Space

SpaceWatch.Global Editor-in-Chief Dr. Emma Gatti describes Space Bridge. UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini announces the creation of Space Bridge, a new UNOOSA initiative aimed at bridging the knowledge gap within the sector and bringing different stakeholders together to compare problems and find answers for the significant challenges of the domain

The day two of the World Space Forum 2023 at UNOOSA in Vienna was fully packed with interesting and informative panels and events. Dr. Emma Gatti and Torsten Kriening give a short review of this day, starting with a panel moderated by Emma, followed by a high level panel on sustainability moderated by the Director of UNOOSA, Aarti Holla-Maini. Torsten summarises the panel about the Summit of the Future and highlights the Space Cafe Podcast live recording.

UK-based orbital launch services company, Orbex, has won £3.3 million in funding from the UK Space Agency as part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) “Boost!” initiative. The initiative, which is part of ESA’s Commercial Space Transportation Services and Support programme, aims to further the development of world-leading space launch technologies.

In the second episode of season 2 of Space Café Israel, Meidad Pariente is in conversation with Ella Barak, the Director of the ASTRA accelerator at Starburst Aerospace.  Could you reveal a personal aspect that hasn't been included in your LinkedIn profile, giving us a peek into a lesser-known facet of your life? I'm a proud mother of three young boys, and they are my primary motivation behind many of my personal and professional decisions. They are my guiding stars in many daily decisions and during my career path.

Spire Global, Inc. has received a multi-million euro contract from EUMETSAT, Europe’s meteorological satellite agency, to provide radio occultation (RO) data. The contract is for an initial period of two years, from 2024-2026, with three optional, one-year extensions. The award follows a successful pilot program, which demonstrated the benefits of Spire’s RO data for weather forecasting accuracy and value. The Company’s RO data provides information about the vertical profiles of pressure, humidity and temperature across all points of the globe, including in the most remote regions and open oceans.

At the end of day one of the World Space Forum 2023 at UNOOSA in Vienna, Dr. Emma Gatti and Torsten Kriening offer their recap of the day. They have recorded the Space Cafe Clip directly after Dr. Gatti's Worksop titled "Nobody cares about your satellite. Our struggle for a better space communications"

Helicity Space, a commercial space company developing in-space propulsion and power technology based on fusion power, has raised $5 million in seed round funding from several new investors. The successful raise enables Helicity Space to advance its proprietary technology, the Helicity Drive, which consists of scalable fusion propulsion engines that should enable safer, faster, reusable, and more fuel-efficient travel into deep space.

ispace, inc. and Orbit Fab, Inc have announced an agreement to collaborate on in-space propellant harvesting and delivery for future missions to the Moon. The partnership will leverage each company’s unique and complementary capabilities to develop effective propellants and fuels from resources in space, such as water, ice, and lunar regolith or fine and rocky soils found on the surface of the Moon.

Lunasonde has announced the launch timeline for its third satellite to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The San Xavier satellite will fly on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Transporter-11 in the summer of 2024 via launch provider Exolaunch. It is the company’s first on-orbit test of its proprietary very low-frequency radar technological stack capable of detecting subsurface mineral deposits up to two kilometers underground.

In this Space Café Radio - SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with Dr Slavka Andrejkovičová, CAMões Mission Control, and Principal Investigator at the GeoBioTec research unit at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. Torsten spoke with Slavka on the evening before the CAMões Mission analog astronauts left the cave. They have been on the mission for over 6 days already.