Government

The European Space Agency (ESA) partners with the British Arqit – a leader in the quantum encryption field – to develop its quantum key distribution satellite QKDSat, the agency said. ArQit recently announced that it was merging with Centricus, a global investment firm, in a transaction expected to provide Arqit with up to €330 million in gross proceeds.

South Korea has become the 10th country to sign the Artemis Accords, NASA announced. The South Korean Minister of Science and ICT Lim Hyesook signed the Artemis Accords for the country in Seoul, the U.S. space agency said. South Korea joins Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, and the United States.

Canada augments its investment in lunar exploration, the Canadian government and the country’s space agency said. Canada will invest $3 million in technology initiatives for lunar exploration through the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, announced.

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Orbital Gateway Consulting we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Dongfang Hour China Aerospace News Roundup 17 May – 23 May 2021”. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup! A special shout-out to our friends at GoTaikonauts!

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and The Strategist, we have been granted permission to publish selected articles. This is “SpaceX’s reusable rocket technology will have implications for Australia” by Malcolm Davis, originally published on 18 May 2021.

The Chinese space sector has seen rapid commercialisation over the past 7 years, with well over 100 companies established and around ¥40B (US$6.5B) raised by commercial space organisations. While still only representing a small percentage of the US$35B in annual revenues of the country’s state-owned space industry giants,

Mynaric and SpaceLink join forces to use Mynaric’s laser communication product portfolio on SpaceLink’s data relay network. The cooperation has a volume of $20 million, SpaceLink said, and will help drive forward its satellite relay service, which provides secure, continuous, high-capacity communications between LEO spacecraft and the ground.

Steve Jurczyk, who served as acting NASA administrator from the January to May 2021, will retire after more than three decades of service, NASA said. Robert D. Cabana, who has served as director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida since 2008, will serve as new associate administrator, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced.

Women in space: a senior officer of the Australian Royal Air Force, Catherine Roberts, will become the country’s Space Division new chief next year, Australian ABC News reported. Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts, who is currently the Head of Air Force Capability, will take over the newly created position of Head of Space Division from January, ABC said.

The new NASA Administrator Bill Nelson appointed Susie Perez Quinn as the agency’s new chief of staff. Quinn served as Nelson’s chief of staff and in several other leadership positions in the Senate and, most recently, as the director of government relations at the National Governors Association.