News

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched the Plankton, Aerosol, Climate, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite. The satellite launched into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to study ocean health, air quality, and the effects of a changing climate for the benefit of humanity. NASA subsequently confirmed signal acquisition from the satellite about five minutes after launch.

Astroscale Japan Inc., a subsidiary of Astroscale Holdings Inc., will launch its commercial debris inspection demonstration satellite, Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J), on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand, on Sunday, February 18 UTC. Furthermore, the Company has shipped ADRAS-J from its headquarters in Tokyo, and final preparations for launch are underway at Rocket Lab’s facilities, in addition to operational control testing from the Mission Control Center in Tokyo.

SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (SmartSat) is backing innovative research to develop end-to-end Australian capabilities in In-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM), in a project underwritten by a total investment of $ 2.3 million. SmartSat's research partner, the University of Sydney, will be leading the new project, which will develop robotic satellite technologies to reliably connect with other satellites to perform in-orbit repairs and maintenance. NSW-based industry partners Abyss Solutions, ANT61, Space Machines Company, Sperospace, and Spiral Blue will also support the research project.

In this Space Café Radio Geopolitics, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Mahhad Nayyer,  Astrodynamicist - Systems Engineer - Project Manager - Space Sustainability Enthusiast - Steward of Spaceship Earth. Mahhad Nayyer is a young Pakistani whom Torsten met first in the AIAA D12 - Diverse Dozen Cohort 2022 virtually. We were really impressed by Mahhad's work, so we invited him as a guest in our episode.

Pale Blue Inc. has received a grant from Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) under the Small and Business Innovation Research 3 (SBIR-3) program to develop and demonstrate key technology for space debris mitigation. The grant is worth up to USD 27 million (JPY 4 billion) and will enable the development and demonstration of a miniaturized water-based ion thruster and a water-based hall-effect thruster by fiscal 2027.

Kuva Space has announced its expansion to the United States, establishing Kuva Space US in Fairfax, Virginia. As a result, Jerry Welsh, the former CEO of ICEYE US, has joined Kuva Space as a board member and will lead the company’s expansion efforts to become a leading provider of hyperspectral insights to the U.S. Government (USG).

OQ Technology, a global satellite narrowband IoT connectivity operator, has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for a feasibility study of Direct-to-Cell connectivity. The Luxembourg Government, under the LuxImpulse program, is funding the contract. The  LuxImpulse aims to foster Luxembourg and European space initiatives through the national space program. 

The JAXA SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) mission soft-landed on the Moon on the night of Friday 18 to Saturday 19 January 2024 Japan Standard Time. JAXA would eventually confirm a successful precision landing for SLIM a few hours later. SLIM landed, but had an “attitude problem,” its position preventing its solar cells from receiving proper illumination.

The Global Satellite Operators Association (GSOA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Intent (MOI). The MOI, signed by Isabelle Mauro, Director General at GSOA, and Francisco-Javier Benedicto Ruiz, Acting Director of Connectivity & Secure Communications at ESA, solidifies the commitment of both organizations to work closely together in the pursuit of their shared goals in this area. 

Synthetaic has raised $15 million in Series B funding from new and existing investors, accelerating the Company's commercialization of RAIC, a dual-use model-independent classification and detection platform for image data. Lupa Systems and TitletownTech both co-led the round, with participation from IBM Ventures and Booz Allen Hamilton.