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Capt. Andrea Patassa the European Space Agency - ESA Reserve Astronaut , from the Italian Air Force spoke with Remco Timmermans at the NSE ExpoForum The conversation highlighted the dual use and the relevance of defence in space.

NSE ExpoForum started on the 5th of December with a focus to help create new market opportunities in Europe and become a catalyst of local industry growth. Remco Timmermans walks us through the quick highlights of the upcoming conference and sheds light on the increasing #defence interest to invest in private space companies.

This episode of Space Café Radio is part of our Karman mini-series, produced in collaboration with the Karman Project. The Karman Project every year selects 15 fellows from around the world to foster trust, cooperation, and dialogue between global leaders in space. In this episode Editor in Chief Dr Emma Gatti interviewed Jacob Malthouse, the executive director of the Lunar Foundation and her co-fellow at the Karman Fellowship for 2023. In this intense talk, Jacob emphasizes the importance of collaboration, open standards, and informal dialogue to ensure a peaceful future on the Moon.

The Peregrine Lunar Lander is set to land on Christmas eve. It intends to touch down on a region of ancient lunar lava flows, Sinus Viscositatis, the Bay of Stickiness. This will be the first mission to launch under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. It will lift off on the first flight of the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected 14 companies for the 10-Year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) Capability Study, which aims to catalyze the setup of a future civil lunar framework for peaceful U.S. and international use. LunA-10 seeks to study the rapid development of technology concepts for a series of shareable, scalable systems that can operate jointly, creating monetizable services for future lunar users.

China launched a remote-sensing satellite for Egypt on the 4th of December marking a new feat in space cooperation between these countries, according to the China National Space Administration. The Egyptian MISRSAT-2 satellite was launched on a Long March 2C carrier rocket which set off from the Jiuqan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. The satellite was designed and built by Aerosapce Dongfanhong, a subsidiary of the China Academy of Space Technology.

Join us in this episode of Space Cafe as Markus Mooslechner talks with University Toulouse astrophysicist Dr Naomi Murdoch about the fascinating sonic environment of Mars. As a planetary scientist and space engineer, Murdoch provides an in-depth look at the sounds recorded by the Perseverance rover and what they tell us about the Red Planet. From the first audio recordings on Mars to the insights gained about Martian wind and dust devils, Murdoch's discussion offers a profound understanding of Mars' unique acoustic landscape.

The Ariane 6 Launcher Task Force held an eagerly expected media briefing on 30 November 2023. It provided credible reassurances and a reasonably optimistic way forward for the beleaguered program. The Task Force is crucial in guiding Ariane 6 toward the intended summer 2024 maiden launch. A replay is available here  and a brief ESA update here. This briefing was as much interesting for what was clearly indicated, as it was for what remained unsaid. Let’s review the facts.

Iran is aiming to launch astronauts into space using domestically developed technology by the end of 2029 Eisa Zarepour, Communication Minister stated in a post on the Iran Virasty social media site on Sunday. "In line with the implementation of the ten-year document of the country's space industry, the 'Life in Space' program has been revived and soon, God willing, the suborbital tests of the new generation 'bio-capsule' will be completely Iranian," he said.

LeoLabs, a commercial provider of Space Traffic Management (STM) and Space Situational Awareness (SSA), announced on the 4th of December that it signed a partnership agreement with Aalyria, the software-defined and optical networking communications company.