NBN Co. and Speedcast International, Ltd, partners in delivering Australian communications networks, have selected Israeli company Gilat Satellite Networks, Ltd. to provide the satellite platform to serve nationwide business clients in regional and rural Australia. Gilat will deliver, operate, and support its Business and Enterprise Satellite Service (BESS) for businesses …

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL), located in Guildford, Surrey, in the U.K., has signed a GBP25 million (approximately U.S.$34.8 million) deal with China’s Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co. Ltd. (21AT) for the lease of the SSTL-S1 Earth observation satellite. SSTL-S1 is due to be launched on an Indian Space …

The successful launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy space launch vehicle (SLV) on 6 February, 2018, is a major milestone in spaceflight and space exploration. It is also a green light for the launch of the Arabsat-6A communications satellite in the coming months aboard a Falcon Heavy SLV. “Arabsat-6A positioned at …

The first satellite to be indigenously built by Emirati engineers is nearing completion, and will be launched by Japan later this year. KhalifaSat, an Earth observation satellite that is being built by the Dubai-based Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), was inspected by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, …

The UAE Space Agency, represented by H.E. Dr. Mohammed Nasser Al Ahbabi, Director General of the UAE Space Agency, discussed avenues for future cooperation with a high-profile delegation from Italy. The Italian delegation included Liborio Stellino, Ambassador of Italy to the UAE, Sergio Lamboni, Vice President of Arescosmo – Defence …

The Philippines is set to complete its Diwata-2 Cubesat and hand it over to Japan for launch later this year, according to a senior Filipino government official. Rowena Cristina Guevara, Undersecretary at the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), told Filipino media that Diwata-2 will be launched by Japan on …

The Thai government is considering a proposal to indigenously build its own Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellite that, if approved, is to be launched in 2022. Upon government approval, the satellite will be built by the Thai space agency, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), with the aim …

Iran’s Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, told a space conference in Tehran on 3 February, 2018, that an Iranian satellite is ready to launch, and three others are in their pre-launch procedures. Jahromi also told his audience that Iran has made “great headways in developing …

The Thai space agency, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), has selected France’s Airbus Defence and Space to build the Thailand Earth Observation Satellite (THEOS) II, to replace the THEOS-I satellite also built by Airbus but which went out of service in 2015. The GISTDA choice of Airbus …

Following on the heels of the successful Rocket Labs Electron rocket launch from New Zealnd on 20 January, 2018, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has successfully launched on 3 February, 2018, a 3 kilogram Cubesat into low Earth orbit using the smallest rocket ever to launch a satellite into …