Asia Pacific

The U.S. Space Force and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Air Force reached an agreement on 27th August to join South Korea’s air force in U.S. Space Force-led military drills, ROK Air Force said. The aim is to reinforce the U.S. Space Force’s defence capabilities in outer space.

August’s financing table is again led by a space company raising funds via a proposed merger with a SPAC: VirginOrbit who may raise up to US$483 million* from this deal. Over two dozen other rounds raised a total in excess of US$700 million. Besides yet another SPAC, other noteworthy deal structure were Swiss IoT constellation’s Astrocast’s,

Swinburne University of Technology partnered with Titomic to get one of their TKF1000 3D printing systems, of which only two exists in the world, the university said. This is the first system at an Australian university and will allow access for students, researchers and industry partners as well.

Two Australian satellites were successfully launched through Japanese Space BD on August 29, 2021 at 3:14 a.m. EDT, Space BD announced. This marks the first satellite launch for both the State of Western Australia, and the Australian Research Council Training Centre for CubeSats, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles and their Applications (CUAVA), and the first overseas launch for Space BD.

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Orbital Gateway Consulting we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Dongfang Hour China Aerospace News Roundup 23 - 29 August 2021”. A special shout-out to our friends at SpaceWatch.Global

In this edition of Space Café Australia, our host Annie Handmer is joined by space medicine researcher Vienna Tran, to talk about how space affects the human body, the philosophical questions that arise from human spaceflight. They will also delve into the enduring complexity of the relationship between science, policy, and society,

Astroscale’s End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) successfully captured its client spacecraft using its magnetic capture system. This could solve the challenge of capturing and docking during debris removal and on-orbit servicing, Astroscale said.

ispace, inc. unveiled its next generation lunar lander, Series 2, which the company will first use for its third lunar mission. The lander is 2.7 m tall and 4.2 m wide, including its legs. The new series is therefore larger in both size and customer payload capacity than the first-generation model, Series 1.

Rocket Lab will build two Photon spacecraft for NASA´s Escapade science mission to Mars, the launch company that will start trading on Nasdaq today said. Escapade stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers; the mission will orbit two Rocket Lab-built Photon spacecraft around Mars

The Morrison Government has given regulatory approval for tiSPACE to launch their rocket from the Whalers Way launch site. The Taiwanese company will launch its rocket from the newly licensed launch facility in South Australia later this year. tiSPACE will conduct a test flight of its Hapith I rocket from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex, operated by Southern Launch.