Space

Radian Aerospace (Radian), announced that the company recently closed US $27.5M in seed funding. The round was led by venture capital fund Fine Structure Ventures, with investment from EXOR, The Venture Collective, Helios Capital, SpaceFund, Gaingels, Explorer 1 Fund, Type One Ventures among others.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) withdrew its objection to plans for the proposed space centre in Unst following the preparation of a revised scheme of works and discussions with those behind the plans. HES originally objected due to the “extensive and adverse” impact on the cultural significance of Skaw radar station.

The European Space Agency (ESA) wants to accelerate the use of space in Europe with an annual budget of € 7.15 billion, the agency said. The largest envelopes are invested in Earth Observation (€ 1.6 billion), Navigation (€ 1.5 billion), and Space Transportation (€ 1 billion). Copernicus suffers a budget shortfall of € 750 million due to the withdrawal of the UK.

The European Space Agency (ESA) completed its astronaut selection, moving on to the next stage with 1391 applicants invited to a full day of testing. The candidates were selected from over 23 000 European applications, ESA said. The agency had issued the call for new astronauts in March last year.

Rocket Lab has announced the date for its first Electron mission in 2022, which will be a dedicated mission for BlackSky through global launch services provider Spaceflight. Electron is scheduled to launch the “Without Mission A Beat” from New Zealand on 4th February.

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 46th episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast #046: Frank Salzgeber, ESA is looking for the crazy ones among you. Episode 046 features a special guest Frank Salzgeber. Feel like you're maladjusted or perhaps a little crazy? Fear not. Someone out there may have interest in you as you read this. Frank Salzgeber for example.

Governments around the world spent $6.6 billion on government telecommunications programs in 2021, Euroconsult said. European countries spent over $2 billion on satcom, with France, the UK and Germany as leaders. Over the decade, governments worldwide are forecasted to invest over $70 billion in both civil and defence satellite communications systems.

Airbus and Loft Orbital signed a contract for Airbus to supply more than fifteen satellite platforms stemming from Arrow, the foundational platform of OneWeb. There are currently 394 such platforms in orbit for the OneWeb constellation with a further 254 under production. The contract signals start-up Loft Orbital’s intention of implementing the Airbus Arrow service business model.

In this Space Café Radio – our Review 2021 series, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Mani Thiru, head of space and industry development for Asia-Pacific at Amazon Web Services in Singapore about her space highlights in 2021 and what to watch out for the upcoming year in space.

In this episode I speak to Wing Commander Duncan Blake who spent 22 years as a legal officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, most recently in the Middle East where he provided legal support to aerial targeting operations in Iraq and Syria. He served as the Deputy Director of Operations and International Law for the Australian Department of Defence