 2023. Sunil made this announcement at the ongoing Connecting the World from the Skies forum, organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Saudi Arabia Communications, Space & Technology Commission (CST). 

Fleet Space Technologies has announced a major new contract with Core Lithium. The 12-month agreement was signed on October 12 by Fleet Space co-founder & CEO Flavia Tata Nardini and Gareth Manderson, CEO of Core Lithium.

Black Ops returns with a mini-series fully dedicated to the Indo-Pacific and global geopolitical Space picture. Protagonist of the mini-series will be Dr. Namrata Goswami, an independent scholar on space policy and Great Power Politics. In the first episode of six, Namrata will discuss with SpaceWatch.Global Editor in Chief Emma Gatti the values, interests and cultures of the U.S., China, Russia, India, Japan, so to explain their investment in space capabilities.

The Australian Government has announced its commitment never to conduct destructive, direct-ascent anti‑satellite missile testing, consistent with its role as a responsible actor in space. When a party performs such tests, these tests generate large amounts of debris that remain in space for years. The debris subsequently threatens satellites and other space objects, risking the long-term sustainability of human activity in space.

Mengtian (“dreaming of the heavens”), the third module of China’s Tiangong space station has docked, completing its construction. The Long March 5B rocket that deployed the module is currently on its way back Earth, with an estimated uncontrolled re-entry this Saturday.

Continuing its cooperation with African countries, China has taken steps to strengthen its relations with Namibia in the space industry. China recently organized a "Talk with Taikonauts" session with eight African countries; Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Algeria, and Senegal

In our next Space Café “Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland”, Host Steven Freeland, Emeritus Professor of International Law at Western Sydney University, Sydney and Professorial Fellow at Bond University, Australia, and Co-Host Torsten Kriening, SpaceWatch.Global’s Publisher, welcome Olga Volynskaya and Lucien Rapp at the magnificent café Le Bibent in Toulouse where Adam Smith began writing The Wealth of Nations.

ispace, inc., a private Japanese company developing robotic spacecraft technologies, has announced that it has delivered its Mission 1 (M1) lunar lander, part of the company’s HAKUTO-R lunar exploration program, to the United States and is now in Cape Canaveral, Florida. In addition, ispace announced an updated launch window for M1.

Four South Australian companies are putting the final touches on the VS03 mission that will launch a rocket and state-of-the-art payloads to space from South Australia before the end of the year. The companies; Southern Launch, ATSpace, Asension and Inovor Technologies have collaborated on the mission which will see an ATSpace ‘Kestrel I’ rocket launched from the Southern Launch Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex in November.