Space Nuggets

In this week's Space #Nuggets Torsten Kriening gave us all the major highlights from the space symposium, specifically about the discussions around space debris and space situational awareness. The newly published report "Earth Orbit" from NASA can be found here!

In this week's Space Nuggets Dr Emma Gatti spoke with collaborator and friend Anastasia Stepanova about the most interesting aspects of the Symposium. They spoke candidly about the highlights from the Science track which included missions to Titan, Uranus etc. Watch the video to learn more about upcoming innovations such as In-Space manufacturing, Asteroid mining!

In this week's Space Nuggets Dr. Emma Gatti and Torsten Kriening, who are in Colorado for the next two weeks for the upcoming Space Symposium by Space Foundation in Colorado, tell us the various things they are looking forward to and the exciting things at the Symposium!

Following massive budget cuts by the US Senate these last few weeks, it is evident that all Mars missions are affected. Emma Gatti talks about the reasons behind Mars missions taking a backseat, ESA's role in mission collaboration, and the future of these projects.

We cover the groundbreaking development of Alpine Space Ventures, securing an investment of 10 Million Euros this week. Torsten Kriening details how the NATO Innovation Fund is developing and what key focus areas they are investing in. Watch our video to understand more about the fund and the opportunities for space.

This week, we delve into the third test launch of #starship. Editor-in-Chief Dr Emma Gatti details the various things that went perfectly well and a few mishaps towards the end. She also highlighted that the vehicle is intended for commercial use and the upcoming deal with the #artemis program.

This week we discuss the widely spread news of #spacewashing . In our #climate article , Editor-in-Chief Dr Emma Gatti wrote an article about a petition signed by 118 marine conservation and environmental organizations asking #Iridium to stop producing their Short Burst Data (SBD) modules, real-time GPS tracking devices, because such service is used in dFADs, short for drifting fish aggregating devices, fishing tools scientifically proven to be environmentally harmful. In the Nugget, Dr Gatti stressed on the need for data compliance, technology's dual use and the responsibility of technology companies towards humanity.

This week NASA announced its selection of Dana Weigel as the ISS (International Space Station) Program Manager. This announcement made headlines across the sector however, the inherent importance of a woman in a senior position making the news itself needs to be examined from the lens of gender equality. Dr Emma Gatti walks us through the current statistics of gender representation at both NASA and ESA while shedding light on the interplay of gender, remuneration and industry. In the upcoming week, Dr Gatti will be hosting a special International Women’s Day event featuring women from the Karman Project to talk about empowering women in the space sector.

In his review, Torsten Kriening shares his takeaways from the last week. The 60th Munich Security Conference featured discussions on geopolitical hotspots, collaboration, civil applications, global commons protection, and struggles for a unified vision for the Ukraine war within the EU. Notable moments include the signing of a Memorandum Of Understanding between the German Aerospace Center and the World Food Program and discussions on urgent global issues, but the “priorities are on the urgent issues, not the important issues” the discussions reflect on the critical but underrepresented role of space in addressing global challenges such as climate change and security issues.

Intuitive Machines is gearing up for a soft landing on the moon. This mission comes at a crucial stage after the Peregrine failure and Japan's SLIM mission. The risk and the pressure from a commercial point of view is very high, making this landing crucial for private players in the commercial space economy. Our Editor in Chief Dr Emma Gatti spoke about the interesting advances in lunar landing technology, highlighting the use of methane and liquid oxygen engine.