Hyundai Motor Group has partnered with six Korean research institutes in the aerospace sector to build an early prototype of a lunar exploration mobility rover. The rover would feature a solar charging system, autonomous driving capabilities, thermal management, and radiation shielding. It would carry equipment up to a maximum weight of 70kg. The Group aims to complete the initial development model by the second half of 2024 and launch a model with launch capability in 2027. Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation will provide the following: Advanced robotics and autonomous driving technologies. Driving systems. Charging parts as part of a…
Author: Team Interstellar
Read More
Kenya hosted a three-day Technical Advisory Mission (TAM) workshop from the 18th to the 20th of April, 2023, in partnership with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). The event was held at the United Nations Headquarters in Nairobi, to provide capacity-building and legal consultancy services in international space law and establish mechanisms in Kenya for setting national regulatory and policy frameworks attuned to its various space activities. The effort is an important step ahead for Nairobi since the launch of its first satellite, Taifa-1, earlier in April 2023. The workshop saw the participation of various stakeholders from…
Seeds that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) had sent into space last year have successfully returned to Earth, marking a significant milestone in their efforts to develop crops that are more resilient to the effects of climate change. With global temperatures rising and the population increasing, farmers worldwide need help to meet the growing demand for food. Through their Joint FAO-IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, they sent seeds into space to explore cosmic radiation’s effects on accelerating crops’ natural genetic adaptation to changing environmental…
The Inmarsat I-4 F1 satellite, which provides services for East Asia and the Pacific regions, experienced an outage on Sunday, causing concern from farmers and industry groups regarding their backup systems. Inmarsat confirmed the outage resulted in a temporary loss of services from the satellite, but it immediately implemented service recovery procedures. The incident highlights the vulnerability of modern farming and other industries that rely on satellite technology for precision and efficiency. One of the consequences of the outage was that some farmers who used the Inmarsat service lost access to GPS services for precision farming. The downstream services included…
Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader, has ordered the launch of a military spy satellite, which could allow the country to enhance its nuclear program and monitor the US and its allies. North Korea expects the satellite to play a crucial role in bolstering its defence capabilities, sovereignty, and legitimate right to self-defence. Kim made these remarks during his visit to the National Space Development Agency (NSDA), where he called for launching the country’s first military reconnaissance satellite within a specified time frame. Officials from the Reconnaissance General Bureau accompanied Kim during the visit. The US and other countries have…
Chinese researchers have conducted an experiment allowing an AI to control a satellite’s camera for a full day. During that time, it took photos of different locations on Earth. The experiment aimed to determine how artificial intelligence might help streamline the Earth’s observation satellites’ workflow and prevent them from aimlessly capturing troves of images that require copious amounts of processing back on Earth. The research team controlled the Qimingxing 1 satellite with a ground-based AI system. The AI autonomously chose areas on the surface to survey and capture images. However, the research team needs clarification on why the AI selected…
On 17th April 2023, under India’s G20 Presidency, a two-day precursor meeting of the G20 Space Economy Leaders Meeting (SELM) was held in Shillong, Meghalaya. The purpose of this precursor event was to highlight the capabilities of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Space and explore avenues of multilateral space cooperation between the G20 countries. The inaugural program of the meeting was attended by Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhury, Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office, who sent a recorded video, G20 Sherpa…
The European Space Agency (ESA) has taken a significant step towards developing commercial-scale space-based solar power plants by signing contracts for two parallel concept studies. These studies, led by Arthur D Little and Thales Alenia Space Italy, respectively, will serve as reference points for ESA’s new SOLARIS initiative. The SOLARIS initiative aims to mature the feasibility of gathering solar energy from space for terrestrial clean energy needs. The concept behind space-based solar power is to concentrate solar power in space where it is continuously available and in plentiful supply, free from local weather or darkness, and then send it wirelessly…
In this episode of Orbital Rendezvous on Interstellar, Kriti Upadhyaya, Founding Director of IndUS Tech Council brings forth her views of the India-US Space Cooperation in the wake of the inaugural dialogue of the U.S.-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). Hoe does the White House rank the following in terms of priority of the India-US Space Cooperation – Development, Economy, Security? Who carries greater weight, the State Department or the Department of Defense? Kriti answers more such questions from her base in Washington DC.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) have established a Centre of Excellence called DIA-CoE to collaborate on seven technology projects related to the defence sector. The centre was inaugurated at the Technology Research Park in IITH on Sunday by DRDO Chairman Dr Samir V. Kamat in the presence of IIT-H Director Prof. B.S. Murty and Director of DIA-CoE, Shri G. Ramaguru. The seven verticals of technology projects undertaken at DIA-CoE include ultra-high temperature materials, additive manufacturing, space technologies, AI for defence, image processing, seekers and homing technologies, and nano-ornithocopter technologies. The centre…
