Europe

In view of Germany's specific role in the international markets for space products and services, in which national organisations have long been active as well-positioned providers and diverse users -, consideration has been given for years to the question of whether there is a need for national space legislation that goes beyond the national implementation of UN treaties

ispace, inc. (ispace), along with IF SPV 1st Investment Partnership (managed by Incubate Fund) as the lead investor, Space Frontier Fund (managed by Sparks Innovation for Future, Inc.), Takasago Thermal Engineering Co., Ltd., and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd., announced that ispace raised approximately $28 million (USD)[1] from the four organizations for its Series B investment round.

In this week’s Space Cafè WebTalk, Renato Krpoun, Head of the Swiss Space Office at the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI, Switzerland talked about Swiss innovation in space.

Sustainability has been practiced as a precondition for survival by many indigenous groups throughout the span of history. For those of us concerned with sustainability in space—or “the ability of all humanity to continue to use outer space for peaceful purposes and socioeconomic benefit over the long term”— this ought to be a heartening reality, as we can look to these practices to help avoid “reinventing the wheel.”

Kepler, a developer of next-generation satellite communications technologies, and Exolaunch, a rideshare launch and deployment solutions provider, signed a launch agreement for two of Kepler’s 6U XL satellites.

The European Commission has contracted with EOS Data Analytics, a satellite analytics company founded by Max Polyakov, to develop technologies for the monitoring and analysis of mining sites across Europe. The three-year project, called Goldeneye, has a total budget of €8.3 million.

SpaceChain UK Limited (SpaceChain) announced the successful execution of the first multisignature blockchain transaction in space, marking the completion of a significant milestone supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) Space Solutions as a Kick-start Activity.

Airbus has been contracted by Arabsat, one of the world’s top satellite operators, to build BADR-8, their new generation telecommunications satellite. BADR-8 will replace and increase Arabsat’s capacity and augment its core business at the BADR hotspot 26°E.

As a member of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU, the United Nations specialised telecommunications agency), Hungary has met all the legal conditions and had all the international agreements (geostationary orbit, required frequencies) necessary to serve the country's communications and telecommunications needs with its own satellite since the 1990s

GomSpace and Fugro are collaborating to offer world class position and timing accuracy on nanosatellite.