South America

SpaceX is to launch the Transporter-3 rideshare mission later today, with Brazilian newspace startup, Pion Labs’ PION-BR1 satellite on board, Pion announced. The launch will make history in the Brazilian space sector. PION-BR1 is a 1P pocketqube satellite measuring only 5x5x5 cm, the smallest Brazilian satellite developed to date.

Satellogic, a vertically integrated geospatial company specialising in sub-meter resolution satellite imagery collection, announced it will be constructing a high-throughput satellite manufacturing facility in the Netherlands. The new facility in Berkel en Rodenrijs is expected to accelerate satellite manufacturing.

Ariane 5 has launched the giant James Webb Telescope into its transfer orbit. The Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on Christmas day, and the telescope separated successfully at an altitude of close to 1500 kilometers 27 minutes into the flight.

Kacific Broadband Satellites announced that it is migrating to Amazon Web Services (AWS) to upscale its broadband internet services for the rural regions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The firm aims to complete the migration of its IT infrastructure and critical business applications by 2022.

In this week’s Space Café Brazil by Ian Grosner, Prof. Dr. Maria Elizabeth Zucolotto, of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), talked about the importance of studying meteorites. Her work is focused, above all, on raising the population's awareness so that they know how to identify falling meteorites or warn scholars and scientists about them.

Astranis announced it has signed an agreement with Grupo Andesat to provide broadband capacity using Astranis MicroGEO communications satellites. The partnership will bring broadband internet access to communities in the Peruvian jungles, deserts and mountains for the first time.

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 29 November- 5 December 2021”. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup!

This Space Café Brazil will feature Prof. Dr. Maria Elizabeth Zucolotto, of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), in conversation with Ian Grosner, Correspondent of SpaceWatch.Global for Brazil. The importance of studying meteorites. Professor Zucolotto is graduated in Astronomy at Valongo Observatory/UFRJ (1978), with TCC Meteorites and the formation of the Solar System.

Today is the launch of the Space Arbitration Association, an association that will focus on providing information and organizing events around the topics of space and international arbitration. The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in space activities, which are expanding not only into new fields such as space tourism but also increasingly involve commercial actors.

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 39th episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast: Andrew Williams and an idea for tackling the constellation issue. Episode 039 features a special guest Andrew Williams. Andy Williams may have an interesting idea about how to deal with the growing issue of satellite constellations.