Space Exploration

The two spacecraft will fly by Venus just 33 hours apart with Solar Orbiter arriving first on 9th August at 4:42 UTC followed by BepiColombo on 10th August at 13:48 UTC. The missions create a unique opportunity to study the planet’s environment at multiple places at the same time.

This Space Café WebTalk will feature Antonino Salmeri, Doctoral Researcher in Space Law at the University of Luxembourg, in conversation with Torsten Kriening, publisher of SpaceWatch.Global. "My Journey from Sicily to the Moon through Space Law" Antonino Salmeri is an Italian attorney at law and a PhD candidate (under the supervision of Professor Mahulena Hofmann)

Russia plans to create a manned space complex in LEO, Roscosmos reported. The news comes after learning that the Russian segment of the ISS is to be retired after 2024 due to ageing. This, in turn opens up the way for national space infrastructures to take over the exploration of outer space.

The Japanese space tech start-up ispace is building its lunar lander at ArianeGroup´s German facility in Lampoldhausen, the company said. A crew of assembly specialists from ispace has settled in at the site, and activities are underway, ArianeGroup said.

British Crown Dependency, the Isle of Man’s government has agreed to join the 12 countries already embracing Artemis Accords. The Artemis Accords are an international agreement among participating nations setting out guidelines for cooperation in space exploration.

Previously, research has suggested the presence of molecular oxygen (O2) after auroral bands were discovered in the ultraviolet (UV) images produced by the Hubble Space Telescope. However, when comparing these to recent datasets, astronomers have discovered that there was almost no O2 in the atmosphere in 2018 implying another reason for the charged particle bands.

NASA has selected SpaceX for launching its first mission to explore one of Jupiter’s 79 moons, Europa, with a total contract award amount of $178 million, NASA said. The Europa Clipper mission will launch an orbiter around the gas giant in October 2024, from the Kennedy Space Centre’s Launch Complex 39A on a Falcon Heavy rocket.

SpaceWatch.Global is pleased to present the 32nd episode in our podcast series The Space Cafe Podcast: Jacques Arnould, a tricky question for the entire space industry. Episode 032 features a special guest Jacques Arnould. Jacques Arnould is paid to ask uncomfortable questions. As an ethicist at the French space agency CNES

After months of silence, last Friday saw an update on the dearMoon selection. Yusaku Maezawa, the Japanese billionaire who purchased a SpaceX Starship flight around the Moon, currently scheduled for 2023, has shared an applicant sneak peek on his YouTube channel. According to the description, the video does not indicate who will be in the final crew.

The European Robotic Arm (ERA) is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) after its launch from Baikonur, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. The 11-m-long robot is travelling folded and attached to what will be its home base – the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, also called ‘Nauka’, ESA said.