Space

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has announced that it signed a deal to launch an Earth observation satellite on Electron for the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc. (iQPS), a Japan-based Earth imaging company. The mission will tentatively lift off in September 2023 and will carry iQPS’s QPS-SAR-5 satellite "TSUKUYOMI-I" into orbit. Furthermore, it will be a dedicated Electron mission and launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. iQPS named the mission "The Moon God Awakens" in acknowledgement of Tsukuyomi, the Japanese God of the Moon.

In this  Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Maxime Puteaux, Principal Advisor at Euroconsult in Paris, about 40 years of Euroconsult, current market trends, and the forthcoming World Satellite Business Week in September 2023. Space Café Radio brings you talks, interviews, and reports from the team of SpaceWatchers while out on the road. Each episode has a specific topic, unique content, and a personal touch. Enjoy the show,

The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) is ready to launch on 26 August 2023 to observe the most energetic objects and events in the cosmos. In doing so, it will unveil the evolution of the Universe and the structure of spacetime. XRISM will tentatively launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 09:34 JST / 01:34 BST / 02:34 CEST. The mission is a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA, with significant participation from ESA. In return for providing hardware and scientific advice, ESA will also receive 8% of XRISM’s available observing time.

Russia’s State Space Corporation, Roscosmos, has announced that the Luna-25 automatic lunar station collided with the moon's surface and subsequently perished. The agency pointed out that on August 19 that the lunar probe would have received propulsion thrust to descend into its landing trajectory on the Moon's elliptical orbit. However, the Agency lost contact with the probe "at about 2:57 p.m. Decree time." The Russian space agency disclosed that all measures regarding the spacecraft's location and establishing communications with it on August 19 and 20 yielded zero results.

Nature data specialist Space Intelligence will map two African nations to support integrity and transparency in the carbon markets. The maps for Kenya and Tanzania will help to provide a baseline for all Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) projects which aim to stop unplanned deforestation in the countries. Furthermore, the standards agency, Verra, will approve the maps. To ensure accuracy and validity, the maps will comprise two levels of data: a set of Forest Cover Benchmark Maps covering 2010-2020 and point-based Activity Data showing the precise location of deforestation.

Greetings, SpaceWatchers, and welcome to Summer Listening Week Three! Summer is upon us, and as our gaze shifts towards the stars during those warm, clear nights, SpaceWatch.Global brings you its third collection or the Summer Listening Series. Based on the vote by our newsroom, we have mapped out an interstellar journey across five categories. After the Moon, Climate, Space and Earth this week is the turn of  “Trendsetters in the Space Sector.”

Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) has signed a multi-year, multi-launch contract with INNOSPACE for orbital launches from the Australian spaceport. The agreement will consequently see the launch of several INNOSPACE rocket variants, each carrying between 50kg and 500kg payloads into low earth orbit from the Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) across five years until Dec 2028. ELA believes the signing of this contract has validated its business concept and development plans by securing INNOSPACE as the first commercial company to become a ‘resident launcher’ (long-term tenant and regular launcher) at the Australian spaceport.

The Republic of San Marino is entering the space economy by organising the “San Marino Aerospace”, the first international event dedicated to the aerospace and space economy hosted on Mount Titano. The event will take place at the Spazio Multieventi on October 25th and 26th. It will provide an opportunity for meeting and cooperation between institutions, laboratories, companies and startups. The Republic of San Marino will host conferences, panels, b2b meetings, demonstrations, workshops and insights, with the participation of Italian and foreign experts in the field of aviation and aerospace. 

SpeQtral, a leading quantum communication technology company, has chosen Kongsberg NanoAvionics (NanoAvionics) as the satellite bus provider for its upcoming SpeQtral-1 mission. Furthermore, the mission also has a second partner in Mbryonics, producing the satellite’s optical terminal. Using the technical expertise of NanoAvionics as a leading smallsat bus manufacturer and mission integrator and Mbryonics’s state-of-the-art optical terminal hardware, SpeQtral-1 aims to serve as a pathfinder commercial demonstrator, defining future quantum key distribution (QKD) services.

In this Space Café Radio -  SpaceWatch.Global's Dr. Emma Gatti spoke with Dr. Raji Pillai Rajagopalan, the Director of the Centre for Security, Strategy & Technology (CSST), based in Delhi, India. Today's episode is in partnership with the Secure World Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on the long-term sustainability of outer space and earth orbits, as well as space security and stability considerations.