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Click to Follow SpaceMentges

Rafael Mentges

@SpaceMentges

Economist. Interested in SatCom, SSA, NewSpace, and Space Economics. Occasional tweets about #TheExpanse and other sci-fi.

Joined November 2021

Rafael Mentges’s Tweets

Pinned Tweet

1/ When we talk about #SmallSat, the question arises how small a functional satellite can be: very small! The smallest class of satellites is called #femtosatellites. According to standard classifications they weigh between 10g and 100g. However, some weigh even less. A thread🧵:

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Rafael Mentges Retweeted

Its pretty crazy that the closest exoplanet to Earth is nearly the same size as earth, and exists in the habitable zone of its star. I Really hope Breakthrough Starshot comes to fruition! I wanna see Proxima B up close!

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Rafael Mentges Retweeted

Christian Odendahl

Striking about approval / disapproval ratings: the very low disapproval figures of #Habeck and #Baerbock, and the high disapproval ratings of the rest. HT

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Space logistics market in 2031 according to Euroconsult

Quote Tweet

New Space Economy

@NewSpaceEconomy

commercialisation.esa.int/2022/12/market

Rafael Mentges Retweeted

Everyone using AI needs to understand that you are prompting a machine to produce text, not talking to Alexa If you try ChatGPT and are disappointed because the writing is so obvious & boring, it is often because you are giving it obvious & boring prompts

oneusefulthing.substack.com

How to... use ChatGPT to boost your writing

The key to using generative AI successfully is prompt-crafting

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Rafael Mentges Retweeted

Dr. Phil Metzger

Interesting thread on a possible way to reduce ChatGPT plagiarism in the short-term.

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@tomgoldsteincs

#OpenAI is planning to stop #ChatGPT users from making social media bots and cheating on homework by "watermarking" outputs. How well could this really work? Here's just 23 words from a 1.3B parameter watermarked LLM. We detected it with 99.999999999994% confidence. Here's how

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Victoria Samson

Part of its space defense plan includes implementing a "EU space law" that will create "common rules on safety, security and sustainability of our systems", per Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton phys.org/news/2023-01-e via

European Commission to present space defence plan in March

The European Commission will present a strategy to bolster the EU's security and defence efforts in space in March, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said Tuesday, with Russia's war in...

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Looking forward to read conflicting memoirs of the main characters involved in 10 years.

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Rafael Mentges Retweeted

Starship fully loaded with cryogenic propellant

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Germany ensuring broad and sustainable supply with main battle tanks to Ukraine. Quite a turn in narratives. But it seems unclear which narrative is the right one.

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Ironie der Geschichte: Wenn die Meldungen so stimmen, dann hätte der scharf kritisierte #Scholz gerade mit seinem Zögern und dem Beharren auf US-Beteiligung der #Ukraine letztlich eine sehr breit aufgestellte und auch längerfristig belastbare Versorgung mit Panzern verschafft.

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One of Germany's hidden champions 🚀

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Have a nice International Day of #Weather #Observation! Did you know that over 700 satellites with TESAT-technology onboard are flying in space? Some are part of the weather observation. For example, the Meteosat-satellites. #TeamTESAT #Space #SpaceMatters

Rafael Mentges Retweeted

Business Bridge Europe

"This conference has a significant impact on current developments. The german federal government has a fundamental interest in a strong sovereign european space policy and a powerful space economy" Stefan Schnorr, State Secretary for Digital and Transport, Germany #BBESpaceConf

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@SpaceflightInc

Looking forward to EU launches with

!

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We are excited to announce that we have signed a launch agreement with @SpaceflightInc. Adding the 1st U.S. company to our client roster is a clear sign for the growing market need for flexible space access & international alternatives. Read more: ow.ly/FVAT50MzWKy

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Spaceflight has booked a dedicated launch in 2026 from Isar Aerospace, the German rocket developer aiming to perform the first test flight of its Spectrum vehicle this year - SpaceNews

Spaceflight books dedicated Isar Aerospace launch in 2026 - SpaceNews

U.S.-based launch services provider Spaceflight said Jan. 25 it has booked a dedicated launch in 2026 from Isar Aerospace, the German rocket developer aiming to perform the first test flight of its...

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@mouthofmorrison

My heart is in my throat every day thinking about this “secret” I know about how much creative genius is going to come out of mining the petabytes of Earth observation data we produce every year with novel ML techniques.

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#USSF suunnittelee keskittyvänsä tulevaisuudessa lähinnä pienempien satelliittien hankintaan. Tämä nopeuttaisi satelliittien rakentamista, mutta satelliittien suurempi määrä ja niiden sijoittaminen erilaisille tasolle ennen kaikkea lisää häiriönsietoisuutta.

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Space Force not buying large satellites for the foreseeable future spacenews.com/space-force-no

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This technology is also seen as crucial part of quantum key distribution and therefore to ensure secure communication in the near future.

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"Laser terminals can provide gigabit links from spacecraft to spacecraft, and between spacecraft and ground stations... The terminals are also considered more secure, since optical links use smaller beams than radiofrequency links, making them less susceptible to interception."

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Export controls are also extremely important for the space sector as many space technologies are dual-use technologies. For example German companies

and

are not allowed to export their laser communication terminals to China.

German export ban blocks Mynaric’s first laser terminal from launching in China - SpaceNews

Mynaric will not be able to launch its first laser communications terminal this year because of a German ban on exporting that technology to China, the company said Monday.

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Interesting piece on export controls by

: "Successfully controlling the export of equipment and technical knowledge to potential military adversaries will require fully engaging U.S. allies, not imposing unilateral bans."

foreignaffairs.com

The Return of Export Controls

A risky tactic that requires cooperation from allies.

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UK Space Agency offers $62 million for innovative connectivity projects The funding is part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Advanced Research in Telecommunications Services program, or #ARTES. #SatCom

UK Space Agency offers $62 million for innovative connectivity projects - SpaceNews

The U.K. announced 50 million British pounds ($62 million) in funding Jan. 23 for projects that could boost the country’s satellite communications industry.

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Jonathan O’Callaghan

JWST is breaking everything – and nothing more so than exoplanets. Already the telescope has found carbon dioxide, imaged other worlds, and confirmed a new planet. But the best is yet to come. "We're going to start going crazy" Words by me

scientificamerican.com

JWST Heralds a New Dawn for Exoplanet Science

The James Webb Space Telescope is opening an exciting new chapter in the study of exoplanets and the search for life beyond Earth

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Jonathan McDowell

The trunk section from the Dragon CRS-26 cargo ship was jettisoned into orbit on Jan 11. It reentered around 1828 UTC Sat Jan 21 over northern Peru, according to the US Space Force

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@mouthofmorrison

SAR will be a bigger commercial industry than electrooptical in the future. I would say within a decade. Primarily because: 1. Free and open missions like Landsat and Sentinel will make landscape scale monitoring free for all. 2. Human activity monitoring requires high res…

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In one of my first blog posts about Earth observation, I asked how long will it take before we have a 'Google for EO' - a queryable interface where you can go ask questions and get results powered by EO (agnostic of sensors or type of remote sensing). How far are we from this?!

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Rafael Mentges Retweeted

@USLaunchReport

This close-up of Falcon Heavy comes from a "Homemade" tracking telescope, controlled by a homemade joystick. It took Ed 4 years to build, getting parts from around the country. youtu.be/mqLHN2RqXNQ

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Jonathan Lacoste

@lacostejonathan

"the

wants defensive technologies but at the innovation rate of commercial. That’s the Holy Grail" -

💯

With Starshield, SpaceX readies for battle - SpaceNews

SpaceX is answering the Pentagon’s call for more commercial allies with Starshield, a business that will leverage its manufacturing might to provide custom- built spacecraft, sensors, and secure...

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3 active duty Marines arrested yesterday for participation in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. “All three Marines, who were arrested more than two years after the attack, work in jobs connected to the intelligence community.”

3 Active-Duty Marines Who Work in Intelligence Arrested for Alleged Participation in Jan. 6 Riot

Micah Coomer, Joshua Abate, and Dodge Dale Hellonen -- three men identified by investigators as active-duty Marines -- were arrested on four charges each.

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This. Something we don’t discuss enough

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Dmitri Alperovitch

So slow rolling these weapons to Ukraine over many months, while frustrating and no doubt resulting in much devastating and tragic loss of life, has very likely helped avoid a broader Russia-NATO conflict

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Do we have any such entity globally within the realm of voluntary carbon markets?

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Replying to @fortiain

We badly need an independent, objective authority to facilitate the standardisation of datasets, validate and calibrate them, certify methodologies and ensure efficiency of the results. IMO it is too big a problem to be left alone for the markets to fight it out and figure out!

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Replying to

We badly need an independent, objective authority to facilitate the standardisation of datasets, validate and calibrate them, certify methodologies and ensure efficiency of the results. IMO it is too big a problem to be left alone for the markets to fight it out and figure out!

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Erfolgreiche Messungen auf einer historischen Reise zum #Mond! 🌒✅ Die #LunaTwins Helga & Zohar sind nach ihrem #Artemis I-Flug nun wieder mit dem DLR-Team vereint:

übergab die Astronautinnen-Phantome wohlbehalten an unsere Forschenden. 👩‍🚀👩‍🚀 dlr.de/content/de/art

Das MARE-Team des DLR bei der Übergabe der Messpuppen:
Am Kennedy Space Center der NASA übernimmt das MARE-Team des DLR nach erfolgreichem Mondflug die Strahlungsmesspuppen Helga und Zohar.

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MARE-Phantome zurück auf der Erde: Die beiden Astronautinnen-Phantome Helga (vorne) und Zohar bestückt mit den mitgeführten DLR-Messgeräten im Kennedy Space Center der NASA.

read image description

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NASA Artemis and 9 others

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Do you know why X-band, C-band and L-band satellites are recommended for #monitoring #ground and structural #movement in different scenarios? Because of their #wavelength and sensitivity to #displacement. Learn more about it! ▶️ youtu.be/QtvKTeK6bCQ

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EuropeanSpaceflight

In case you missed it, the newsletter is back! In the first issue of 2023, we took a closer look at the viability of the Esrange orbital launch facility in addition to last week's biggest and smallest announcements from the European space industry.

europeanspaceflight.substack.com

Is the Esrange orbital launch facility a bad investment?

Kind of but that's okay.

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Satellite imagery has officially gone mainstream when

@KevinHart4real

tweets this out. Well done

&

!

is excited to be an early partner with y'all.

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@KevinHart4real

I need the world to do me a favor and check out my brother/friends @bp22 new app out bit.ly/BillLaunch This is next level and honestly ground breaking. Man I am so happy for you and all of the ground breaking work that you have done and continue to do!!!! Check it out NOW

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Im Schatten der

/

-Collab haut das deutsche Einhorn

Mal eben ein KI-gestütztes Schreibtool als öffentlich zugängliche Beta raus. Bin gespannt, wie das angenommen wird: deepl.com/de/write-mobile

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Sahith Reddy Madara

🇴🇲 Finally - The news is out. #MiddleEast first spaceport is planned to build in #Oman (Located in the port town of Port of

Company SAOC, the Etlaq #Space Launch Complex).

www-thenationalnews-com.cdn.ampproject.org

Oman is building the Middle East’s first spaceport

Construction of the Etlaq Space Launch Complex is expected to begin this year

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I'm thinking about this figure a lot. Published in the 2022 DIA's Challenges to Security in space, the rest of the report contains good points on space capability development. A few notes and quotes...

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New working paper from

research team: 'Space(S): How Innovation Ecosystems Develop in Unsettled Industry Spaces: a Review and Research Agenda with Empirical Case of the UK Space Sector Ecosystem' ssrn.com/abstract=43243 Kudos to all, esp Viktor and

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Source: statista.com/statistics/134

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