Space Resources

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) Accelerator has launched the Leo and Geo programs and has started receiving applications from entrepreneurs keen to scale up their business at pace within the UK’s space industry. The Leo and Geo programs are part of the UKSA Accelerator’s suite of bespoke programs with the aim of supporting entrepreneurs at various levels of their space journey.

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) has announced £1.6 million in funding for eight projects through its Enabling Space Exploration fund on Mars Day. The Agency's goal is to invest in projects that could revolutionize the human ability to journey deeper into space safely and efficiently, using remote technologies and supplies found in space to sustain astronauts and spacecraft. 

Lonestar Data Holdings has closed a $5 million seed round, raising money from Scout Ventures, Seldor Capital, 2 Future Holding, The Veteran Fund, Irongate Capital, Atypical Ventures, and KittyHawk Ventures. The $5m includes funds that the Company raised last year as part of the round.

In this Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Peter Garretson,  Senior Fellow in Defense Studies with the American Foreign Policy Council and co-director if its Space Policy Initiative, and host of the Space Strategy Podcast.  He was previously the director of Air University’s Space Horizons Task Force, an Air Force think tank for space, and was a founder and deputy director of the U.S. Space Force’s Schriever Scholars Strategy Seminar, America’s premier military space strategy program.

OffWorld has expanded into Luxembourg, appointing a former ispace CEO, Kyle Acierno, to run its European HQ. With its headquarters in Pasadena, California, OffWorld was founded in 2016 to reinvent the mining, manufacturing, and construction industries by developing a new generation of AI-powered robots able to withstand extreme conditions. It is now adapting its technology for the mining of resources in space.

The Arianespace and ESA-set up independent inquiry commission has disclosed its conclusions on the reasons for the loss of the Vega-C VV22 mission after its launch in French Guiana on Tuesday, 20 December 2022. According to the Commission, after the nominal functioning of the Vega-C first stage P120C and nominal ignition of the second stage (Zefiro 40), a progressive decrease in the chamber pressure 151 seconds after lift-off led to the loss of the mission.

INNOSPACE has announced that it has set a new launch window from March 7 to March 21 (Brasilia Time, BRT) for the HANBIT-TLV first test flight from Brazil soil. The test will verify the flight performance of the 15-ton thrust single-stage hybrid engine from INNOSPACE.

An international collaboration involving ESO has submitted a paper to the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) proposing a new Expert Group to protect dark and quiet skies. The paper underwent discussion at the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC) of COPUOS under a special agenda item on Dark and Quiet skies.

Pixxel, India’s space data startup, has unveiled the first-ever set of images from its hyperspectral pathfinder satellites as part of its ‘First Light’ Campaign. The images capture intricate details of the land and water features of regions such as Krishna River Delta (India), Palm Islands (Dubai), Super pit (Australia), Saloum River Delta (Senegal), Granny Smith Gold mine (Australia) and Brockman (Australia).

The Small Satellites & Services International Forum (SSSIF) congress concluded yesterday in Malaga, Spain, after three days in which experts from the space sector gathered to discuss and reflect on the innovation of the international space sector, the present challenges and the future needs of small satellites.