Space

As space technology continues to develop at pace, we are seeing larger numbers of satellites being launched than ever before. Used for communication, navigation, earth observation and scientific development (to name but a few), these satellites provide some incredible services and insights required for the everyday functioning of our society.

In the past few months, the space industry experienced some new milestones. Civilian astronauts launched into space. Richard Branson flew Virgin Galactic on July 11, 2021. Jeff Bezos flew with Blue Origin on July 20, 2019, and a second flight on October 13, 2021, with the iconic William Shatner. SpaceX’s Inspiration4 launched on Sept 15, 2021,

OneWeb launched another 36 satellites, bringing the constellation in orbit to 358, over half of the planned 648 satellites, the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite company said. The satellites were launched by Arianespace from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia.

SpaceLink announced it has chosen OHB Systems as the preferred tenderer for the initial constellation of four high-capacity optical relay satellites after a comprehensive tender process. The parties are currently in advanced contract negotiations about the manufacturing and delivery of the initial constellation.

Planet Labs announced the launch of Pelican, a new line of imagery satellites to upgrade the company’s existing constellation of the 21 SkySat spacecraft. With the new, higher-resolution satellites the company can provide faster and near-real time data to customers, Planet said.

Since the dawn of the first ‘Space Age’ in 1957, space-related technologies have transformed our lives, revolutionising communications, medicine, navigation, finance, agriculture and computing, to name but a few. Space is an important element of critical infrastructure to support the world economy, international trade and investment, strategic thinking, military strategy, national security,

Rocket Lab has acquired Advanced Solutions, a Colorado-based aerospace engineering firm, for $40 million, the company announced. Advanced Solution delivers mission proven space software, mission simulation and test systems, and Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) solutions.

Blue Origin successfully completed its second human spaceflight yesterday on board of New Shepard. The flight carried four space tourists, Dr. Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries, Audrey Powers, and William Shatner through the Kármán line. Also, on board were the thousands of postcards made by young students for Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future.

Portuguese Space Agency (Portugal Space), and the Portuguese Army signed a partnership protocol marking the first day of rocket launches by competing teams of the European Rocketry Challenge (EuRoC), the Agency reported. The competition will carry on until 17th October with 20 teams, 20 rockets and 400 enrolled students.

During this week’s SpaceCafé, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening caught up with leading global politics and international law expert from the University of British Columbia’s Department of Political Science and co-director of the Outer Space Institute, Professor Michael Byers on the urgent need for countries to agree to ban anti-satellite weapons tests.