Space

A rogue 3-ton rocket stage crashed into the far side of the Moon after spending seven years in space. The collision was out of view for ground-based telescopes and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was not in position to record the event either. Scientific American suggests that the impact crater will be near the naturally formed 570 km wide Hertzsprung Crater. 

Bharti Enterprises, OneWeb’s largest shareholder said that bringing manufacturing into the UK would be problematic, despite the government’s ambitions to stimulate a domestic space industry. Sunil Bharti Mittal, chair of Bharti Enterprises, said that they would encourage the winner of the contract for OneWeb’s second-generation satellites to manufacture in the UK but there were no guarantees.

One of the largest research organisations in Europe, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) condemned Russia's hostile actions towards Ukraine and announced ceasing all collaboration activities with Russian institutions.  DLR employs staff from 96 different countries and is committed to engaging in international cooperation to benefit the industry.

Dr. Valanathan Munsami will be the International Space University’s (ISU) new honorary Chancellor, with a three-year mandate, the institute said. The ISU Chancellor is a representative of the university who participates in convocations, delivers special lectures, and advises the ISU President.

Arianespace is strictly abiding by the sanctions decided by the international community (EU, USA and UK) following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the company said. The operation of the Soyuz launcher from Europe’s Spaceport, French Guiana and from Baikonur, Kazakhstan through Starsem have been governed by the France-Russia inter-governmental, and the ESA–Roscosmos agreement. 

Iran likely had a failed satellite-carrying rocket launch while attempting to jumpstart the country’s space program criticized by the West. The Associated Press saw Maxar Technologies’ satellite images showing scorch marks at Imam Khomeini Spaceport’s launch pad. The rocket stand seems to be damaged, with an object and vehicles surrounding it.

During this week’s Space Café, SpaceWatch.Global Publisher Torsten Kriening caught up with Emmanuelle David, the Executive Manager of EPFL Space Center (eSpace) and Dr Minoo Rathnasabapathy, a Research Engineer within the Space Enabled Research Group at the MIT Media Lab.

The first-ever Space Café Austria took place on Thursday, 24th of February. Guest Andrea Kleinsasser, Deputy Head of the Department of Space Affairs at the Federal Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, shared her personal experience and insight outside of her work for the government into Austria’s role and engagement at UN COPUOS.

Romania became the 16th nation to sign the Artemis Accords for cooperation in space exploration. Marius-Ioan Piso, President and CEO of the Romanian Space Agency, signed the document on behalf of the country in Bucharest. The NASA-led Artemis Accords are a set of non-binding commitments, based on the Outer Space Treaty of 1967.

Fleet Space Technologies announced that the Australian Government has committed US $20 million to the development of the Space Manufacturing Hub in Adelaide, South Australia. The funding is in addition to the US $14.6 million the Government of South Australia and a consortium of space, aerospace and advanced air mobility companies have already committed.