Europe

Emrod has announced that it has received acceptance into the European Space Agency (ESA) Business Incubation Centers (BIC), the ESA's business incubation program. ESA BIC is a place in Europe for space entrepreneurs, with Alumni including Lilium, Quantum Systems, Blickfeld, and Isar Aerospace. According to the Company, it is a launch pad for Emrod in Europe to strengthen its aerospace partnerships and operations by gaining access to the most advanced research facilities, space and energy professionals, and a network of hundreds of ESA-affiliated experts.

NeuralAgent GmbH, a Munich, Germany-based software intelligence Start-Up, and Miratlas SAS, a French atmospheric data characterization Start-Up, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to join forces for the new space market around building a predictive and robust networking capability for global space to earth optical communications around heavy atmospheric conditions.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak and French Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu approved an agreement between Airbus and the Polish Armaments Agency. Under this agreement, France will deliver two reconnaissance satellites and a ground station to Poland, the ministers said at a press conference.

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present: The Space Café Podcast #70: Jim Green - former chief scientist NASA about the past and future of space science and the agency’s secret sauce. James Green has served 40 years with NASA and sports some of its most prestigious missions. In the current episode of the Space Café Podcast, he talks about SLS, James Webb, Artemis, DART, space science and the future of the space industry. 

In this Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Kevin Scullion, International Trade Specialist at Scottish Development International (SDI), about the Scottish space sector, the opportunities and the challenges and the strategy for supporting space to become a unique business segment for Scotland.

GKN Aerospace has signed a contract with ArianeGroup to supply the next phase of Ariane 6 turbines and Vulcain nozzles. The contract includes the manufacturing and supply of units for the next 14 Ariane 6 launchers, which will begin production now until 2025

 The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Government of the United Kingdom are strengthening their partnership with a new project to bolster space sustainability. Efforts will focus on raising awareness and building capacity related to implementing the Guidelines for the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities.

Following consent from Transport Secretary Mark Harper, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued the final remaining licences to Virgin Orbit ahead of its planned launch from the UK, the UK Government stated. The CAA granted the licences within 15 months.

NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) to provide launch services for the Sentinel-6B mission. Sentinel-6B will continue the long-term global sea level data record begun in 1992 by Topex/Poseidon, followed by Jason 1, 2, 3, and Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich. The mission is a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected OKAPI:Orbits to assess the provision of potential future external conjunction assessment support services to ESA. The selection is under a pilot scheme testing and complementing ESA's existing and established collision avoidance processes. ESA currently uses the collision avoidance processes for its SWARM mission.