Earth observation

In this  Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global Editor in Chief Dr. Emma Gatti spoke with Savino Ruà,  International Relations Officer at DG DEFIS (European Commission) and  Cecilia Donati, Policy Officer Digital and Space for Development at DG INTPA (European Commission) about the recent NewSpace Africa Conference 2023, which took place in Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast, between the 26th and 27th of April 2023.

Satellite Vu, the UK climate tech company, has announced its Series A2 of £12.7m, bringing its total investment to £30.5m in Venture Capital funding. The funding will help the Company accelerate its mission to provide sustainable solutions to global issues. Molten Ventures led the round, with participation from Seraphim Space Investment Trust PLC, A/O Proptech, Lockheed Martin, Ridgeline Ventures, Earth Sciences Foundation, and Stellar Ventures - all existing investors.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. has successfully completed the second of two dedicated Electron launches to deploy a constellation of tropical cyclone monitoring satellites for NASA. The "Coming To A Storm Near You" launch lifted-off on May 26 at 15:46 NZST (03:46 UTC) from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula, deploying the final two CubeSats of NASA’s TROPICS constellation to orbit.

On Thursday, the 25th of May, GLOC2023, Global Space Conference on Climate Change, the first Space conference entirely dedicated to Climate Change closed it’s first edition in Oslo, Norway's capital city. One of the major takeaway points was the need to make data more accessible. “People who work in crucial and critical data should be able to use the data freely,” says Dr Emma Gatti, Editor-in-Chief at SpaceWatch.Global. 

SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), an Australian space research centre, announced on the 23rd of May that they have launched a new research program: Maya Nula. This program intends to develop Australian satellite Earth Observation (EO) capability with space sensor technology to advance Australia’s agriculture industry. 

ICEYE has announced a new imaging mode known as Dwell to enable its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites to remain focused on a specific point on the ground for an extended collection time. This unique long-duration imaging mode allows ICEYE satellites to capture significantly more information about the imaging target, creating a powerful new capability for imagery users.

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has awarded European Space Imaging (EUSI) and Airbus a contract to deliver very high-resolution (VHR) optical satellite imagery.

Our Space Café “33 minutes with Enrico Stoll and Jens Berdermann – beauty and dangerous aspects of space” took place on Tuesday, 9th May. Prof. Enrico Stoll, Space Cafe returner and the Chair of Space Technology at the Technical University Berlin. And Dr. Jens Berdermann, the Acting Director and Department Head of the DLR Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics in Neustrelitz an hour and half north of Berlin. The space cafe took place at the 14th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth System Observation.

It is day 1 of the newly established Munich New Space Summit. Torsten Kriening gives an overview on the day and the talks to expect.

Rocket Lab successfully completed the first of two dedicated Electron launches on the 8th of May to deploy a constellation of tropical cyclone monitoring satellites for NASA reports Business Wire.