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The French Space Agency, CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales), selected private European launch service provider, Isar Aerospace, to operate its rockets at the Diamant site of CSG (Centre Spatial Guyanais) in French Guiana, Isar said. The company has signed a binding term sheet for conducting commercial and institutional launch operations at CSG starting from 2024.

Australia selected Airbus as the strategic partner for Defence’s Resilient Multi-mission Space STaR Shot, a strategic research program established to develop future space capabilities for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Australia’s Defence said. Satellite developer and integrator, Airbus Defence and Space, was chosen by a panel of experts from Defence and the Australian Space Agency.

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present: The Space Café Podcast #059 - Günther Hasinger, the James Webb Space Telescope and surprising confessions of an ESA director. Even seasoned ESA directors have emotions when it comes to groundbreaking moments like the launch and commissioning of the James Webb Space Telescope.

The Australian Government has granted approvals to launch two suborbital “Kestrel I” rockets from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex by rocket manufacturer ATSpace, and spaceport provider, Southern Launch, the companies announced. Missions VS02 and VS03 will send the experimental Kestrel I rockets to sub-orbital trajectories to test the rocket design.

Prestwick Spaceport’s representatives are to meet with stakeholders at the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA 2022) this week to accelerate plans to become Europe’s premier space launch location, the company said. The spaceport has already secured more funding than any other UK spaceport, for example US $96 million from the Ayrshire Growth Deal.

In-Orbit communications company, Solstar Space (Solstar) will provide the Wireless Access Points (WAP) to be used on NASA’s Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module planned for launch in 2024, the company announced along with aerospace and defense technology company, Northrop Grumman.

End-to-end space solutions company, Raytheon Intelligence & Space, is to acquire space domain awareness, orbital analysis, space surveillance and tracking start-up, Northern Space and Security (NORSS). The UK-based startup was founded five years ago by Ralph Dinsley, a Royal Air Force veteran.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced its plans to develop a radar satellite constellation as part of the National Space Fund  worth over US $800 million to boost its space sector. The project makes the UAE the first Arab country to develop a constellation of SAR satellites.

After Dimirty Rogozin had been removed as head of Roscosmos, NASA announced it signed an agreement with Roscosmos to exchange seats on spacecraft traveling to the International Space Station (ISS) from September. NASA says that “integrated crews,” with Russian cosmonauts on Crew Dragon spacecraft and American astronauts on Soyuz spacecraft, are essential to safe ISS operations.

In the first episode of Space Café Israel, Meidad Pariente is in conversation with Tal Inbar, a walking encyclopaedia of knowledge, a member of the History Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics; Board member of D-Mars, Israel's Mars simulations centre. He is also a national mentor for "Horizon", the Israel Space Agency community of space educators.