Space Sustainability

Satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability provider, Astroscale has opened its new Zeus satellite manufacturing and operations facilities at the Harwell Science & Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire. The new site will enable Astroscale to build satellite debris removal servicer satellites, and develop its commercial offering in the future.

Episode 064 features a special guest: Dr. Annie Handmer. A strange object in Low Earth orbit that seems to belong to no one and an even stranger business model with Earth observation satellites are among the topics in the brand new episode of the Space Cafe Podcast. Space Junk podcaster and Senior Manager for Innovation and Policy at HEO Robotics is our guest in the studio.

Satellite manufacturer Reflex Aerospace, and space-tech company HPS (High Performance Space Structure Systems), signed a letter of intent to prevent space debris, the companies announced. According to the agreement, Reflex will remove all its satellites from orbit at the end of their operational life.

 The UK Space Agency granted a €1.9 million funding boost to the UK and European subsidiary of on-orbit servicing company Astroscale, to continue developing its space debris removal technology, the firm said. This next phase of the Cleaning Outer Space Mission through Innovative Capture (COSMIC)

Information and intelligence platform provider NorthStar Earth & Space and on-orbit services provider Astroscale, formed a strategic partnership at the 2022 International Astronautical Congress to further support space sustainability, NorthStar said. The duo will do so by combining NorthStar’s precise space-based object tracking with Astroscale’s spacecraft navigation and capture capability. 

In this Space Café Radio – SpaceWatch.Global Senior Editor and Space Cafè Italy Host Dr. Emma Gatti spoke with Prof. Richard Linares, Rockwell International Career Development Professor and Associate Professor at the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics of MIT (MA - USA), and Prof. Akhil Rao, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Middlebury College (VT - USA).

Spaceflight safety platform provider Kayhan Space, focused on innovative collision avoidance and launch security solutions, has appointed space industry executive S. Sita Sonty, as the company’s strategic advisor. Sonty is Partner and Associate Director in the Aerospace, Defense and Public Sector practices of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

In this Space Café Radio – SpaceWatch.Global Senior Editor and Space Café Italy Host Dr. Emma Gatti spoke with Dr. Jason Forshaw, Head of Future Business for Europe at Astroscale, during the 4th Secure World Foundation Summit for Space Sustainability, held in London between the 21 and the 23rd of June 2022.

Satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability provider Astroscale Japan, has been selected as one of the contracting parties for the Front-Loading Technology Study in Phase II of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Commercial Debris Removal Demonstration (CRD2), the company said.

The third edition of Space Café Austria focused on a topic, that has been more and more discussed ever since the Artemis Accords have come into play: The protection of space heritage and our shared space history. Host Judith Delany spoke with Dr. Christian Klösch of the Technical Museum in Vienna, giving a unique insight not just into Austrian Space history, but into the importance of history in general. Dr. Klösch, who studied history and astronomy, has been with the Vienna Museum of Technology (TMW) since 2009.