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SPAC mergers with space companies made a comeback, with Planet’s and Satellogic’s announced transactions raising almost US$900 million*. Purely private rounds added another US$366 million. Also noteworthy were two public listings in the sector: (1) Seraphim Space Investment Trust raising GBP178.4 million for acquiring stakes held by Seraphim Capital in 15 space companies;

A software failure caused a thruster misfiring and tilted the International Space Station (ISS) during the docking of the Russian science module Nauka, space agencies and media reports said on Friday. Nauka inadvertently started to fire its thrusters after its successful docking to the ISS and tilted the station, causing a loss of attitude control for around 45 minutes, the reports said.

In honour of this sacred experience and all of you who know me and have enrolled in this global vision, I, Moriba Jah have partnered with SpaceWatch.Global to run an exciting Space Café series: Moriba’s Vox Populi (Latin for “the people’s voice”) where I intend to choose topics of relevance to space safety, security, and sustainability and have an hour-long“chill in a lounge chair”

Rocket Lab has successfully launched the U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) research and development satellite into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The mission was one of Rocket Lab’s over 100 satellite launches, its fourth launch for the year and its 21st Electron mission, the company said.

California based Varda Space Industries, a start-up founded last year by a pair with experience at SpaceX and Founders Fund, has raised over $50 million for its first mission due in 2023. The first on-orbit space factory is planned to bring back 100 kg of material during its first assignment.

Previously, research has suggested the presence of molecular oxygen (O2) after auroral bands were discovered in the ultraviolet (UV) images produced by the Hubble Space Telescope. However, when comparing these to recent datasets, astronomers have discovered that there was almost no O2 in the atmosphere in 2018 implying another reason for the charged particle bands.

Rocket Lab has opened a launch window for U.S. Space Force`s Monolith mission for 29 July, the company said. Rocket Lab aims at launching the Air Force Research Laboratory-sponsored demonstration satellite called Monolith into low Earth orbit (LEO) on its Electron rocket from its Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand.

NASA has selected SpaceX for launching its first mission to explore one of Jupiter’s 79 moons, Europa, with a total contract award amount of $178 million, NASA said. The Europa Clipper mission will launch an orbiter around the gas giant in October 2024, from the Kennedy Space Centre’s Launch Complex 39A on a Falcon Heavy rocket.

In the latest Space Café “Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland”, Steven Freeland and Torsten Kriening welcomed Elina Morozova and Andrzej Misztal at the wonderful ‘Coffee-Desk’ Café in Warsaw. Over blueberry cake, home-made cookies, croissants, and coffee, the panelists, along with a lively audience engaged in a revealing

Space is changing – the near-Earth environment that was once principally used for largely strategic purposes by national governments is now increasingly being used for “tactical” applications by commercial companies. This creates a number of areas of potential contention – between different satellite operators competing for access to preferred orbital slots