Space Missions

On the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts have increasingly relied on the support of CIMON, the astronaut robotic assistant, which was developed and built by Airbus for the German Aerospace Center Space Administration (DLR). The system, which has recently been updated with CIMON-2,

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 21 June – 27 June”. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup! A special shout-out to our friends at SpaceWatch.Global

Earlier this week, we saw a couple of significant space industry-related events in Hong Kong, namely talks by a variety of leaders from CASC, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and others. The events took place at the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and covered topics as diverse as the Tianwen-1 Mars mission, the BeiDou satellite navigation,...

Paris, 28 June 2021. – Virgin Galactic obtained a license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to allow it to fly customers to space, the company said. The FAA expanded Virgin Galactic’s license as a commercial space transportation operator to allow it to carry people – or ”space flight participants”, as it said. 

by Molly Silk,  PhD Candidate, Chinese Space Policy, University of Manchester SpaceWatch.Global has been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. This is “China is using mythology and sci-fi to sell its space programme to the world”, originally published 25 June 2021 at The Conversation by Molly Silk.

The team from Down Under won silver and bronze at Spaceport America Cup. The University of Sydney Rocketry Team brought home silver and bronze this week after competing virtually in Spaceport America Cup, an annual international student rocketry competition that tests the very best of budding rocket scientists.  The Aussie team’s good news comes at a troubling time for the harbour city

More than 22,000 people from all over Europe submitted an application to become an astronaut for the European Space Agency (ESA), the agency said. ESA launched a search for four new astronauts earlier this year. Around 5,400 of all applicants identified as female.

During this week’s Space Café, SpaceWatch.Global publisher, Torsten Kriening caught up with California-based Danica Remy to discuss all things asteroids. With a career in social justice movements and “fabulous innovation”, Danica serves as President of the B612 Foundation, which leads private sector efforts in research, analysis and systems design to protect Earth from asteroids.

Paris, 23 June 2021. – Just two seconds: Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) successfully tested its full-scale staged combustion engine, the company said. The test was carried out in Kiruna (Sweden). Staged combustion technology is characterized by higher efficiencies and performances compared to traditional rocket engine designs, the company explained.

The European Union (EU) will invest nearly €9 billion in European space programs over the period of 2021 to 2027, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. EU and ESA signed a new Financial Framework Partnership Agreement (FFPA), “for ESA and European industry to design new-generation systems and programmes, crucial for the economy and a green and digital Europe”, ESA said.