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Rocket Lab will build two Photon spacecraft for NASA´s Escapade science mission to Mars, the launch company that will start trading on Nasdaq today said. Escapade stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers; the mission will orbit two Rocket Lab-built Photon spacecraft around Mars

The Morrison Government has given regulatory approval for tiSPACE to launch their rocket from the Whalers Way launch site. The Taiwanese company will launch its rocket from the newly licensed launch facility in South Australia later this year. tiSPACE will conduct a test flight of its Hapith I rocket from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex, operated by Southern Launch.

Russia postponed its first mission to the Moon in 45 years due to problems during tests of the Luna-25 spacecraft, Roscosmos announced. The mission was originally scheduled for 1st October from the Vostochny Cosmodrome had now been moved to May 2022. The Luna-25 mission aimed at the Moon's south pole will probe ice deposits.

Sir Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Emily Calandrelli, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Kellie Geraldi, Chris Hadfield, Tim Dodd (Everyday Astronaut), Tanya Harrison, Bill Nye. How are these names connected besides that these people to be the space industry’s top professionals?

Virgin Orbit is to become publicly traded on Nasdaq through a merger with SPAC NextGen Acquisition Corp. II valuing the company at US $3.2 billion. The SPAC trades on the Nasdaq under ticker “NGCA” until the end of the year. The shares will then convert to “VORB”, as the combined company will keep the Virgin Orbit name. The agreement is to raise US $483 million for the combined company.

HEO Robotics has raised a seed financing round to launch HEO Inspect. This marks the first major investment in the already profitable company. The round was led by David Harding, the founder and CEO of Winton Group. As part of the investment, he has nominated the experienced investor and advisor Joshua Kennedy-White to the company board.

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Orbital Gateway Consulting we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Dongfang Hour China Aerospace News Roundup 16 - 22 August 2021”. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup! A special shout-out to our friends at SpaceWatch.Global,

Chinese astronauts performed a spacewalk to add the finishing touches to a robotic arm on the Tiangong space station. Astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming installed foot stops and a workbench on the station's robotic arm, said the China Manned Space Agency.

British operator OneWeb’s 34 new satellites launched into space on a Russian Soyuz rocket operated by Arianespace. The take-off was at 22.13 GMT Saturday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Roscosmos space agency and Arianespace said. It was the fifth launch of OneWeb satellites this year, with the last one being in July.

In this week’s Space Café Brazil, Ian Grosner talked with Dr. Clezio Marcos De Nardin, director of the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), about the 60 Years of the institute. Dr. Nardin started by talking about the very beginning of the Brazilian space program in the 1960s when the Organizing Group of the National Commission on Space Activities (GOCNAE) was created.