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Mengtian (“dreaming of the heavens”), the third module of China’s Tiangong space station has docked, completing its construction. The Long March 5B rocket that deployed the module is currently on its way back Earth, with an estimated uncontrolled re-entry this Saturday.

Continuing its cooperation with African countries, China has taken steps to strengthen its relations with Namibia in the space industry. China recently organized a "Talk with Taikonauts" session with eight African countries; Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Namibia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Algeria, and Senegal

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Navigation Directorate is planning an in-orbit demonstration with new low Earth orbit (LEO) navigation satellites supplementing Europe’s 23 Galileo satellites. The LEO-PNT satellites will investigate a new multi-layer satellite navigation system-of-systems approach to deliver seamless Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT). ESA states that the technology could enable much more accurate, robust and available-to-all services.

In this Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Xavier Pasco, Director of the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique in Paris, during the 6th PSSI Space Security Conference, held in Prague, from the 19th to the 21st of June 2022. During this episode Xavier discusses the threats in the space domain, the European space safety and  security capabilities with Torsten. Tune in to hear more!

Space launch systems operator Virgin Orbit (VO), and the Luxembourg Minister of Defence signed a Letter of Intent to begin the process towards developing responsive space capabilities inclusive of a Luxembourg-based mobile launch infrastructure available for NATO partners, and other Allies across the European continent, VO said. As part of the agreement, VO will assess how such a space capability could be based in the country and optimized for various needs. 

The European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) has announced the third iteration of its myEUspace competition. The competition challenges innovators to develop game-changing commercial solutions that leverage EU Space data and signals from Galileo, Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and/or Copernicus, the European Earth Observation program

The European Space Agency (ESA) introduced eight steps to advance diversity and inclusiveness as part of its Agenda 2025 to complete the ESA Transformation, ESA said. The Agency claims that these steps will contribute to strengthening innovation and motivation, decreasing resistance to change, and fostering knowledge sharing. 

The space sector has completely changed in the past few years. France is now the driving force behind the European space sector (albeit more for its purposes rather than for shared European goals), and Germany, apparently distracted by national rearmament, is still determined to defend its ambitions, so as not to completely leave the ground to Paris. In the face of all this, what is Italy’s position? Further apart, it appears.

The European Space Agency-built (ESA) Ariane 6 heavy-lift launch system’s inaugural flight is only to be expected by Q4 2023 instead of the original plan of early 2023, ESA said. Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director General stressed however, that this was merely a planned date, which might have to be amended. Several key milestones will have to be achieved is a timely manner, for it to become reality, he added.

Our Space Café WebTalk “33 minutes with Dennis Stone about the World Space Week 2022: An insight into space and sustainability” took place on Tuesday, 4th October. Dennis is a volunteer president of the World Space Week Association, the global coordinator of the UN-declared World Space Week