Europe

Germany and France agreed to spend more money on Ariane 6 and back the new European launcher, as well as the smaller Vega, with public and institutional missions. The two large budget contributors to the European Space Agency (ESA) thus concluded a discussion and discord between Berlin and Paris that could not be solved at the last Member State meeting mid-July.

Thales Alenia Space will build two modules of the Axiom Space Station, “the world’s first commercial space station”. Thales and Axiom Space signed a contract for the development of the two elements that are scheduled for launch in 2024 and 2025 respectively, and will be docked to the International Space Station (ISS). The value of the contract is € 110 million.

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Joint Air Power Competence Centre, we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “From Satellite Generations to a Continuous Evolution”, originally published on the Joint Air Power Competence website.

RUAG Space extends its partnership with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) to produce payload fairings for the Atlas and the Vulcan Centaur rocket programs, the Swiss company said. RUAG Space and ULA modified and extended their existing development and production contract until 2024.

The European and the American space agencies, ESA and NASA, formed a strategic partnership to further Earth science and combat climate change. The aim of the partnership is to advance science and ensure that data from Earth-observing satellites are used to their best advantage, ESA said.

The Japanese lunar exploration company ispace has begun the assembly of the flight model for its lunar lander, which is to be used in the company’s first mission scheduled to launch in 2022, the company said. The final assembly of the flight model lander will be carried out in cooperation with Ariane Group at its facility in Lampoldshausen, Germany.

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Joint Air Power Competence Centre, we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Chinese ‘High-Risk’ Corporate Space Actors”, originally published on the Joint Air Power Competence website.

Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), provider of space-ground network and Earth observation (EO) services, has opened a new Ka-band antenna at its Antarctic station Troll, the company said. The antenna is part of the KSATlite network and will augment KSAT's Ka-band polar network to eight antennas by the end of the year, the company said.

Double quantum, different quantums: Eutelsat’s Quantum, the first in a new generation of software-defined satellites, will be launched on 27 July from Kourou while SES said it pushes a Luxembourgish consortium to develop a super secure quantum key distribution system.

ArianeGroup in Germany will develop a new, optional kick-stage for Ariane 6 called Astris, the company announced. The new, additional stage will “further increase the versatility of Ariane 6 and enhance performance for new types of mission”. ArianeGroup was picked as prime contractor by the European Space Agency (ESA). The contract is worth €90 million.