/sci/ - Science & Math

Mars Society conference happening online Oct. 5 through Oct. 8, Germany Advocates Competitive Launch Procurement Process, Launch Roundup: Project Kuiper Protoflight and Galactic 04 highlight this week
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https://www.space.com/mars-society-annual-conference-2023-preview
> 'Mars for All' is the 2023 Mars Society annual conference theme.
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https://europeanspaceflight.com/germany-advocates-competitive-launch-procurement-process/
> Germany has announced its intention to pursue a competitive procurement process when purchasing launch services. The country also intends to use its position within the European Space Agency to advocate that the agency does the same.
> Germany adopting this stance to the procurement of launch services is significant as the country is one of the two primary contributors to Ariane 6 and, for 2023 at least, the largest contributor to the ESA budget. That is, however, not to say that the country is being entirely altruistic.
> [...], Germany is also home to some of the most promising European launch startups. The country boasts the likes of Isar Aerospace, Rocket Factory Augsburg, and HyImpulse. As a result, a move towards a competitive launch procurement process would likely ultimately benefit the country, siphoning customers from Avio in Italy while retaining heavier-mass payloads on Ariane 6 that no European launch startup can come close to supporting.
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https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/10/kuipler-protoflight-and-more/
> United Launch Alliance (ULA) is about to fly only its second Atlas V of 2023, as Amazon’s subsidiary Kuiper Systems LLC is finally about to place its first Kuiper demonstration satellites into orbit. This week also features a launch from China, a Falcon 9 Starlink launch, a Virgin Galactic suborbital tourist flight, and one of the final flights for the original Vega small satellite launcher.