North America

Imagine if in all of human history no one had yet explored the oceans. Imagine if our first proverbial “toe in the water” was a mere 70 years ago but we had the technology of today with which to explore and exploit it. That’s very much the situation for space – the whole planet is converging on space at the same time. Let that sink in.

Nanoracks, Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin want to develop the “first-ever free-flying commercial space station”, Starlab, the companies said. The space station will be a continuously crewed commercial platform, dedicated to conducting critical research, fostering industrial activity, and ensuring continued U.S. presence and leadership in low-Earth orbit (LEO), the partners said.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is currently undergoing final checks after a successful arrival at the ESA launch Facility in Kourou French Guiana. Its launch is still scheduled for 18th December 2021, on an Ariane 5 rocket. The operational preparations of the world’s largest and most complex space science observatory will take two months in total.

First Eutelsat´s Belmer, then Intelsat´s Spengler: the CEO of the satellite operator Intelsat, Stephen Spengler, decided to step down and retire, the company said. “Stephen Spengler has decided to retire as CEO upon the Company’s emergence from its financial restructuring process and the naming of a successor”, Intelsat said. “Until that time, Spengler will continue as CEO and lead Intelsat

For the 80th edition of Space Café, SpaceWatch.Global Publisher Torsten Kriening caught up with Dr. Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, a Brussels based space policy expert who is a Vice President of Governmental Affairs EMEA at Planet, a global satellite imagery and insights provider. Well regarded in the space sector, the Polish-American policy expert previously worked for the European Commission,

In this session of Space Cafè “Moriba’s Vox Populi 07” Dr. Moriba Jah talked about Space threats or hazards? Can cultural differences explain space actor behavior(s)? Threats require the concurrent existence of opportunity, capability, and intent to cause harm. Physical sensors can help us measure and know the opportunity and capability. But not the intent. How do we infer intent?

On Monday, UBS analyst Myles Walton downgraded Virgin Galactic (ticker: SPCE) from Hold to Sell as the company is delaying commercial space flights. The news disappointed investors who had expected revenue-generating, commercial operations to start early next year. Last week Virgin said they would reorganise their development and test flight schedule.

Following a successful launch on Saturday, analysis showed that Lucy’s second array had not fully latched. NASA is currently investigating what caused the failure and how they could achieve full deployment of the solar array. The solar panels were successfully deployed 91 minutes after a smooth launch.

In this Space Café Radio – on tour in Geneva, SpaceWatch.Global event coordinator Chiara Moenter spoke with Almudena Azcárate Ortega, Associate Researcher at UNIDIR during the UNIDIR Outer Space Security Conference 2021 about her research, the work at UNIDIR, and the work that went into the organization of the conferences.

NASA’s Lucy mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids successfully launched on Saturday on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41. Over the next 12 years, Lucy will fly by one main-belt, and seven Trojan asteroids. The spacecraft will investigate “fossils” of planetary formation.