Space Exploration

On the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, we couldn’t think of a better feature than SpaceWatch.Global’s Editor, Chaitanya Gopal’s interview with  Dr. John Mankins of the Moon Village Association (MVA) to discuss the ways in which this NGO is looking at the best ways of establishing a …

On September 4-5 2019 the global space scene will meet in Trondheim, Norway for the 3rd edition of the SpacePort Norway event. SpaceWatch.Global’s Torsten Kriening had the chance to sit together with Ole Dokka, Executive Director, Spaceport Norway, to learn more about the upcoming event. Thanks for your time for …

A Proton M launch vehicle successfully launched the Spektr-RG astrophysical observatory from Site 81 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 13, 2019 at 3:30:57 p.m. Moscow time. The launch and flight were completed with no issues making this the second launch of this vehicle type in 2019. Two hours later, …

Firefly Aerospace has announced that it has signed an Intellectual Property and Engineering Support Agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for technology based on its Beresheet Lunar Lander. Firefly Aerospace is one of the nine companies selected by NASA to participate in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program to …

Berlin space start-up, PTScientists filed for bankruptcy on Friday, July 5, 2019, with the competent district court, Charlottenburg, Berlin. This was due to unplanned delays in the acquisition of further incentives and subsidies for the planned Moon mission. The resulting liquidity shortage made the application legally necessary. Lawyer Sascha Feies …

The use of electric propulsion for raising satellites into geostationary orbit can result in significant solar cell degradation according to a new study. The extended journey results in greater exposure to the damaging effects of space weather. Understanding the size of this risk is essential for commercial operators to take …

Astrobotic has been awarded a $5.6 Million contract by NASA’s Lunar Surface and Instrumentation and Technology Payload (LSITP) programme to cooperate with Carnegie Mellon University on development and delivery of a groundbreaking rover which enables a new paradigm of exploration autonomy. MoonRanger, the lunar rover, will establish transformational high-speed, long-range, …

In the presence of Frédérique Vidal, Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, the 26th French-Swiss academic, scientific and technological cooperation forum took place on the campus of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 1 July 2019. Space cooperation between France and Switzerland was on the agenda …

NASA has selected eight new research teams to collaborate on research into the intersection of space science and human space exploration as part of the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI). “The discoveries these teams make will be vital to our future exploration throughout the solar system with robots …

On the occasion of President Emmanuel Macron’s official visit to Japan on 26 June 2019, and in the presence of Frédérique Vidal, Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, and Masahiko Shibayama, Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall …