Space

The new NASA Administrator Bill Nelson appointed Susie Perez Quinn as the agency’s new chief of staff. Quinn served as Nelson’s chief of staff and in several other leadership positions in the Senate and, most recently, as the director of government relations at the National Governors Association.

The U.S. military has no plan to shoot down the Long March 5B's remnants when they are expected to plunge back on Earth this weekend, the Guardian quoted the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd Austin. Hope was the rocket would land in the ocean and that the latest estimate was that it would come down between Saturday and Sunday, he said, according to the Guardian.

The U.S. Air Force asked OneWeb and Hughes to connect the Arctic, the companies announced. Hughes and OneWeb announced their selection by the U.S. Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) “to demonstrate managed LEO satellite communications (SATCOM) services to connect the Arctic region to sites around the globe”, the companies said in a statement.

SpaceWatch.Global has been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. This is “A giant piece of space junk is hurtling towards Earth. Here’s how worried you should be”, originally published 4 May 2021 at The Conversation by Steven Freeland.

The fifth attempt succeeded: SpaceX successfully completed a high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from its Starbase in Texas yesterday. It was the fifth attempt of a high-altitude test of Starship and the first one that did not end up with an explosion.

The Spanish satellite telecommunications operator Sateliot takes the lead to develop a low Earth orbit (LEO) nanosatellite constellation offering 5G coverage and a secure quantum key information exchange system. Sateliot is leading a consortium of a dozen companies and the Spanish Ministry of Defense, as a potential user, to deploy the nanosat constellation, the company said.

Have a seat: Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin offers one seat in the New Shepard maiden flight which is planned for the 20 July, the company said. “On July 20th, New Shepard will fly its first astronaut crew to space. We are offering one seat on this first flight to the winning bidder of Blue Origin’s online auction,” Blue Origin said.

This Space Café United Kingdom will feature lan Jones, CEO at Goonhilly Earth Station, in conversation with neuco’s Laurie Scott, Andrew Ball and Ewan Lawrenson, friends of SpaceWatch.Global.Ian Jones, Chairman at Satellite Applications Catapult and CEO of Goonhilly Earth Station,

During this week’s Space Café, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening caught up with Nigerian-born Temidayo Oniosun, the Managing Director and Founder of Space in Africa, an African media platform, analytics and consulting company that works in the space and satellite sector.

Join SpaceWatch.Global's new Space Café "Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland" #03 series where global space law experts discuss the legal issues from everyday space activities. This event will take place on 27 May 2021 at 9:30 am CEST. Space Café "Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland" will analyse current space developments with a legal focus.