The #NewSpace Showcase – Recap 10/2022

In this issue, we look back at the month of October, which was dominated by events. In addition to the kick-off for the new space strategy of the German government, the EU Space Week took place in Prague. At the end of October, numerous German-speaking content creators met at the Space Creator Day in Speyer. There was, of course, plenty more exciting news to report. So here we go.

We hope you enjoy reading it!

Oct 23 | Space Creator Day 2022

On October 23, 2022, the 1st Space Creator Day took place at the Technikmuseum Speyer. Although the event was only advertised within the space flight community, tickets were sold out within a few days. However, those who could call one of the 250 tickets their own could look forward to a day of superlatives. At the largest meet-up of its kind to date, the who's who of space flight YouTubers, podcasters, writers and community managers met with their fans. Among others, Moritz Vieth (Senkrechtstarter), Sirwan Aminy (Mars Chroniken), Felix Schlang (What about it!?), Albrecht K?hler & Silas (Elontime) as well as Tim Julian Ruster (Astro-Tim) and representatives of Isar Aerospace , Rocket Factory Augsburg - RFA and Volker Schmid ( German Aerospace Center (DLR) ) were present. We were there too, of course: not just as Space Creators, but we also had the great pleasure and honor of moderating the day.

You can read the summary of this extraordinary day following on astrodrom.com

Oct 13 | Slovakia becomes an associate member of ESA

As early as March 2022, the Association Agreement was unanimously approved by the European Space Agency - ESA Council. The signing on June 14 was followed by some internal procedures; on October 13, the agreement entered into force for an initial period of seven years. With the inclusion of Slovakia, there are now a total of 5 associated members in addition to the 22 member states. Read more on our Website.

Oct 9 | POLARIS Raumflugzeuge successfully completes test flights

With a total of three demonstrators, the POLARIS Spaceplanes team set off for the Rotenburg/Wümme airfield (EDXQ) in Lower Saxony. During a two-day test campaign, ATHENA, ALEDA and STELLA were to prove their flight capability.

Read more about the campaign in our article. There is also a (realy cool) video about the latest developments on YouTube.

Oct 8 | GAIA Aerospace receives funding from high-tech incubator HTIA Smart Mobility

As you may know, GAIA Aerospace is developing VALKYRIE, a reusable air-launch system designed to carry miniature satellites into space. GAIA's spin-off is now receiving funding as part of a newly established high-tech incubator under the leadership of the Technical University of Braunschweig. GAIA Aerospace can draw on 160,000 euros to further develop its VALKYRIE AirLaunch System. The concept involves attaching the microlauncher under the fuselage of a transport aircraft from the size of an Airbus A320 or a Boeing 737. The rocket is then released above the troposphere and launched into space from there. Want to know more about the latest funding? Check out our website.

Oct 6 | Kick-off for the new space strategy

A workshop on the German government's new space strategy was held in Berlin on October 6. Here, the Federal Government's Coordinator for German Aerospace and Commissioner for Digital Economy & Start-ups Anna Christmann exchanged views with space experts. The results of the workshop were presented at the end. The video (in German) can be found on the BMWK website.

Oct 3-6 | EU Space Week 2022 in Prague

The EU Space Week took place in Prague (CZ) from October 3 to 6, 2022. More than 1,100 participants were on site in the Czech capitol, and about twice as many followed the event online. The program of the four days was tightly structured and offered many opportunities for exchange with 150 speakers in 35 sessions. Responsible for the #EUSW are the EUSPA - EU Agency for the Space Programme , which has been based in Prague since December 2010, and the European Commission .

The focus of the numerous sessions and meetings was on the political and social dimension of European space flight. In our article, we have derived seven key aspects about the future of European space flight from the four days of the event.

Oct 1 | ESA Director General appoints New Space Advisory Board

With its Agenda 2025, the European Space Agency - ESA has set itself the goal of deriving as much benefit from space as, for example, China or the USA. The top 5 priorities also include "promoting commercialization for a green and digital Europe". For this, the New Space Advisory Board (NAB) was established in April 2022. The members of the NAB have now been appointed. The board is international and includes three representatives from Germany: Cassi Welling ( constellr ), Daniel Metzler ( Isar Aerospace ) and Peter Taubenreuther ( STT-SystemTechnik GmbH ). In this article, we have summarized who else is involved and what tasks the NAB will take on.

Thanks for reading! If you would like to support us, please feel free to spread the word and follow us on social networks - even here on LinkedIn. If you have news to share, please don't hestitate and just drop us a line.

On behalf of the Astrodrom team, see you next time (maybe already at SpaceTech Expo Europe in Bremen). We are looking forward to it!

Michael Weissflog