The Arianespace and ESA-set up independent inquiry commission has disclosed its conclusions on the reasons for the loss of the Vega-C VV22 mission after its launch in French Guiana on Tuesday, 20 December 2022. According to the Commission, after the nominal functioning of the Vega-C first stage P120C and nominal ignition of the second stage (Zefiro 40), a progressive decrease in the chamber pressure 151 seconds after lift-off led to the loss of the mission.
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Opinion: On Chinese Balloons And Other Devices – A Space perspective
The past four weeks have been eventful for the US Air Force. On Wednesday, February 1st 2023 an unknown floating balloon, the size of three school buses, was spotted flying over Billings, Montana, at around 18 km above the ground. On Friday, February 3rd, Mao Ning, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Foreign Minister’s spokesperson, released a note claiming that the airship was “of a civilian nature, used for scientific research such as meteorology. Affected by the westerly wind and its control ability is limited, the airship seriously deviated from the scheduled route. China regrets that the airship strayed into the United States due to force majeure”.
Read More »Spaceflight Inc. Readies BlackSky Satellites for Launch
Spaceflight Inc. has announced it will launch two BlackSky satellites aboard Rocket Lab’s next mission called “The Beat Goes On,” from Mahia, New Zealand. U.S.-based satellite maker LeoStella manufactured the satellites, which are now in New Zealand for the final stage of integration, with co-engineering from with BlackSky. The two spacecraft onboard the mission will be the 15th and 16th satellites in BlackSky’s growing constellation.
Read More »INNOSPACE to Set New Launch Window for HANBIT-TLV
INNOSPACE has announced that it has set a new launch window from March 7 to March 21 (Brasilia Time, BRT) for the HANBIT-TLV first test flight from Brazil soil. The test will verify the flight performance of the 15-ton thrust single-stage hybrid engine from INNOSPACE.
Read More »constellr and Exolaunch Sign Multi-Launch Agreement to Deploy Microsat Constellation
Two Germany NewSpace companies - constellr, a technology company enabling space-based water, temperature and carbon measurement for the agricultural sector, and Exolaunch, a global provider of launch, deployment and in-space logistics services, have announced the signing of the multi-launch agreement (MLA) for constellr’s high precision versatile ecosphere monitoring (HiVE) microsat constellation.
Read More »ESA’s Biomass satellite robust for launch
ESA’s Earth Explorer Biomass satellite has undergone testing to ensure it will survive liftoff and deploy its solar array correctly. Having passed these tests successfully Biomass is closer to its mission in orbit: to deliver new information on our forests and the carbon they store.
Read More »CesiumAstro Wins SDA Award to Advance AESA Development
Shey SabripourCesiumAstro has announced that it won a contract through the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Space Development Agency (SDA) to advance the company’s multi-beam L-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) antenna. Building upon prior efforts, CesiumAstro will continue developing the Link 16–compatible AESA ahead of the agency’s migration to the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) global satellite network, the LEO-based satellite constellation built to enable key DoD space capabilities.
Read More »Register Today for our Space Café ,,33 minutes with Maya Glickman-Pariente” on 14 March 2023
This Space Café WebTalk will feature Maya Glickman-Pariente - CEO, SPACECIALIST, Head of Space Operations, SAS Founder of “My space academy” - in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global. "The next generation of space operation - do we really need humans in the loop?" As we dive deeper (or fly higher) into the era of satellite constellations, with dozens, and sometimes thousands of satellites operated simultaneously by privately owned companies, we see a wind of change in the SatOps business. This change is inevitable.
Read More »ESO and Astronomy Groups Petition the UN COPUOS
An international collaboration involving ESO has submitted a paper to the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) proposing a new Expert Group to protect dark and quiet skies. The paper underwent discussion at the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) of COPUOS under a special agenda item on Dark and Quiet skies.
Read More »UNIO appoints Telecom executive as new CEO
UNIO, a European LEO satellite operator space start-up, has appointed Katrin Bacic as their new CEO. Previously Bacic was Managing Director and Chief Strategy Officer at Wayra Germany, the innovation and investment unit of telecommunications group Telefónica from 2018 to 2023. Christian Lindener had led UNIO as interim CEO since its founding who will now focus on developing the European business of US venture builder Mach49 as its partner.
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