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Astrobotic announced on the 19th of December that their Peregrine lunar lander has successfully completed all integration milestones and was mated with United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket payload adapter on the 16th of November. After the three week campaign to fuel and complete final checkouts, the Peregrine spacecraft is ready to launch to the Moon on the 8th of January 2024. 

Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Aarti Holla-Maini, launches the “UNOOSA Space Bridge, Where Leaders Meet” at the World Space Forum in Vienna.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has successfully launched its 42nd Electron rocket and deployed a satellite for Japan-based Earth imaging company the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS). The mission was Rocket Lab’s 10th Electron launch for the year, surpassing the Company’s previous annual record of nine launches in 2022. As a result of the launch, Electron retains the title of the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually for the fifth year in a row.

NASA has launched its Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument as a payload on Intelsat 40E aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instrument aims to provide unprecedented resolution of monitoring major air pollutants – down to four square miles. As a result, it also aims to improve life on Earth by revolutionizing the way scientists observe air quality from space. 

Axiom Space announced it plans to launch its third mission, Ax-3, on the 9th of January 2024.  Four commercial astronauts will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceWatch.Global Editor-in-Chief Dr. Emma Gatti describes Space Bridge. UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini announces the creation of Space Bridge, a new UNOOSA initiative aimed at bridging the knowledge gap within the sector and bringing different stakeholders together to compare problems and find answers for the significant challenges of the domain

The day two of the World Space Forum 2023 at UNOOSA in Vienna was fully packed with interesting and informative panels and events. Dr. Emma Gatti and Torsten Kriening give a short review of this day, starting with a panel moderated by Emma, followed by a high level panel on sustainability moderated by the Director of UNOOSA, Aarti Holla-Maini. Torsten summarises the panel about the Summit of the Future and highlights the Space Cafe Podcast live recording.

True Anomaly, an aerospace company based in Colorado, announced on the 12th of December that it has closed a $100 million Series B equity raise. The round was led by Riot Ventures with participation from Eclipse, ACME Capital, Menlo Ventures, Narya, 645 Ventures, Rocketship.vc, Champion Hill Ventures, and FiveNine Ventures. True Anomaly was founded in 2022 to build solutions that address space domain awareness, security, and readiness challenges.

Helicity Space, a commercial space company developing in-space propulsion and power technology based on fusion power, has raised $5 million in seed round funding from several new investors. The successful raise enables Helicity Space to advance its proprietary technology, the Helicity Drive, which consists of scalable fusion propulsion engines that should enable safer, faster, reusable, and more fuel-efficient travel into deep space.

ispace, inc. and Orbit Fab, Inc have announced an agreement to collaborate on in-space propellant harvesting and delivery for future missions to the Moon. The partnership will leverage each company’s unique and complementary capabilities to develop effective propellants and fuels from resources in space, such as water, ice, and lunar regolith or fine and rocky soils found on the surface of the Moon.