Asia Pacific

ispace, inc. has issued an update on the status of the HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander. The HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander was scheduled to touchdown on the surface of the Moon at approximately 1:40 a.m. JST. As of 8:00 a.m. JST, April 26, 2023, the communication between the lander and the Mission Control Center is lost, despite expecting it even after the touchdown. As a result, ispace has determined that Success 9 of the Mission Milestones is not achievable.

Kacific has, through its CommsBox, a transportable, all-in-one satellite communications product, received recognition at the 10th annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. Kacific won the Gold Stevie® Award for “Achievement in Product Innovation” with CommsBox, which addresses the challenges faced by disaster-prone areas. Users can quickly and easily deploy CommsBox to create a self-contained wireless communication network.

Southern Launch and the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation have partnered and will begin work on permanent world-class space facilities after the Australian Federal Government awarded almost $4.5 million in funding to the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation.

ispace, inc., a global lunar exploration company, has announced that its HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander has completed all planned orbital control maneuvers, completing Success 8 of the Mission 1 Milestones.

KT SAT Corporation Ltd. (KT SAT) and Thales Alenia Space have announced that KOREASAT 6A will embark on a satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) payload to improve the continuity and availability of the Korea Augmentation Satellite System (KASS).

Dawn Aerospace, a space transportation company with operations in New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the United States, has announced the successful completion of the first rocket-powered flight campaign of its spaceplane, the Mk-II Aurora. The flights occurred at Glentanner Aerodrome on the 29, 30, and 31 March. For the Company, the accomplishment signifies a major milestone in its mission to revolutionize space access as well and thus provide end-to-end space transportation.

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Héloïse Vertadier and Christopher Johnson in a conversation with Torsten Kriening about "Lunar Policy Handbook: Guiding Responsible and Sustainable Development of the Moon". This document is a reference guidebook for government personnel and private actors in the space industry. It is designed to be a high-level guide that is useful for a broad audience of space actors, outlining policy issues and operational considerations related to lunar activities.

Epiroc, a productivity and sustainability partner for the mining and infrastructure industries, has signed a long-term collaboration agreement with ispace that will involve Epiroc contributing technology and solutions for commercial Moon missions. 

Equatorial Space Systems has raised a Seed Round totaling USD 1.5 million. This fund will develop the company’s Dorado commercial-sounding rocket family, which will provide low-cost space access for science experiments, technology demonstrators, and academic payloads. lev8.VC led the funding round, with Seeds Capital and Masik Enterprises joining as well.

Thaicom Public Company Limited has announced a partnership agreement with Globalstar, Inc. to collaborate on establishing and operating Globalstar’s low-earth orbit satellite (LEO) ground facilities in Thailand and regional commercial service deployment, with a focus on personnel safety and management solutions for Thailand’s Tourism and Maritime industry.