Government

Geospatial company Satellogic, has signed a three-year agreement with the Government of Albania to develop a dedicated satellite constellation providing the country with responsive satellite imagery capabilities across its sovereign territory, Satellogic said.

Space company Southern Launch, signed a Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Sharing Agreement with the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM), Southern Launch said. According to the agreement, Southern Launch will notify the United States Space Command about its upcoming launches.

In this Space Café Radio – SpaceWatch.Global Senior Editor and Space Café Italy Host Dr. Emma Gatti spoke with Scott Pace, the Director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University (USA). Emma met Scott during the 6th PSSI Space Security Conference, held in Prague from the 19th to the 21st of June 2022.

The United Kingdom and South Korea have committed not to destructively test direct ascent anti-satellite missiles (DA-ASAT) and thus joining the initiative led by the United Stated to promote peaceful and safe use of outer space.

The New Zealand Space Agency and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action BMWK signed an agreement to promote the safe, secure and responsible use of outer space, the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment stated.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Director General, Josef Aschbacher, appointed the New Space Advisory Board (NAB) to implement the actions of the Agenda 2025 with a particular focus on commercialisation and ESA’s role and actions in the New Space ecosystem, ESA said. 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a rule to shorten the time frame in which satellite operators should deorbit their low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, the FCC announced. The new rule states that operators now have five years instead of 25, to safely deorbit their defunct spacecraft.

Space startup ClearSpace has been awarded a US $2.46 million contract by the UK Space Agency to conduct the next design phase of the “Clearing of the LEO Environment with Active Removal” (CLEAR) mission. The phase will finish with the preliminary design review at the end of 2023.

The Queensland Government and SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) have launched the Queensland Earth Observation (EO) Hub, a partnership for two new Earth observation research projects. The Government and SmartSat CRC are both investing about US $1 million in the project.

The European Space Agency (ESA) selected Moon company Astrobotic, and NewSpace start-up Lunar Logistics Services (LLS), to fly the LandCam-X innovative landing sensor camera to the Moon in 2024 on Astrobotic’s Griffin Mission One (GM1). The contract will be the first ever commercial delivery to the Moon procured by ESA.