Space Exploration

The UK Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on joint activities and information sharing on space, the British High Commission Ottawa reported. The MOU was signed in Dubai at the annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2021).

China under President Xi Jinping is aimed at establishing global leadership across domains, be it land, sea, air, cyber, and space. This grand strategic approach can be discerned from its prioritization of technologies that upgrade its civilian and military capacities across domains, through its ‘new infrastructures’ list.

Plus Ultra Space Outpost (Plus Ultra) and Rocket Factory Augsburg AG (RFA) have signed an agreement to launch a demonstrator mission to the Moon, RFA announced. RFA will launch Plus Ultra’s first satellite in 2023 on an RFA ONE launch vehicle. The vehicle uses industrial automation and staged-combustion propulsion, according to the company.

During this week’s Space Café, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening caught up with space Social Media Specialist Remco Timmermans, live from the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) exhibition floor in Dubai. Remco is an experienced space business professional,

Airbus Defense & Space, Air Liquide and ispace Europe have announced the joint creation of the Euro2Moon non-profit platform focusing on topics related to the exploration of the lunar surface. Euro2Moon will bring in public and private expertise targeting the utilisation of lunar resources in a commercial and sustainable way.

In this Space Café Radio – on tour on Mars (4), SpaceWatch.Global contributing editor Emma Gatti spoke in this third episode of our AMADEE-20 coverage with Dr. Gernot Groemer, Director at Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) and Mission Director. Together, they talked about AMADEE-20, the future of Mars exploration, space geopolitics and a precious lesson learned from Le Petit Prince.

Promus Ventures has closed a €120 million space fund named Orbital Ventures, Promus announced. The Luxembourg-based fund focuses on early-stage, space-related companies. The European Investment Fund contributed €40 million, while other investors include the Luxembourg Government through the Ministry of Economy and the National Credit and Investment Institution.

Poland has joined the list of nations committed to ensuring sustainable space practices by signing the Artemis Accords at the International Aeronautical Congress in Dubai, NASA reported. President of the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), Grzegorz Wrochna, signed the document during a ceremony.

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 39th episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast: Andrew Williams and an idea for tackling the constellation issue. Episode 039 features a special guest Andrew Williams. Andy Williams may have an interesting idea about how to deal with the growing issue of satellite constellations.

The lunar lander startup ispace receives a Series C injection from Airbus Ventures, the company said, bringing the total amount raised to approximately $200 million. The funds from ispace’s Series C investment round are going to its second lunar mission, which is planned to launch in 2023, as well as to support the development of its Series 2 lunar lander for its third mission,