The European Space Agency's (ESA) EarthCARE satellite has undergone its final testing and analysis as its engineers have packed it up for its journey to the launch site in the US. With liftoff slated for May on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has been going through the last round of tests and meticulous checks in Germany.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced that it has re-established contact with its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft lander after it powered back on. The lander could not generate power upon landing on the lunar surface, quickly exhausting its battery power. JAXA had noted that its chances of recovering SLIM would increase as the sunlight illumination condition improves with time. This has consequently cemented Japan's position as the fifth country to soft-land on the moon, joining the USA, China, the former Soviet Union, and India.

SpaceWatch.Global's Editor-in-Chief Dr Emma Gatti, interviews Eric Morel de Westgaver, the Director European, Legal and International Matters at the European Space Agency (ESA), about ESA's interest in the Asia market and their ongoing projects and collaborations with countries like Japan, India, South Korea, and China. They discuss various space missions, scientific cooperation, and upcoming ministerial meetings of ESA to propose new programs."

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has confirmed the successful precision soft-landing of its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft on the moon. JAXA employed the mission to demonstrate its new precision technology by landing in an unprecedented 100-metre landing area. However, because SLIM's solar cells failed to generate power for the spacecraft, it had to shut down its operations.

IRIS2 (pronounced “iris square”) is the new EU secure satellite constellation project, which stands for Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity, and Security by Satellite. Touted as “the European Union’s answer to pressing challenge of tomorrow, offering enhanced communication capacities to governmental users, businesses, while ensuring high-speed internet broadband to cope with connectivity dead zones,“ IRIS2 is the result of a brilliant vision at the intersection of European “strategic autonomy,” orbital economy and policy, space industry majors, innovative startups, bureaucratic agendas, and a European Union space strategy for security and defense. Like many brilliant visions, it runs the risk of being eaten for breakfast by the tyranny of execution. Could it be different this time?

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced the successful soft-landing of its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft on the moon, on January 20, 2024, at 0:20 am (JST). This feat makes Japan the fifth country to soft-land on the moon, joining the USA, China, the former Soviet Union, and India. Despite the historic landing, however, JAXA may not achieve full operationalization of the spacecraft as its solar cells are currently not generating power. 

ESA held its Annual Directors General Press Conference at its PARIS HQ on 11 January 2024. A recording is available here  and a slide deck here. Among the many topics covered, one generated several burning questions: NASA having just a few days earlier announced Artemis II and III delays, would that impact ESA, and if yes, how? 

SPACEBEL has announced a contract with OHB Italia S.p.A. (Milano), the prime contractor of the Comet Interceptor mission, a European Space Agency (ESA) and Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) program.  As a result of the contract, SPACEBEL will provide the Central Software that manages the whole spacecraft, its platform equipment and its payload instruments. This new project will involve a team of up to ten SPACEBEL engineers over the next two years.

By nighttime stateside, early European/Middle East/Africa morning today, and mid-day in Asia, the successfully launched Astrobotic Peregrine lander was confirmed having run into problems terminally dooming Mission 1. Astrobotic’s confirmed the issue reporting on their social media and press releases. And like with any failure, let’s take a healing look at facts and lessons learned. The first lesson is the obvious one: yes, space is hard. 

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced the launch schedule for the second H3 Launch Vehicle (H3TF2), set for February 15, 2024, from the Tanegashima Space Center. This marks a return to flight for the H3 rocket after its unsuccessful inaugural launch in March 2023. The aborted inaugural launch was attributed to the second-stage engine's failure to ignite, prompting the flight termination system.