The B2Space–Airbus GeoTech alliance seeks to provide more persistent, cost-effective, and versatile alternatives to traditional satellite services for commercial and public sector users.

B2Space will lead the development and operation of high-altitude platforms.

Víctor Montero is co-CEO and COO of B2Space.

Airbus GeoTech, a subsidiary of Airbus Defence and Space based in Barcelona, will provide high-technology payloads and advanced data management systems for HAPS missions.

B2Space and Airbus GeoTech will work together to offer end-to-end Earth observation solutions, improve global connectivity, and enhance environmental monitoring while linking high-altitude presence to actionable digital information.

Airbus Defence and Space has experience in fixed-wing HAPS flights and in the integration of payloads on stratospheric balloons.

The memorandum of understanding between B2Space and Airbus GeoTech aims to create a joint market-leading force in the global strategic market through collaboration across each phase of missions.

B2Space and Airbus GeoTech signed a strategic collaboration agreement in the field of stratospheric operations last week.

The renewed convention consolidates a structured collaboration initiated in 2023 to strengthen prevention and countermeasures against cyber threats to ASI infrastructures and strategic systems.

The renewed convention was signed by Capo della Polizia – Direttore Generale della Pubblica Sicurezza Prefetto Vittorio Pisani and ASI President Prof. Teodoro Valente.

The collaboration between ASI and the CNAIPIC includes operational activities focused on training highly qualified personnel and identifying practices and guidelines to counter cyberattacks and prevent the unauthorized exfiltration of highly sensitive information from the country’s space assets.

A technical thematic 'Sicurezza' working group was established that includes representatives of the police forces and the organizational units of the Dipartimento della Pubblica Sicurezza.

The 'Tavolo Sicurezza' is tasked with collecting input from all police forces on requirements and needs related to the application of space products to areas of national security interest.

The Dipartimento della Pubblica Sicurezza designated the Ufficio Coordinamento e Pianificazione delle Forze di Polizia as the focal point representing the national law enforcement system in the User Forum Nazionale Copernicus.

The Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) was established in 1988 as a national public entity responsible for preparing and implementing Italian space policy in accordance with government guidelines.

Operational coordination and information exchange under the convention will be provided, for the Polizia di Stato, by the Servizio Polizia Postale and the CNAIPIC – Centro Nazionale Anticrimine Informatico per la Protezione delle Infrastrutture Critiche.

The CNAIPIC operates a 24-hour operations room that monitors, analyzes, and manages cyber security events involving nationally relevant critical infrastructures and serves as a national and international point of contact for coordinated responses in sensitive strategic sectors.

A convention between the Polizia di Stato and the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) was renewed in Rome to protect ASI networks and information systems supporting the agency’s institutional functions.

The China Manned Space Agency’s goal for a first taikonaut to set foot on the Moon is before 2030, which the agency defines as by December 2029 at the latest.

Mission control on Earth could monitor taikonauts in Wangyu (望宇) lunar spacesuits in near real-time from Rimae Bode due to the uninterrupted communication path.

Sinuous rilles near the Rimae Bode candidate site are present and are of interest for studying lunar volcanism and potential in-situ resource utilization.

October 2029 is the 80th anniversary of the Proclamation of the People’s Republic of China and is a potential political target date for a crewed lunar landing.

The dark mantle deposit at Rimae Bode could contain water in excess of 300 parts per million.

A research article by Chinese and German planetary science researchers was published in Nature Astronomy on March 9 assessing Rimae Bode as a priority landing site for China’s first crewed lunar landing later this decade.

Pyroclastic dark mantle deposits at Rimae Bode contain pyroclastic glasses that were explosively erupted from deep within the lunar mantle and can preserve a record of the Moon’s interior.

The Long March 10B will have its first flight in the coming weeks to test a YF-100K-powered reusable first stage and a different liquid methane-fueled second stage.

Rimae Bode is located on the Moon’s near side at low latitudes with proposed exploration sites ten to twelve degrees north of the equator.

The Tansuo (探索) lunar rover would be able to extensively explore several sampling sites at Rimae Bode due to the site’s terrain and communication advantages.

The China Academy of Space Technology won the China Manned Space Agency’s March 2025 competition for the lunar remote sensing satellite.

The Rimae Bode analysis used terrain imagery and elevation models from Japan’s SELENE mission.

The tri-core three-stage Long March 10 Moon rocket is scheduled to fly in its cargo-carrying configuration for the first time in 2027.

The China Manned Space Agency opened proposals in March 2025 for a lunar remote sensing satellite intended to be operational in 2028 to support landing-site selection.

China communicated via state-to-state channels that a hardware readiness date for all systems relevant to a crewed lunar landing is being pursued within 2028.

At least two taikonauts will set foot on the Moon for the first time before 2030.

The Rimae Bode analysis used imaging and thermal data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Rimae Bode hosts pyroclastic dark mantle deposits, low-titanium mare basalts, high-thorium basalts, highland anorthosites, and ejecta from the Copernicus crater within a single accessible area.

Once the Long March 10A and Long March 10 Moon rocket are flying, orbital tests of the Mengzhou crew capsule and Lanyue lunar lander can proceed for about two dozen months.

Few other candidate lunar sites offer the opportunity to collect samples of such geologically diverse materials without long-distance surface travel.

Terrain in the Rimae Bode region is generally flat and traversable with average slopes below eight degrees.

The Long March 10A is scheduled to perform its first cargo-carrying configuration mission in 2028.

The Long March 10 Moon rocket is scheduled to fly in its Mengzhou configuration for the first time in 2028.

The Rimae Bode analysis used ground-based radar data from the Arecibo Observatory for pyroclastic mapping.

Long March 10A, a single-stick two-stage rocket, is scheduled to perform its first mission in its Mengzhou configuration later this year for the capsule’s first orbital flight.

The Rimae Bode analysis used mineralogical data from India’s Chandrayaan-18 Moon Mineralogy Mapper spectrometer.

The dark mantle deposit at Rimae Bode is theorized to be between 77 and 136 metres thick.

Rimae Bode had previously been identified as a candidate landing site for the U.S. Constellation program.

Rimae Bode provides an uninterrupted communication path back to Earth for spacecraft operating at the site.

China’s Mengzhou (梦舟) crew capsule and Lanyue (揽月) lunar lander can access proposed exploration sites in the Rimae Bode region.

The Rimae Bode analysis used topographic data from China’s Chang’e 15 mission.

Rimae Bode ranks highly as a landing site due to geological diversity at the boundary between mare and highland terrain.