Space

Space Foundation has released The Space Report 2022 Q4, showing shattered records for launches and the number of satellites and spacecraft to reach orbit despite difficult market conditions and international tensions, including the Russia-Ukraine war.

In this Space Café Radio, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation Programmes and Head of ESRIN (D/EOP) at the European Space Agency (ESA) at the 15th European Space Conference in Brussels. This conference is one of the very important yearly high-level gatherings of the key stakeholders of the European space domain in the Egmont Palace in Brussels under the 2023 theme “Securing the Future of Europe in Space”.

The African Union Commission (AUC) and the Egyptian Government have, via a signed agreement, formally inaugurated and declared the African Space Agency (AfSA) open and operational on January 25 2023. The agreement establishes the general framework regulating the relationship between the parties, which will serve as a platform for space research and innovation on the continent.

AstroForge Inc. has announced that it has signed a contract with Orbital Astronautics Ltd (OrbAstro), a satellite and in-orbit service provider, to fly a 100kg-class spacecraft into deep space for an asteroid survey mission. The spacecraft will tentatively launch in late 2023 with Intuitive Machines, a space exploration, infrastructure, and services company, using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission serves as a prospecting activity and stepping-stone towards AstroForge’s ambitions for asteroid mining.

SmartSat Cooperative Research Center (CRC) has appointed current board member Dr. Michele Allan AO as its new Chair, following the sudden passing of inaugural Chair Dr. Peter Woodgate in December. Dr. Allan AO brings a wealth of experience and leadership from some of Australia’s key industries.

In this German Space Café Radio – Space Café Germany Host Andreas Schepers spoke with Dr. Kai Noeske, Communication Programme officer for science at the European Space Agency (ESA). The interview was conducted during this year’s ILA Berlin which is the largest aerospace trade show in Germany which took place June 22 – 26, 2022.

This Space Café Italy will feature Gino Bucciol , Officina Stellare’s Co-Founder and Chief Business Development Officer, in conversation with Dr. Emma Gatti, Editor-in-Chief and correspondent of SpaceWatch.Global for Italy. The seventh episode of Space Café Italy, an original Space Café series dedicated to the Italian space market, will feature a unique company in the space panaroma. Well known internationally for its opto-mechanical systems and cutting-edge telescope lenses, Officina Stellare has become a symbol of that unique Italian craft that merges state-of-the art technology with design and top-level manufacturing.

In this German Space Café Radio – Space Café Germany Host Andreas Schepers spoke with Prof. Dr. Matthias Sperl, Group head at the DLR's Institute of Material Physics in Space,  and Professor for Physics of granular materials at the University of Cologne. The interview was conducted during this year’s ILA Berlin which is the largest aerospace trade show in Germany which took place June 22 – 26, 2022. 

This Space Café Black Ops will feature Namrata Goswami , an independent scholar on space policy and Great Power Politics, in conversation with Dr. Emma Gatti, Editor in Chief of SpaceWatch.Global. Ep. 2: The United States: A Strategy of Continued Primacy in Space In the second episode, Namrata and Emma will discuss the values, interests and space culture of the United States of America.

In this German Space Café Radio – Space Café Germany Host Andreas Schepers spoke with Dr. Melanie Heil,  Space Weather Space Segment Coordinator at the European Space Agency (ESA). The interview was conducted during this year’s ILA Berlin which is the largest aerospace trade show in Germany which took place June 22 – 26.