Space Exploration

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Prof. Kazuto Suzuki , Professor of Science and Technology Policy, Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo, Japan, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global. Space Policy in Japan – the new challenge for setting international norms

The International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) will send its bioastronautics researcher Kellie Gerardi to space on a dedicated research mission with Virgin Galactic, the institute said. “The contract marks the world’s first industry-sponsored, human-tended research spaceflight on a commercial vehicle”.

As part of its Discovery program, NASA has selected two new missions to Venus, Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor, the agency said. NASA is awarding approximately $500 million per mission; they are expected to launch in the 2028-2030 timeframe, NASA said.

Axiom Space signed up for three additional private crew missions to the International Space Station (ISS) with SpaceX, the company said. The missions – Ax-2, 3, and 4 – will take place on a SpaceX Dragon until 2023, Axiom said. The landmark agreement between the two companies

The giant James Webb Space Telescope is on Arianespace’s launch manifest for the fourth quarter of this year, officials from the European launcher and the U.S. space agency said. The telescope could be shipped from the U.S. to French Guiana late August, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s science mission director, said at a virtual press briefing and mission update.

New Zealand is the 11th nation to sign NASA’s Artemis Accords, the country announced. New Zealand’s foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta and the economic development minister Stuart Nash announced the government has agreed to join the Artemis Accords, launched by NASA, and now signed by eleven nations, the government said on its website. 

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 24 May – 30 May 2021”. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup!

The U.S. space agency NASA has requested a $25 billion budget for 2022, the agency said. The budget request for the agency amounts to $24.8 billion, NASA said, $100 million more than requested in April. The largest single item in the budget is for Deep Space Exploration Systems, with $6.88 billion, NASA said.

This Space Café Spain featured Carlos Entrena, founder and CEO of Plus Ultra Space Outposts in conversation with Izan Peris, a friend of SpaceWatch.Global and fellow space entrepreneur. Does Spain have a role in the new lunar economy? Space Café Spain held its inaugural episode with Carlos Entrena, a Madrid-based entrepreneur who is building Harmony.

China’s lunar program has made impressive strides in recent years. Perhaps the most captivating moment thus far was the landing and exploration of the Lunar far side by the Chang’e-4 spacecraft and the Yutu-2 rover, with the mission arriving at the moon in early 2019.