Europe

Space transportation provider Spaceflight, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for upcoming launches with launch services provider Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), RFA said. Under the agreement, Spaceflight will fly its Sherpa orbital transfer vehicles (OTV) and other rideshare payloads on upcoming RFA missions.

In this Space Café Radio – SpaceWatch.Global Senior Editor and Space Cafè Italy Host Dr. Emma Gatti spoke with Prof. Richard Linares, Rockwell International Career Development Professor and Associate Professor at the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics of MIT (MA - USA), and Prof. Akhil Rao, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Middlebury College (VT - USA).

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has been awarded a €1.1 million contract by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Scylight program to support the development of the optical communication project NODES (Network of Optical stations for Data transfer to Earth from Space), SSC said. The company aims to legitimize the ground segment for the optical communication market. 

Wireless technology company Rivada Space Networks, the company launching a 600-satellite constellation to low Earth orbit (LEO), has joined the EU Secure Connectivity Programme. Digitization and increasing geopolitical and cybersecurity threats require secure and resilient global connectivity.

Optical Earth Observation (EO) technologies company Satlantis, and space missions, satellites and spacecraft subsystems provider OHB Sweden, have signed a contract for two microsatellites based on the OHB Sweden InnoSat platform, the companies announced.

Japan and Germany declared the countries will not conduct direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) missile testing, agreeing to the US-driven initiative launched earlier this year. The announcement was made during the second session of the UN Open-Ended Working Group on reducing space threats.

Nanosatellite manufacturer and operator GomSpace, has signed an over US $4-million contract with satellite technology company Unseenlabs, to deliver six more satellites. The spacecraft are expected to be delivered by  Q3/Q4 of 2023.  The new satellites will be based on an upgraded platform the two companies co-developed in an ongoing project.

The 8th edition of the European Rover Challenge, the largest space robotics competition, concluded this Sunday. The incredibly exciting rivalry of teams from all over the world was combined with numerous attractions and surprises. The organizers managed to bring a replica of Neil Armstrong's spacesuit; the audience could travel to the seabed of the Pacific Ocean, control rovers and walking robots, or meet space agencies’ experts. The yearly attraction was the world's largest artificial Marsyard, where rover competition took place.

In this Space Café Radio – SpaceWatch.Global Event coordinator and Space Café Young Global Talents Host Chiara Moenter spoke with Dr. Niamh Shaw, Irish award-winning communicator, writer and explorer of space activities, in the first week of the Space Studies Program (SSP22) of the International Space University (ISU).

Finnish microsatellite manufacturer ICEYE, and New Space optical imaging company Satlantis, announced preliminary plans to develop and manufacture a proposed Tandem for Earth Observation (Tandem4EO) constellation consisting of two SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) and two VHR (Very High Resolution) optical satellites.