An Earth science instrument selected by NASA several years ago to fly as a hosted payload on a commercial communications satellite may instead fly on a standalone spacecraft because of a lack of hosting opportunities.

Aerospacelab raised 40 million euros ($45.5 million) in a funding round led by Airbus Ventures and XAnge, a European venture capital firm based in Paris and Munich.

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The U.S. Space Force’s procurement arm based in Los Angeles has launched a new effort to attract commercial space companies that do not typically work with the government.

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Switzerland-based technology provider ABB said Feb. 16 it is supplying multispectral imaging systems for EarthDaily Analytics’ (EDA) planned fleet of 10 satellites.

The post ABB gets $30 million order for EarthDaily imaging payloads appeared first on SpaceNews.

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, began forming around 12 billion years ago. Since then, it has been growing in both mass and size through a sequence of mergers with other galaxies.

Perhaps most exciting is that this process has not quite finished, and by using data from ESA’s Gaia spacecraft, astronomers can see it taking place. This in turn allows to reconstruct the history of our galaxy, revealing the ‘family tree’ of smaller galaxies that has helped make the Milky Way what it is today.

The latest work on this subject comes from Khyati Malhan, a Humboldt Fellow at the

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher speaks at the start of the ESA Council Meeting at Ministerial Level, part of the Space Summit in Toulouse, on 16 February 2022.

Watch the other Space Summit videos.

ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano presents the European Astronauts’ Manifesto during the Space Summit in Toulouse, on 16 February 2022.

Watch the other Space Summit videos.

Astroscale said Feb. 17 it is preparing to resume an attempt to capture a satellite acting as a piece of debris in low Earth orbit, after pausing the demonstration three weeks ago to troubleshoot undisclosed problems.

Shanghai local government entered an agreement with the state company responsible for China’s planned broadband megaconstellation Wednesday, while also aiming to foster a space hub to support  reusable rockets and satellite mass production.

The European Space Agency will establish a committee with representatives from both inside and outside the space industry to develop options for a European human space exploration program.

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