Europe

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Rider program has begun its validation and testing phase, as it prepares for its first flight in the third quarter of 2025. Space Rider is a reusable uncrewed robotic laboratory that will provide an end-to-end integrated space transportation system for commercial customers. When Space Rider has been launched into space it will spend two months in orbit whilst experiments and technology demonstrations take place before returning to Earth. 

In this compelling episode, host Markus delves deep with Alex Fielding, the co-founder of Privateer Space and tech industry veteran, exploring not just the future of space technology but its profound implications for social evolution, climate change, and the very fabric of our human experience. Set against the harrowing backdrop of the Hawaii wildfires, this conversation serves as a poignant and urgent reminder of the interconnected challenges we face. Get ready for a multi-faceted discussion that transcends the boundaries of science, touching the heart of ethical and existential dilemmas we can no longer afford to ignore.

Space Café "Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland" will analyse current space developments with a legal focus. It will, at the same time discuss and ‘demystify’ the law for everyone. In our next Space Café “Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland”, Host Steven Freeland, Emeritus Professor of International Law at Western Sydney University, Sydney and Professorial Fellow at Bond University, Australia, and Co-Host Torsten Kriening, SpaceWatch.Global’s Publisher, welcome Ann Vandenbrouke and Martin Reynders.

Azerbaijan has adopted the Law on Space Activities on 4 August 2023, consequently developing its national space legislature. It consists of six chapters and 24 articles and regulates the legal, economic and organizational bases of space activity in Azerbaijan. In addition to relations for the implementation of national activities in space and entrepreneurial activities in the space industry, the document concludes with a thorough analysis of safety in space activities and the space industry.

Viasat Inc. has confirmed that its Inmarsat-6 F2 (I6 F2) satellite, which launched on February 18, 2023, has suffered a power subsystem anomaly during its orbit-raising phase. At this stage, Viasat and Airbus, the satellite’s manufacturer, are working to determine the root cause of the anomaly and assess whether the satellite will be able to perform its mission.

The International Space University (ISU), Rice University, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) have announced the hosting of the 2024 Space Studies Program (SSP24) in Houston, Texas. The program, which will run from June 8 to August 3, 2024, will hold at Rice’s historic campus, a location deeply rooted in the annals of space exploration.

Greetings, SpaceWatchers, and welcome to Summer Listening Week Four! Summer is upon us, and as our gaze shifts towards the stars during those warm, clear nights, SpaceWatch.Global brings you its third collection of the Summer Listening Series. Based on the vote by our newsroom, we have mapped out an interstellar journey across five categories. After the Moon, Climate - Space - Earth and Trendsetters, this week is the turn of  “Space Debris and Regulations.”

The European Space Agency (ESA) has received information from the United States 18th Space Defense Squadron that it has detected new objects in the vicinity of the VESPA payload adapter. This adapter has remained in orbit following the 2013 launch of a Vega rocket from ESA’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Furthermore, it is a 113 kg, two-meter-diameter, conical upper portion of a payload adapter associated with the VV02 Vega launch that delivered the Proba-V, VNREDSat-1 and ESTCube-1 satellites into Earth orbit.

Sierra Space, a pureplay commercial space company, has announced that it has signed a strategic partnership with Redwire Corporation. As a result, both Companies will collaborate on groundbreaking commercial pharmaceutical and biotech R&D and manufacturing in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Redwire is delivering state-of-the-art, flight-proven biotechnology and manufacturing technologies that would integrate into Sierra Space's Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) habitat platform.

In this  Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Maxime Puteaux, Principal Advisor at Euroconsult in Paris, about 40 years of Euroconsult, current market trends, and the forthcoming World Satellite Business Week in September 2023. Space Café Radio brings you talks, interviews, and reports from the team of SpaceWatchers while out on the road. Each episode has a specific topic, unique content, and a personal touch. Enjoy the show,