North America

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) signed an agreement with the United Kingdom to address the information gap for space-related climate actions, the United Nations Information Service reported.  Space-based data and applications have long been utilized in climate change monitoring, research, and policy enactment.

The advent of NGSO systems has brought many technology changes to the satellite industry. The two that stand out the most for me are intersatellite links (ISLs) and lasers. Sure, we've also seen technology developments in propulsion, miniaturization, station-keeping and of course antenna design, but these technologies aren’t so much a function of NGSO developments

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 43rd episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast #043: Mike Simmons: Astronomy to the people. Episode 043 features a special guest Mike Simmons. Mike Simmons is a passionate advocate for the power of astronomy to bring people together and change the way we view our fragile home, Earth.

SpaceX launched a new set of Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket over the weekend, setting a new reusability record for the vehicle before launching a Turkish communication satellite just 16 hours later. While the 52 satellites were deployed by the rocket’s upper stage, the booster completed its record-breaking 11th flight.

Kacific Broadband Satellites announced that it is migrating to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to upscale its broadband internet services for the rural regions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The firm aims to complete the migration of its IT infrastructure and critical business applications by 2022.

The Luxembourg Future Fund (LFF) will be investing in NorthStar Earth & Space, building on the partnership between Luxembourg’s Ministry of the Economy and the Canadian-based company. NorthStar claims to be the first commercial service aiming at monitoring space via a constellation of satellites.

NASA and the ESA have rescheduled the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) for 24th December due to a communication problem between the spacecraft and ground equipment. JWST was placed on top of Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket over a week ago as part of launch preparations.

Kepler Communications will use Spire Global´s system as a test bed for its Aether network service, the Canadian telecommunication provider said. The initial test aboard a Spire satellite is due to launch in the fourth quarter 2022, Kepler said. Before, Kepler will conduct in-orbit testing of Aether onboard two new Kepler satellites.

SpaceWatch.Global has been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts by Steven Freeland. This is “What Sort of Space “Race” Should We Be Pursuing?”, originally published 15 December 2021 at Australian Institute of International Affairs by Steven Freeland. If a war in space does take place, the devastation would be long-lasting and perhaps irreversible.

The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs announced that five new countries joined the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) with the approval of the UNGA. Angola, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Panama and Slovenia took the number of member countries to 100.