Space

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.

UN:IO consortium members will conduct a feasibility study to create a sovereign communications network for Europe by 2025, the company announced. The European Commission funded the project with €1.4M. The consortium comprises 14 NewSpace companies led by satellite manufacturer Reflex Aerospace, launch provider Isar Aerospace and laser specialist Mynaric.

Launch service provider Isar Aerospace and the German Space Agency at DLR have announced they selected the institutional payloads for Spectrum’s first flight. The rocket launch is planned for the end of 2022 as part of the microlauncher competition.  Five institutions from Germany, Norway, and Slovenia with a total of seven small satellites won the Announcement of Opportunity.

Rocket Lab acquires the space solar power firm SolAero for $80 million, the company said. SolAero is a supplier of space solar power products and precision aerospace structures for the global aerospace market. The strategic acquisition will see Rocket Lab add the world’s largest production line of high-performing space solar cells to its growing space systems business, Rocket Lab said.

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 6 - 13 December 2021”. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup!