Space Exploration

The UAE has been chosen to lead the United Nation’s Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) committee with Omran Sharaf Emirati engineer serving as director of COPUOS in 2022 and 2023, the UAE reported.  COPUOS has 100 member states and has been in operation since 1959.

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Dr. Deganit Paikowsky, Faculty at the Department of International Relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global. Evolution of the concept of a Space Club by the space powers

NASA selected Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to provide astronauts with next generation spacesuit and spacewalk system capabilities in low Earth orbit and on the Moon as well as future human missions to Mars, the Agency said. The arrangement allows for NASA expertise to be paired with commercial innovation to support continued science in the space environment.

Stratolaunch debuted its structurally complete Talon-A test vehicle, TA-0, that will validate the Roc aircraft’s release system and characterize the separation dynamics of the Talon vehicle, the company said. The pylon, comprising a mini-wing and adapter, will be used to carry and release the Talon-A hypersonic vehicles.

In the latest Space Café “Law Breakfast with Steven Freeland”, Host Steven Freeland, Emeritus Professor of International Law at Western Sydney University, Sydney and Professorial Fellow at Bond University, Australia, and Co-Host Torsten Kriening, SpaceWatch.Global’s Publisher, welcomed Ranjana Kaul and Kai-Uwe Schrogl at a wonderful picnic at the India Gate in Delhi, India.

In this week’s Space Café Brazil, Ian Grosner talked with Prof. Dr. Daniel Freire e Almeida and Suyan Cristina Malhadas, direct from the Catholic University of Santos in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Brazil. Prof. Dr. Daniel Freire e Almeida is Professor of International Law, International Relations, Internet Law, and Space Law at Catholic University of Santos - Masters and PHD Program

U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced progress on collaboration for human and robotic lunar missions while confirming their commitment to include a Japanese astronaut aboard the lunar Gateway outpost as well as part of NASA’s Artemis program to land on the Moon.

SpaceX has launched the Transporter-5 rideshare mission carrying several dozen payloads to low Earth and sun-synchronous orbits. This time the first stage touched down at Landing Zone-1 at Cape Canaveral. This was the eighth launch of booster 1061 and the one-hundredth launch of a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket.

Our Space Café WebTalk “33 minutes with Amna Al Owais - Courts of Space: A Conversation about Dispute Resolution” took place on Tuesday, 17th May. Al Owais is currently the Chief Registrar of the DIFC Courts and oversees operations and quality management, supervising the Courts’ Judicial Officers and Registry personnel, as well as the delivery of a comprehensive suite of court public services. 

Airbus announced it has been awarded a contract from ESA to further develop the implementation of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The mission design and final technology development are due to be completed by 2024, with a planned launch in the late 2030s.