Space

ESA announced a space summit to be held on 16th February in Toulouse, France, to help tackle the “unprecedented societal, economic and security challenges faced by Europe”. The summit aims to identify the necessary steps in rectifying these issues. The summit will consist of two parts chaired by the French Presidency of the EU, also chairing the ESA Council at ministerial level.

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Orbital Gateway Consulting we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Dongfang Hour China Aerospace News Roundup 17 - 23 January 2022 ”. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Space News Roundup! I’m Jean Deville, joined as always by my co-host Blaine Curcio.

The U.S. Air Force awarded a US $102M, five-year contract to SpaceX to demonstrate technologies and capabilities to transport military cargo and humanitarian aid on a heavy rocket, the U.S. Government announced. The contract is part of the rocket cargo program led by the Air Force Research Laboratory (ARFL).

Iceye signed a contract in the U.S. with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to participate in the evaluation of commercial remote sensing companies operating synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites, the company said. It will focus on modeling and simulation and also support NRO’s detailed assessment of imaging modes, image quality, geolocation accuracy and coverage.

NASA will launch a mini asteroid scout mission called NEA Scout with the uncrewed first Artemis testflight in spring, the agency said. The target is 2020 GE, a near-Earth asteroid that is less 18 meters in size; asteroids smaller than 100 meters have never been explored up close before, NASA said. NEA stands for near Earth asteroid.

Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE), co-founded by Elena and Dmitry Lesnevsky, producers of Tom Cruise’s coming space movie, announced plans to attach an Axiom-built film studio and sports arena to the ISS, CNBC reports. SEE-1, the new module, will be attached to Axiom Station, the first commercial module of the ISS, in December 2024.

Plus Ultra Space Outposts, a European company developing a lunar satellite constellation, and ispace Europe have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for working together on joint lunar missions, ispace announced. The MoU comprises the deployment of communication and navigation satellites into lunar orbit as early as 2024.

During this week’s Space Café, SpaceWatch.Global Publisher Torsten Kriening sat down with Peter Hulsroj, a legal consultant for intergovernmental organisations, attorney, specialist in nuclear disarmament, space and international law, and now, author and blogger.

Satellogic announced that private equity firm, Liberty Strategic Capital, led by former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, is investing US $150M into Earth imaging company Satellogic. The funding will help to close a delayed merger with CF Acquisition Corp. V., a special purpose acquisition corporation for the company to go public.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris charged the National Space Council to focus on the rules and norms governing space, leveraging space to tackle the climate crisis, and building a diverse space and STEM workforce, NASA said. The agency also announced a “strategic, first-of-its-kind partnership" with the European Space Agency (ESA) to observe Earth, its climate and changing environment.