Space

Space and satellite technologies are evolving faster than we can grasp their myriad of applications and range of uses.  The industry is certainly encouraging start-up services from all corners of the world to leverage these assets in increasingly beneficial and efficient ways.  Japan hails one of the fastest-growing space technology startups,

Paris, 21 April 2021. – European space experts call for a better control of space debris and regulation of space traffic, the Financial Times (FT) reports. The launch of thousands of new satellites in ‘mega-constellations’ to improve global internet access will exacerbate the growing problem of space debris, the FT quoted experts from a conference of the European Space Agency (ESA) yesterday.

Paris, 21 April 2021. – The Austrian new space investor Findus Venture works with the startup Spire Global to “tackle the growing problem of space debris”, the companies announced. They signed a second partnership agreement to launch the ADLER-2 satellite that aims to “further enhance orbital debris monitoring in low earth orbit, and expand novel atmospheric sensing capabilities".

Paris, 21 April 2021. – The European Space Agency (ESA) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) cooperate “to better address major global issues such as food security, and to take further advantage of the digital transformation in agriculture”, ESA 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 12 April - 18 April 2021”.

A European-wide survey aimed at identifying user needs and use cases for future EU GOVSATCOM services will be carried out by EU Member States and EU agencies within the ENTRUSTED project. The survey is addressed to governmental and institutional users managing security-critical missions, operations and infrastructures. Information will be collected between April and June.

Paris, 20 April 2021. – 9 times 5: Amazon contracted nine Atlas V rockets to launch its Project Kuiper broadband constellation, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced. With Project Kuiper, Amazon wants to increase global broadband coverage through a constellation of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).  

Paris, 20 April 2021. – 39.1 historic seconds: NASA’s Mars Helicopter Ingenuity succeeded to become the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet. The Ingenuity team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California confirmed the flight succeeded after receiving data from the helicopter via NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover last night.

Can regulation match innovation in a space race? 3 experts discuss  - The space race never ended. In fact, it just got a whole lot faster - Space engineering has always been a fundamentally future thinking activity, but in recent years mass investment in the industry coupled with technological development has been like a shot in the arm.

Paris, 19 April 2021. – China intends to expand its destructive anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon arsenal to target U.S. satellites, the annual report of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) concluded.„China has already fielded ground-based ASAT missiles intended to destroy satellites in LEO and ground-based ASAT lasers probably intended to blind or damage sensitive space-based optical sensors on LEO satellites,” the unclassified report published last week found.