DENVER, July 22, 2022 (Space for Humanity PR) — Today, Space For Humanity (S4H), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, announced its selection committee has chosen Sara Sabry to become the organization’s second sponsored Citizen Astronaut. Sara will become the first Egyptian to fly to space when she flies aboard Blue Origin’s NS-22 flight.

Sara, 29, is an Egyptian mechanical and biomedical engineer and founder of Deep Space Initiative (DSI), a nonprofit which aims to increase accessibility for space research. Sara became Egypt’s first female analog astronaut in 2021, when she was selected to complete a two week analog Moon mission, which simulated the extreme conditions astronauts experience in Space. She will join five other crew members including Coby Cotton, Mario Ferreira, Vanessa O’Brien, Clint Kelly III, and Steve Young aboard New Shepard to experience the cognitive shift of the Overview Effect and incorporate that new found perspective into a social impact project with the support of S4H’s Citizen Astronaut Program (CAP).

“When we dare to dream big, we achieve things deemed impossible, we break boundaries, write history, and set new challenges for the future,” said Sabry. “I am incredibly excited that Space For Humanity has offered me this opportunity and I am honored to be representing Egypt in Space for the first time. My ancestors have always dreamt big and achieved the impossible, and I hope to bring that back. This is just the beginning.”

SpaceX launched for the 32nd time on Friday, setting a new record for a calendar year with more than five months left in 2022. On Friday, July 22 at 10:39 a.m. PDT, Falcon 9 launched 46 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. This was the fourth flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which […]

Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) says there is no longer a deal to sell 4,000 acres to Georgia’s Camden County for a spaceport after voters overwhelming rejected the project. But, the county disagrees. The Associated Press reports: “As a result, there is no longer an Option Agreement in existence between the County and UCC, and UCC does not intend to convey the property to the County pursuant to the prior Option […]

SEATTLE, Wash. (Blue Origin PR) — Blue Origin today announced the crew flying on its NS-22 mission will include Dude Perfect cofounder Coby Cotton, Portuguese entrepreneur Mário Ferreira, British-American mountaineer Vanessa O’Brien, technology leader Clint Kelly III, Egyptian engineer Sara Sabry, and telecommunications executive Steve Young. Sara will become the first person from Egypt to fly to space; Mário will become the first from Portugal. Vanessa will become the first woman to reach extremes on land, sea, and air, completing the Explorers’ Extreme Trifecta, a Guinness World Record.

• Virtuoso adds spaceflight partner to its exclusive global portfolio
• Limited number of remaining seats available to Virtuoso’s global client base

NEW YORK & TUSTIN, Calif. (Virtuoso/Virgin Galactic PR) — Virtuoso®, the leading global network specializing in luxury and experiential travel, and Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE), an aerospace and space travel company, today announced a strategic partnership to make a limited number of seats for Virgin Galactic’s spaceflight experience available to Virtuoso’s global client base.

Seasoned aerospace business development executive offers regional and industry expertise to fuel growth of Spire Space Services in ANZ

VIENNA, Va. (Spire Global, Inc. PR) — Spire Global, Inc. (NYSE: SPIR) (“Spire” or “the Company”), a leading global provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, today announced the appointment of Seyed Miri as Director of Space Services for Australia and New Zealand. Miri is an entrepreneur and seasoned business development executive with more than 20 years of experience working in the Earth observation and location intelligence industry in Australia and New Zealand. He is based in Melbourne, Australia, and will report to Kamal Arafeh, Senior Vice President of Global Sales.

In this role, Miri will lead business development, client relationship management and the overall expansion of Spire Space Services, the company’s Space-as-a-Service (SPaaS) business, in Australia and New Zealand. Spire Space Services allows organizations to deploy and scale their own constellation of satellites at maximum speed with minimum risk, by leveraging Spire’s proven space platform, global ground station network, end-to-end manufacturing facility, and extensive launch partnership network through a subscription model.

HONG KONG (Tsangs Group PR) — Tsangs Group is pleased to announce that we have invested in Ad Astra Rocket Company (“Ad Astra”), known for the project of Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (“VASIMR^®“) space engine.

Founded in 2005 by former NASA astronaut and plasma physicist, Dr Franklin Chang Díaz, Ad Astra is an American rocket propulsion company dedicated to developing advanced plasma rocket propulsion technology.

Facility will expedite innovation of state-of-the-art RF satellites and geospatial intelligence

HERNDON, Va. (HawkEye 360 Inc. PR) — HawkEye 360 Inc., the world’s leading commercial provider of space-based radio frequency (RF) data and analytics, announced today the grand opening of its Advanced Technology and Development Center in Herndon, Virginia. The 19,000 square-foot data processing, software development, and satellite manufacturing facility continues HawkEye 360’s investment in Fairfax County to support U.S. government and allied government needs.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Sidus Space PR) — Sidus Space, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIDU), a Space-as-a-Service company focused on mission critical hardware manufacturing; multi-disciplinary engineering services; satellite design, production, launch planning, mission operations; and in-orbit support, is proud to announce that it has completed the fabrication of the first set of hardware in support of NASA’s Artemis Program and their Space Launch System (SLS) Manned Vehicle.

Field trials including Japan’s national space agency JAXA and communications in an urban traffic context leverage the power of the supercomputer Fugaku

TOKYO, July 21, 2022 (Fujitsu PR) — Fujitsu today announced that it conducted successful large-scale electromagnetic wave simulations for a series of use cases in different industries using a cloud-based application for the supercomputer Fugaku⁽¹⁾.

Fujitsu envisions that this new analysis solution will help address issues related to electromagnetic interference between electronic components and communications equipment for customers in the space and urban transportation fields. To demonstrate its capabilities, Fujitsu conducted simulations for use cases in these two fields from January to March 2022 and confirmed the effectiveness of the analysis solution as a cloud service between April and July 2022.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

It was a busy first half of 2022 that saw 77 orbital launches with 74 successes and three failures through the 182nd day of the year on July 1. At a rate of one launch every 2 days 8 hours 44 minutes, the world is on track to exceed the 146 launches conducted in 2021.

A number of significant missions were launched during a period that saw more than 1,000 satellite launched. SpaceX flew the first fully commercial crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Boeing conducted an orbital flight test of its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft, China prepared to complete assembly of its space station, South Korea launched its first domestically manufactured rocket, and Rocket Lab sent a NASA mission to the moon.

Let’s take a closer look at the numbers.

• Isar Aerospace has been selected by French Space Agency CNES to fly satellites from equatorial Guiana Space Centre (CSG)
• By securing yet another launch site in Europe, Isar Aerospace gains even more flexibility for its customers and adds an important pillar for future growth
• Opening of CSG for high frequency launches essential to serve growing global market for satellite launches

MUNICH, 21 July 2022 (Isar Aerospace PR) – Isar Aerospace, Europe’s leading and most well-funded private European launch service provider for small and medium satellite deployment, today announced that it has been selected by the French Space Agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales) to operate its rockets at the Diamant site of CSG (Centre Spatial Guyanais) in French Guiana. In the course of the open call of CNES, Isar Aerospace has signed a binding term sheet that lays the foundation to conduct commercial and institutional launch operations at CSG from 2024 onwards.