ESA announced on the 12th of September that project astronaut Marcus Wandt from Sweden will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on Axiom Mission 3 (AX-3) no earlier than January 2024. Axiom Space announced the four crew members who will spend up to 14 days on board the ISS during the mission.

GHGSat has completed its Series C1 funding round for a total of US$44 million in equity and debt, which consequently puts the Company's total raised funds to more than US$126 million since its inception in 2011. Equity participants in the funding round included Fonds de solidarité FTQ, BDC Capital, the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the Government of Québec through Investissement Québec, Climate Investment, and the Japan Energy Fund.

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity today, with its devastating impacts being felt globally. Art Cotterell discusses not only the important role the space industry and Earth Observation technologies can play in helping Australia and the world be climate-ready, but the need to better communicate this message so that when the general public, decision-makers, and the next generation workforce think of space, climate action is front and centre.

GITAI USA Inc. and GITAI Japan Inc. (GITAI) has raised an additional US$15 million for the Series B Extension round. Together with the US$30 million funding from May of this year, the total amount of the Series B Extension round is now US$45 million. The Company will leverage the additional funds it has raised in this round primarily to expand its business in the U.S., as well as establish partial coverage of the lunar surface demonstration.

Japan Manned Space System Corporation (JAMSS) used an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Snowcone SSD onboard the International Space Station (ISS) to transmit large volumes of data from space into AWS. 

NASA has launched an international crew of four representing four countries into orbit following a successful launch to the International Space Station at 3:27 a.m. EDT Saturday, Aug. 26, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Agency’s SpaceX Crew-7 mission is the seventh commercial crew rotation mission for NASA.

IDDK and the United Arab Emirates’ Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in providing space bio-experiment services using One-Chip Microscopic Observation Technology (MID). This partnership aims to offer space bio-experiment services using IDDK’s microscopic observation technology to UAE researchers and scientists and also to spread this service to other countries.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has announced that it signed a deal to launch an Earth observation satellite on Electron for the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS), a Japan-based Earth imaging company. The mission will tentatively lift off in September 2023 and will carry iQPS’s QPS-SAR-5 satellite "TSUKUYOMI-I" into orbit. Furthermore, it will be a dedicated Electron mission and launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. iQPS named the mission "The Moon God Awakens" in acknowledgement of Tsukuyomi, the Japanese God of the Moon.

As reviewed in Part 3, LambdaVision, based in Farmington, Connecticut, USA, was founded in 2009 by its President and CEO Dr. Nicole Wagner and co-founder chemist Jordan Greco. Dr. Robert Birge, distinguished chair in chemistry at the University of Connecticut, a renowned expert in the incorporation of light-activated proteins into biomolecular electronic and therapeutic applications, is a Member of the Board of Directors of the company.

The UK Space Agency announced on the 8th of August the recipients to receive the first phase of its £20 million International Bilateral Fund investments. These investments are intended to help UK organisations to link up with the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, India, Singapore, South Africa and form collaborations that will progress space research and investment in new technologies. The International Bilateral Fund is the Agency’s first fund dedicated to building and strengthening international relationships to help advance the UK’s goals in space. Some projects will focus on enhancing relationships to unlock future economic opportunities for the UK, and others will focus directly on science missions and technologies with strong commercial potential.