Government

NASA has published the James Webb Space Telescope’s deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far, known as Webb’s First Deep Field, an image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. The image contains thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared part of the spectrum.

ESA’s astronaut selection has been progressing as planned, with the cognitive, technical, motor coordination and personality testing (Phase 2) ending in March, while psychometric testing, group and individual exercises and practical tests (Phase 3) ended in June this year. Over 400 applicants took part in the psychological assessments of Phase 3, carried out by an international team of experts.

A Minotaur II+ rocket exploded approximately 11 seconds after launch, Vandenberg Space Force reported. No one was injured in the explosion and the debris fell back onto the immediate vicinity of the launch pad. Investigation is currently underway to determine what caused the malfunction.

Secure communications cubesat, Speqtre, has passed its critical design review meaning that a full scale model of the satellite can now be built. Speqtre is being developed by the UK-based Science and Technology Facilities Council’s RAL Space and Singaporean quantum communications company, SpeQtral.

Airbus U.S. Space & Defense has been contracted to assemble, integrate, test, and launch 42 satellite platforms as well as provide space vehicle commissioning support services to Northrop Grumman to satisfy the U.S. Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 1 Transport Layer prototype constellation (T1TL) award, Airbus said.

Our Space Café WebTalk “33 minutes with Graham Turnock - The Accelerators: ESA’s plans to warp drive European Space” took place on Tuesday, 28th June. Graham Turnock has been a Special Advisor to the European Space Agency (ESA) since 2021. Before that, he was Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency.

Commercial space company, Sierra Space, the Turkish Space Agency and aerospace engineering solutions developer ESEN Sistem Entegrasyon (ESEN), signed a five-year Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to combine efforts on Sierra’s low Earth orbit (LEO), lunar and astronaut programs, Sierra Space said.

The Indian Space Reasearch Organisation (ISRO) said the launch of the country's first manned space flight, the Gaganyaan mission, cannot happen until at least 2024 as the agency wants to ensure that all safety systems are in place.  ISRO stated that tests were being conducted cautiously with regard to safety.

The U.S. Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mission 6 is soon going to break its own record after conducting on-orbit experiments for over two years. The spaceplane has already spent 774 days in orbit, just 6 days shy of the previous mission record.

Our Space Cafe WebTalk “33 minutes with Dr Deganit Paikowsky - Evolution of the concept of a Space Club by the space powers” took place on Tuesday, 21st June. Dr Deganit Paikowsky is experienced in the interface and interrelations between world politics and technological domains, specializing in space, cyber- and emerging technologies. She combines academic research with hands-on experience.