Asia Pacific

The Korean Government is set to establish a fund to support private space startups, according to local sources. According to the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT, the Government will create a 50-billion-won fund ($38.5 million) by 2027 to invest in the private space sector. The Korea Venture Investment Corp will operate this fund.

ispace has announced that the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. (“Tokyo Stock Exchange”) has approved the initial listing of its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market. The date of listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market is tentatively April 12, 2023, and after that date, trading of the Company’s shares will be possible on the same exchange.

Privateer Space, a data and intelligence platform, announced on the 8th of March its partnership with WARPSPACE - a Tsukuba-based spacetech startup developing an optical inter-satellite data relay service - to provide space operators with essential data in a timely manner to safeguard their assets from objects orbiting space. 

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8th, it’s important to reflect on the value of women in the workplace, and the struggle they still face to emerge. From breaking down gender barriers to bringing unique perspectives and skills to their teams, women are a driving force behind successful organizations. However, being "behind" is not enough anymore.

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”.

Spaceflight Inc. has announced it will launch two BlackSky satellites aboard Rocket Lab’s next mission called “The Beat Goes On,” from Mahia, New Zealand. U.S.-based satellite maker LeoStella manufactured the satellites, which are now in New Zealand for the final stage of integration, with co-engineering from with BlackSky. The two spacecraft onboard the mission will be the 15th and 16th satellites in BlackSky’s growing constellation.

INNOSPACE has announced that it has set a new launch window from March 7 to March 21 (Brasilia Time, BRT) for the HANBIT-TLV first test flight from Brazil soil. The test will verify the flight performance of the 15-ton thrust single-stage hybrid engine from INNOSPACE.

In the Eighth episode of Space Café Israel, Meidad Pariente is in conversation with Alice Miller. Can you share something personal that isn’t written in your LinkedIn profile? Wow. Usually what you don't want people to know you don't write on your LinkedIn page. But I think one thing which is very, very dear to me, which is a very big part of my life, is lying under the stars.

International Women's Day 2023 - Space Café Summit - Women and Space: The view in 2023. On the 8th of March at 4 pm CET, on the occasion of International Women's Day, SpaceWatch.Global will hold a special Space Café summit fully dedicated to women in the space industry. Dr. Emma Gatti, SpaceWatch.Global's Editor-in-Chief, will interview Sumaya Al Hajeri, Technology Expert - UAE, Maya Glickman-Pariente, Spacecialist - Israel, Jennifer Manner, EchoStar - USA, Dr. Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, ORF - India, Jenni Tapio, ESA - Finland