Space

Kepler Communications will use Spire Global´s system as a test bed for its Aether network service, the Canadian telecommunication provider said. The initial test aboard a Spire satellite is due to launch in the fourth quarter 2022, Kepler said. Before, Kepler will conduct in-orbit testing of Aether onboard two new Kepler satellites.

ThinkTank Maths Limited (TTM) announced they secured R&D financing from Scottish Enterprise to develop enhanced space surveillance and tracking (SST) services. Launching more and more satellites each year is congesting Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and it endangers economic activities on Earth.

Chief Executives of leading satellite operators announced that the EMEA Satellite Operators Association (ESOA) is now going to include satellite operators from all over the world. To reflect this, the Association is changing its name to Global Satellite Operators’ Association (GSOA). 

Mayday.ai, LUP, Humboldt University Berlin and the city of Leipzig are joining efforts to mitigate risks related to heat waves by launching the UrbanGreenEye project. The Federal Ministry of Transport and the German Aerospace Centre support and fund the initiative. 

Isar Aerospace and Astrocast announced they have signed a launch services agreement according to which Isar will launch Astrocast’s satellite by 2024. The rideshare mission will take the nanosatellite company’s spacecraft to Sun synchronous orbit from its launch site in Andøya, Norway. The contract includes options for the launch of additional satellites.

SpaceWatch.Global has been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts by Steven Freeland. This is “What Sort of Space “Race” Should We Be Pursuing?”, originally published 15 December 2021 at Australian Institute of International Affairs by Steven Freeland. If a war in space does take place, the devastation would be long-lasting and perhaps irreversible.

Airbus partners with OneWeb to provide Low Earth Orbit (LEO) communication services for military and governmental use, the companies said. Airbus and OneWeb plan to develop a complete range of secure services dedicated to the specific needs of armed forces for all their operations on land, at sea, and in the air.

The UN Office for Outer Space Affairs announced that five new countries joined the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) with the approval of the UNGA. Angola, Bangladesh, Kuwait, Panama and Slovenia took the number of member countries to 100.

Ororatech announced it has signed a pilot contract with the Green Triangle Fire Alliance (GTFA) for satellite-based Wildfire Intelligence Service over the 2021/22 fire season. The GTFA is located along the border of South Australia and Victoria. It represents 17% of the country’s plantations, comprising over 320,000 hectares of pine and eucalypt trees.

On 15 November 2021, a Russian ground-based DA-ASAT (direct ascent anti-satellite) interceptor, ‘Nudol’, hit defunct Russian spy satellite Cosmos 1408, built and launched in the 1980s, at an altitude of 480 km. The destruction caused a cloud of debris of about 1500 pieces and forced the crew of the ISS, four Americans, two Russians, and a German,