Asia Pacific

Canadensys Aerospace Corporation has announced that its multi-camera AI-enabled lunar 360-degree imaging system is now on its way to the Moon.  On December 11, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the imaging system launched into space aboard the Japanese ispace Hakuto-R lunar lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. As part of the in-space check-out procedure on its way to the Moon, one of the cameras in the system captured this spectacular image of our home planet. Also visible in the image is the spent 2nd stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, as it falls away from the Hakuto-R spacecraft.

South Korean rocket startup Innospace is planning to launch its suborbital technology demonstration rocket, HANBIT-TLV, later this month. The launch will validate the company's hybrid rocket engine that uses liquid oxygen and paraffin-based propellants. While the company set December 14-21 as a launch window at the Alcântara Space Center in northern Brazil, the company said the exact date and time will be decided after consultations with the Brazilian air force.

Online fashion retailer Yusaku Maezawa, the Japanese billionaire who purchased all the seats aboard SpaceX’s Starship, has picked eight crew members to accompany him on the journey. for the first-ever artist-centered mission.

Global lunar exploration company, ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lunar lander has successfully established communications with Earth following its launch by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket yesterday, the HAKUTO-R Mission Control Center in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, confirmed.

Astroscale Japan Inc., a subsidiary of Astroscale Holdings Inc. (“Astroscale”), a satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability Company, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have started concept co-creation activities for a satellite refueling service under the JAXA Space Innovation through Partnership and Co-creation (J-SPARC). The aim is to explore concepts for a fuel delivery service for one year toward realizing space sustainability. The mission concept will be to provide refueling service on orbit to satellites that are both prepared and unprepared to be refueled.

Space Café "Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland" will analyse current space developments with a legal focus. It will, at the same time discuss and ‘demystify’ the law for everyone.

Dawn Aerospace, a New Zealand space-transportation company, has announced $20 million in funding from Icehouse Ventures, one of its largest-ever investments in a New Zealand company, in addition to support from GD1 and Movac.

Black Ops with Namrata Goswami ep. 1 - Space Policy and Geopolitics: A Strategic Game of Interest, Values, Culture. 

In this Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global's Marketing Intern Jim Murphy spoke with Aakash Parekh, the Chief Commercial Officer at Pixxel.  Pixxel is a space data company building a constellation of hyperspectral earth imaging satellites with the aim of detecting, monitoring and predicting global phenomena.