Europe

Scorpio Shipmanagement equips its entire tanker and bulker fleet and connects its vessels with Marlink’s hybrid VSAT network solution, the company based in Oslo and Monaco said. The service extension will provide Scorpio with higher bandwidth services to meet an increasing level of business need for higher data rates and usage volumes.

One interesting development in the space sector is the rise of artificial intelligence. AI has long played an important role in space missions, and its role only continues to grow. But as AI becomes more central to humanity’s engagement with space, it raises legal and ethical challenges. Space law is well poised to respond to these challenges.

The Japanese startup Space BD works for JAXA, the space agency, on a protein experiment on board the International Space Station (ISS). Space BD utilizes the microgravity environment of ISS to grow high-quality protein crystals that are difficult to achieve on the ground.

The Lithuanian smallsat bus manufacturer and mission integrator NanoAvionics partners with the IoT startup OQ Technology to build, integrate and operate a nanosatellite for the 5G IoT mission named Tiger-2. The satellite is scheduled to be launched this year, the companies said.

OneWeb acquires the Texas-based TrustComm “to offer its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) network and connectivity services to U.S. government clients and TrustComm customers”, the company said. TrustComm was established in 1999 as a provider of managed satellite communications and professional services to commercial organizations and governments, OneWeb said.

The first Ariane 6 fairing arrived at Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana start a series of tests and prepare Europe’s next generation heavy-lift launch vehicle for flight, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. The two half-shells are manufactured by the Swiss Ruag.

One of the great privileges of my role in external relations at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (also known as ESO) is to represent the Organisation at the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

In this Space Cafe German edition, Andreas Schepers talked to ESA's international agencies coordinator and former ESA Astronaut and director of human spaceflight, Thomas Reiter about the past, present and future of human spaceflight. Thomas Reiter delivered a vivid report on his two spaceflights:

The U.S. military has no plan to shoot down the Long March 5B's remnants when they are expected to plunge back on Earth this weekend, the Guardian quoted the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin. Hope was the rocket would land in the ocean and that the latest estimate was that it would come down between Saturday and Sunday, he said, according to the Guardian.

The U.S. Air Force asked OneWeb and Hughes to connect the Arctic, the companies announced. Hughes and OneWeb announced their selection by the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) “to demonstrate managed LEO satellite communications (SATCOM) services to connect the Arctic region to sites around the globe”, the companies said in a statement.