Space for Earth

The United States Space Force’s Space Systems Command, through its Space Safari Program Office, in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and SpaceWERX, is awarding contracts to two separate space industry vendors, Rocket Lab and True Anomaly. The vendors will exercise a realistic threat response scenario in an on-orbit space domain awareness (SDA) demonstration called VICTUS HAZE.

The Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS) has announced its new executive committee, with iboss boss Joerg Kreisel elected as President. The Association also elected Jon Beam, CEO of Rogue Space Systems Corporation, as Vice President, Dr Brien Flewelling, Director of Strategic Program Development at ExoAnalytic Solutions, as Secretary, and Joseph Anderson, Vice President of Space Logistics, LLC, as Treasurer.

We made it back to the Denver Office of Astroscale US to meet with the team and to record this interview of Dr Emma Gatti with Ron Lopez, President of Astroscale US. Astroscale has exciting updates about its expansion in the United States, with offices in Denver and Washington D.C., and changes in its board structure. They are collaborating with the government on many more contracts and are looking forward to many more commercial space opportunities.

Prof Nicolas Peter, International Space University, spoke with Dr Emma Gatti during the Space Symposium 2024. They discussed their long-standing relationship with North America and their upcoming Space Studies Program 2024 in collaboration with @RiceUniversity and NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). He also discussed training the next generation of space professionals and the widely discussed topic of talent recruitment for the space industry.

At the Space Symposium, Dr Emma Gatti met with SpaceWatch.Global friend and collaborator Dr Luigi Scatteia, who spoke to us about PwC 's commercial interest and clients in space and how the Space Symposium is fostering that. With a diverse roster of clients across various sectors - defense companies, space agencies, institutions, governments, private companies, startups, etc., the PwC is aiming to expand and cater to the entire space environment.

The Director General of the German Space Agency at the DLR, Dr Walther Pelzer, spoke to us during the Space Symposium 2024. He highlighted how the Symposium is a platform to showcase the commercialization of space. He also spoke about how there is a push for a 'Business to Business' partnership shift happening and why networking with the industry is crucial to fostering this.

Tuana Yazici spoke with Torsten Kriening about her Non- profit AeroAI Voyages which strives to design implementable projects that builds solutions for humanity using space technology and artificial intelligence. She spoke about their current project - AeroAI Guardian , which using optical imagery , radar data to monitor wildlife hotspots.

HEO has finalized a deal with Sidus Space, which will see Sidus Space host HEO’s NEI imager, HOLMES-006, onboard LizzieSat-3 as part of the Bandwagon-2 launch, along with a monthly data services contract. This consequently marks the second agreement between HEO and Sidus Space, as Sidus Space’s LizzieSat-2 will be hosting HEO’s HOLMES-004 on the same launch.

Kepler Communications, Inc. has entered into an agreement with TESAT-Spacecom and Airbus Defence and Space to develop a high bandwidth optical communications network in low Earth orbit (LEO) to address emerging opportunities such as the European Space Agency’s (ESA) High Throughput Optical Network (HydRON) program. This marks a significant milestone toward the development of terabit-class optical networking in space.

The European Space Law, a flagship project of the EU aimed at protecting satellites and ensuring safer and more sustainable space flights, initially scheduled for release this month of April 2024, is again delayed. It is unlikely that the European Space Law will make it in the current EU legislative season, which poses significant risks.