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SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 29th episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast: Brother Guy Consolmagno, The Pope’s Astronomer. Episode 029 features a special guest Brother Guy Consolmagno. Brother Guy Consolmagno begins his conversation in this podcast by referring to a long and strange tale.

The launch company Astra wants to acquire Apollo Fusion for up to $145 million, the company said. Apollo Fusion manufactures electric propulsion engines. The acquisition allows Astra to provide launch and space services beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), to medium Earth orbit, geosynchronous, and lunar orbits, Astra said.

A space adventure for the Bezos brothers: Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of Blue Origin, wants to fly on New Shepard’s maiden crewed flight scheduled for 20 July, Bezos said. He invited his brother Mark to join, he said on Instagram. The first crewed New Shepard suborbital flight is planned

The European Commission will launch the EU’s new space program in a virtual conference on 22 June, the commission said. The conference is cohosted by the European Commission/DG DEFIS (Directorate General for Defence, Industry and Space), the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) and the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Venture Capital fund Seraphim prepares a flotation at the London Stock Exchange, Sky News reported. The “world's first dedicated space VC fund” is working with banks on plans for a London flotation”, Sky News said. An arm of Seraphim Capital is working with bankers on plans for a public share sale that could raise in the region of £250m, the news channel said.

The U.S. Department of the Air Force (DAF) studies the use of large commercial rockets for military cargo missions. DAF’s fourth Vanguard program will focus on rocket cargo solutions and investigate the use of large commercial launchers for Pentagon logistics missions, DAF said.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) cooperates with the Philippines Space Agency on the peaceful use of outer space, the agency announced. UNOOSA said it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Philippines Space Agency (PhilSA) to deliver joint capacity-building activities

The weather platform Climavision raised $100 million from TPG’s The Rise Fund, the fund announced. The San Francisco-based Rise Fund announced a $100 million strategic investment in Climavision, a pioneering weather services and intelligence platform powered by a private network of high-resolution radars, GPS-RO data, and proprietary software.

This Space Café Canada will feature Tim Kopra, Vice President of Robotics and Space Operations at MDA, one of Canada’s most successful space technology companies, in conversation with Dr. Jessica West, Senior Researcher at Project Ploughshares and a friend of SpaceWatch.Global.

This Space Café BeNeLux will feature Simon van den Dries, General Manager at Spire Maritime, in conversation with Chiara Moenter, co-founder “SDG18 – Space for All” and her co-host of Space Cafe BeNeLux, Bano Barzingi. A Better Future through Space - Data is a tremendously important part of our world ...