North America

The 2023 edition of the Small Satellites & Services International Forum (SSSIF) will be held again in Malaga from February 21st through 23rd. The SSSIF aims to reflect and discuss the global market, present challenges and future needs, and also debate the necessary cooperation between the United States and Europe both at the level of space agencies and at the level of private companies. Furthermore, it will pay attention to the role of Space Agency missions and programs in Earth exploration and Government scientific missions and their applications for private initiatives.

KSAT is currently installing four new antennas in Antarctica, expanding its capacity in the U.S. by adding multiple antennas in Hawaii, Alaska and the Southeast, and also expanding its footprint through partner networks. These antennas will add to KSATs current network with systems that will meet its new entrants and legacy operators' unique needs. Expanding Ka-band systems will also provide increased flexibility for missions requiring high-bandwidth communications.

Our Space Café “33 minutes with Markus Fritz ” about Mobility and Space – is Europe too late to win the Race? took place on Tuesday, 31 January 2023. In the first part of the conversation, the two discussed the current state of the satellite industry and the challenges it faces. Fritz explained that the industry is in the midst of a transformation and is facing many challenges, such as the cost of launching satellites and the competition between traditional satellite companies and new players entering the market.

NASA has invited U.S. and Indian space agencies dignitaries and media members to see the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR)’s science payload in a Jet Propulsion Laboratory clean room. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar is an Earth science satellite that NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) are jointly building. NASA invited the dignitaries to get a look at it before shipping it out to its last stop in Southern India before launching it into orbit. 

NASA has selected veteran astronaut Joe Acaba as chief of the Astronaut Office at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. As a result, Acaba will take the place of NASA astronaut Drew Feustel, who spent two years as deputy chief and has been acting chief of the office since NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman left the post late last year.

Spaceflight Inc. has announced that industry veteran and global business leader Tiphaine Louradour has joined the company as chief executive officer (CEO). She succeeds Curt Blake, a founding executive in the rideshare business who has served as Spaceflight CEO and president since 2013, navigating the development of a global portfolio of launch vehicles and services, including its ground-breaking Sherpa orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) program.

The first Lockheed Martin LM 400, a flexible, mid-sized satellite customizable for military, civil, or commercial users, rolled off the company’s digital factory production line and is advancing toward its planned 2023 launch. The agile LM 400 spacecraft bus design enables one platform to support multiple missions, including remote sensing, communications, imaging, radar, and persistent surveillance.

In the latest (12th) Space Café “Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland”, host Steven Freeland, Emeritus Professor of International Law at Western Sydney University, and Professorial Fellow at Bond University, Australia, and Co-Host Torsten Kriening, SpaceWatch.Global’s Publisher, welcomed Deepika Jeyakodi and Skip Smith to a wonderful picnic breakfast discussion outside the Madras High Court building.

Fleet Space Technologies has announced a new partnership with Canadian metal exploration company Power Nickel. The company, which specializes in exploring high-potential nickel, copper, gold, and other battery metal prospects in Canada and Chile, will use Fleet Space’s ExoSphere technology to seek additional high-grade nickel ore deposits at its NISK site in Quebec, Canada.

Capella Space has announced the formation of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Capella Federal. The new entity enables the company to further support its U.S. Government and defense agency customers by providing expanded access to its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery with increased security and continued on-demand reliability.