Asia Pacific

Equatorial Space, Singapore’s launcher startup, has revealed a new 12,000-square-foot headquarters and production facility in the Tuas area of the island-state at an opening ceremony. The ceremony featured more than 40 representatives from Singapore’s government agencies and fellow industry players. The facility features a 40ft-container-accessible production floor and a 420 square foot avionics & payload processing room being fitted to ISO 8 standards to support its suborbital launch services starting in 2024 and orbital launches beginning in 2026.

This episode is part of our Karman mini-series, produced in collaboration with the Karman Project. Every year, the Karman Project selects 15 fellows from around the world to foster trust, cooperation, and dialogue between global leaders in space. Today's guest is Trent Tresch, the founding director of the University of Arizona Center for Human Space Exploration.

Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Aarti Holla-Maini, launches the “UNOOSA Space Bridge, Where Leaders Meet” at the World Space Forum in Vienna.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has successfully launched its 42nd Electron rocket and deployed a satellite for Japan-based Earth imaging company the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS). The mission was Rocket Lab’s 10th Electron launch for the year, surpassing the Company’s previous annual record of nine launches in 2022. As a result of the launch, Electron retains the title of the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually for the fifth year in a row.

NASA has launched its Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument as a payload on Intelsat 40E aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instrument aims to provide unprecedented resolution of monitoring major air pollutants – down to four square miles. As a result, it also aims to improve life on Earth by revolutionizing the way scientists observe air quality from space. 

SpaceWatch.Global Editor-in-Chief Dr. Emma Gatti describes Space Bridge. UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini announces the creation of Space Bridge, a new UNOOSA initiative aimed at bridging the knowledge gap within the sector and bringing different stakeholders together to compare problems and find answers for the significant challenges of the domain

The day two of the World Space Forum 2023 at UNOOSA in Vienna was fully packed with interesting and informative panels and events. Dr. Emma Gatti and Torsten Kriening give a short review of this day, starting with a panel moderated by Emma, followed by a high level panel on sustainability moderated by the Director of UNOOSA, Aarti Holla-Maini. Torsten summarises the panel about the Summit of the Future and highlights the Space Cafe Podcast live recording.

Researchers are using a human-machine collaborative approach to assess areas of poverty in underdeveloped nations. Providing an accurate assessment of poverty is a global challenge with 53 countries not conducting agricultural surveys in the past 15 years, and 17 countries not publishing a population census. To fill the data gap new technologies are being used to estimate poverty using alternative sources including street views, aerial photos, and satellite images. 

ispace, inc. and Orbit Fab, Inc have announced an agreement to collaborate on in-space propellant harvesting and delivery for future missions to the Moon. The partnership will leverage each company’s unique and complementary capabilities to develop effective propellants and fuels from resources in space, such as water, ice, and lunar regolith or fine and rocky soils found on the surface of the Moon.

Thales Alenia Space has signed a multi-mission contract with PT Len Industri to provide a state-of-the-art Earth observation constellation combining both radar and optical sensors and dedicated to the Indonesian Ministry of Defence (MoD). As a result, both companies will join forces to deploy an end-to-end system including space and ground segment in Indonesia.