Earth observation

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher signed two agreements at the latest ESA Council meeting in Noordwijk, Netherlands, to advance cooperation on Earth science and the Artemis lunar missions, NASA said. ESA’s Lunar Pathfinder mission will contribute to the progression of the lunar communications infrastructure, necessary for a long-term human presence.

Brussels may shut the UK out of the Horizon science programme, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, and block the UK’s involvement in the EU’s Copernicus environment monitoring Earth observation programme as part of post-Brexit trading agreements for Northern Ireland. Britain’s participation in the Euratom nuclear research partnership is also likely to change.

In this Space Café Radio, SpaceWatch.Global Event coordinator and Space Café Young Global Talents Host Chiara Moenter spoke with Kian Mirshahi, CEO of Mayday.ai about Mayday, the space ecosystem, and the importance of finding and relearning our balance and harmony with nature.

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.