Earth observation

EU ministers responsible for space adopted conclusions on the ‘Copernicus by 2035’ and on the ‘EU approach to space traffic management’ programmes, The EU Council reported. The two sets of conclusions provide political guidance and strengthen the EU’s common position on space traffic management.

LiveEO is one of the 74 successful companies from 18 countries selected for the European Commission’s European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator and will receive a grant of €1.7m to further develop its offering. LiveEO applied with its project, EOinTime, focusing on time series analysis and near real time monitoring based on satellite data, the company said.

Low-orbit commercial satellite developer and operator Geespace, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Geely Technology Group, has successfully launched its first nine satellites into low Earth orbit to be utilized by Geely Holding’s automotive partners, the company said.

Spacetech startup Warpspace, and high powered Edge computing company OrbitsEdge, signed a mutual Letter of Intent to explore the opportunities for collaboration to become space big data facilitators by combining optical communication with edge-computing technology. 

Global nanosatellite IoT (Internet of Things) network operator Astrocast, has signed an agreement to acquire Hiber, a Netherlands-based IoT-as-a-service provider, Astrocast said. Astrocast will acquire all of Hiber’s shares in exchange for the issuance of new Astrocast shares, representing 16.5% of its share capital.

SpaceX has launched the Transporter-5 rideshare mission carrying several dozen payloads to low Earth and sun-synchronous orbits. This time the first stage touched down at Landing Zone-1 at Cape Canaveral. This was the eighth launch of booster 1061 and the one-hundredth launch of a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket.

High-resolution greenhouse gas monitoring company GHGSat, has joined ESA’s prestigious Third Party Mission Programme, ESA said. The company will share data from its fleet of commercial satellites with Earth science and climate change researchers free of charge.

ESA has confirmed after a thorough review process that the preliminary design of the Airbus-built Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography Altimetry mission CRISTAL, meets all system requirements, Airbus said. CRISTAL will measure sea ice thickness and ice sheet elevations with the help of a multi-frequency altimeter.

Satellite-driven monitoring and natural catastrophe solutions company ICEYE, announced they are starting a pilot activity with the European Space Agency (ESA) to support the Copernicus Emergency Management Services (CEMS) team with flood insights. Under the programme, ICEYE will deliver critical flood impact information for CEMS to evaluate the data and explore potential applications.

German-based risk and disaster intelligence company Mayday.ai, and Airbus have entered into a strategic partnership to enhance risk and disaster intelligence. Airbus’ data will power Mayday.ai’s next-generation platform supporting decision-makers in protecting lives, property and the environment.