LUXEMBOURG (GomSpace PR) — GomSpace Luxembourg SARL and the European Space Agency (ESA), today signed a contract to continue development and implementation of the Juventas CubeSat in support of the Hera mission.
The contract value is approximately EUR 11,000,000, focused on delivery of the Juventas spacecraft and its associated payloads for launch with Hera in 2024. The amount will be divided between several partners, whereof GomSpace share is about EUR 6,100,000.
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LUXEMBOURG (LSA PR) — On 4 August 2020, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Ministry of the Economy, as the supervisory body of the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), and Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) in view of the creation by the end of 2020, in Luxembourg, of a “European Space Resources Innovation Centre”, called ESRIC in abbreviated form.
Signed today by the Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot, Chairman of the Board of LIST Jacques Lanners, and CEO of LIST Thomas Kallstenius, the agreement paves the way for cooperation between LSA and LIST to implement the national component of this initiative until the European Space Agency (ESA) joins the project in turn as a strategic partner as provided in the Memorandum of Cooperation in the field of Space Resources signed by Luxembourg and ESA (Space19 +) during the ESA meeting of the ministerial council in November 2019 in Seville.
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Video Caption: LuxSpace CEO, Jochen Harms, on putting the ESAIL microsatellite into orbit. ESAIL is part of ESA’s Partnership Projects and has been developed to enhance the next generation of space‐based services for the maritime sector. The spacecraft will track ship movements over the entire globe as it orbits the planet.
LUXEMBOURG (Luxembourg Space Agency PR) —Frontier Development Lab (FDL) – an artificial intelligence research accelerator for space science – has kicked off its 2020 program on a virtual platform with researchers and faculty from across the globe.
The Luxembourg Space Agency partners with FDL for the 4th consecutive year.
The teams, comprised of early-career PhDs in AI and interdisciplinary science domains, are supported by subject matter experts from NASA (including NASA Headquarters, NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center) and the SETI Institute together with FDL Partners: Google Cloud, Mayo Clinic, Lockheed Martin, MIT, USGS, IBM, Intel AI, Luxembourg Space Agency, NVIDIA, Planet and Augustus Intelligence. Along with expertise, FDL partner organisations support advanced AI research by providing funding, hardware, AI/ML algorithms, datasets, software and cloud-based super-compute resources.
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LUXEMBOURG (Luxembourg Space Agency PR) — The Luxembourg 2020 Space Directory gives you an up to date picture of who is doing what in Luxembourg’s expanding space sector.
The space industry in Luxembourg now counts more than 60 companies and research labs, with about 840 people employed directly.
Produced by the Luxembourg Space Agency, the 2020 Luxembourg Space Directory gives you a unique insight into the companies, projects and people involved in this dynamic, high tech sector.
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KOUROU, French Guiana (ESA PR) — The ESAIL microsatellite for tracking ships worldwide – developed under an ESA Partnership Project – has completed its accommodation on Vega’s new dispenser for small satellites and is ready for launch.
The Vega launch campaign at Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, resumed three weeks ago, following an interruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Luxembourg joins group of 22 space agencies coordinating the future of space exploration
LUXEMBOURG (LSA PR) — The International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), which has recently released its annual report, is an international forum for promoting coordinated efforts toward human and robotic space exploration on and around the Moon and Mars.
The Luxembourg Space Agency, which heads the SpaceResources.lu initiative, is proud to join this group of highly influential agencies and aiding in the development of a well thought out, unified approach to space resource exploration and utilisation.
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White Paper from the Luxembourg Space Agency focusses on opportunities for collaboration between terrestrial and space mining sectors
LUXEMBOURG (Luxembourg Space Agency PR) — On 9 October 2019, the second Mining Space Summit gathered more than 180 experts, from 24 countries, working in fields as diverse as oil & gas, terrestrial mining, space, finance, and government.
Held in Luxembourg, the goal of the Summit was to understand the technical and economic challenges facing the space resources industry and make recommendations for the future growth of this high technology sector.
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LUXEMBOURG (Luxembourg Space Agency PR) — The Frontier Development Lab (FDL) is an applied artificial intelligence research initiative that pairs researchers from the space sciences with data scientists for an intense 8-week concentrated study applying AI/ML to challenges important to NASA’s space exploration and science goals – and all humankind.
FDL runs between 22nd June and 14th August 2020 and is hosted by the SETI Institute and NASA Ames in Mountain View, CA.
The Luxembourg Space Agency encourages all PhD candidates and Postdocs interested in solving problems using modern AI technologies to apply. PhD and Postdoc students with Luxembourg nationality or PhD and Postdoc students conducting their research in Luxembourg are eligible.
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LUXEMBOURG (Asteroid Day PR) — Asteroid Day, the official United Nations’ day of global awareness and education about asteroids, will celebrate its sixth year on 30 June.
Asteroid Day was co-founded by astrophysicist and famed musician Dr. Brian May of the rock group QUEEN; Apollo 9 Astronaut Rusty Schweickart; Filmmaker Grig Richters; and B612 President Danica Remy, to promote awareness and provide knowledge to the general public about the importance of asteroids in our solar system history, and the role they play in our solar system today. Events are scheduled leading up to 30 June, the date of the largest asteroid impact of Earth in recorded history (Tunguska).
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Luxembourg Space Agency Q&A
Gradel MD, Claude Maack, on the future of ultra-lightweight construction for space.
Gradel has worked in the nuclear industry for 50 years and for the last decade the company has also been involved in the space industry, constructing highest end mechanical ground support equipment.
In the last year and a half Gradel has been working with the German company, AMC. They’re specialists in ultra-lightweight construction and collaborate with Gradel to develop ultra-lightweight materials for the space market.
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LUXEMBOURG (Luxembourg Space Agency PR) — The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the State of New South Wales, Australia, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on future space activities. The Memorandum puts in place a framework for cooperation on space related activities such as
LUXEMBOURG (Luxembourg Space Agency PR) — By signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of the Economy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Thales Alenia Space, Joint Venture between Thales (67 %) and Leonardo (33 %) is further advancing the creation of its Digital Center of Excellence in Luxembourg.
With this entity, Thales Alenia Space intends to become a major industrial contributor to Luxembourg’s ambitious space and digital strategy, to leverage the active and growing Luxembourg ecosystem, and to develop innovative solutions with potential worldwide business reach.
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LUXEMBOURG (Luxembourg Government PR) – During a meeting of a parliamentary committee, Étienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy confirmed that the Government of Luxembourg, together with public and private sector partners, have invested a stake in Orbital Ventures (‘the Fund’), an investment fund focused on early stage companies engaged in space activities. Luxembourg’s involvement builds on the country’s commitment to unlock the economic potential of the commercial space industry.
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THE HAGUE (Luxembourg Space Agency PR) — Shortly before the release of their final results, we spoke to three members of the Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group.
This international working group, with representatives from governments, industry, space agencies and academics from around the world, was set up in 2016 with the backing from the Dutch Government. It also received funding from several other private and public entities, including the Luxembourg Government.
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