UAE high school student Alia Al Mansoori’s experiment is on the International Space Station. This is the culmination of the first UAE Genes in Space competition held in the UAE and made possible through a partnership of the UAE Space Agency, The National, and Boeing. The DNA-based research competition was …

In Part One of this multi-week SpaceWatch Middle East Theme on the Chinese Space Silk Road and the Middle East, we invited Dr. Malcolm Davis of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) to provide an overview of the Space Silk Road for readers. The emergence of China’s Belt and Road …

The new formation of the UAE Space Agency Board of Directors has met for the first time on August 14, 2017, chaired by H.E. Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, UAE Minister of State for Higher Education. Board members include H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, Khalid Al Buainain, Badr Al Olama, …

Over the course of this coming week, SpaceWatch Middle East is running the first part of a multi-week theme on China’s Space Silk Road and the Middle East. Today, as a scene setter, Benjamin Habib and Viktor Faulknor of LaTrobe University in Australia, provide an overview of China’s Belt and Road …

Centuries ago, China and Europe were connected by a number of trade routes across the Eurasian landmass and the Indian Ocean that were later known as the Silk Road. These Silk Roads not only connected the ancient Chinese Middle Kingdom and Medieval Europe, but also connected regions of Eurasia that …

Speedcast International Limited, the world’s most trusted provider of highly reliable, fully managed, remote communication and IT solutions, today announced it has been awarded a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) license to operate in Iraq through its locally-licensed entity, prompting the completion of a new systems integration project providing managed …

UrtheCast Corp. announced on August 14, 2017, that it has entered into a contract with a confidential customer for the development and delivery of a dual-frequency stand-alone Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) operational-class satellite as an “accelerator” for the OptiSARTM Constellation.  The exact amount of the contract is not being disclosed …

Blockstream, the leader in blockchain and financial cryptography, today announced the availability of Blockstream Satellite, a new service that broadcasts real-time Bitcoin blockchain data from a group of communication satellites in space to almost everyone on the planet. Blockstream Satellite enables further participation in Bitcoin, including the billions of people …

Ursa Space Systems Inc. (Ursa) announced on August 10, 2017, their planned expansion to provide the world’s first reliable, global oil inventory coverage. Building on Ursa’s ground-breaking China Oil Storage Report, Ursa will deliver Global oil storage reports on a region by region basis, starting with the Caribbean, Middle East/North …

Thuraya Telecommunications Company recently held meetings with senior-level officials and government system integrators in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to present its latest product portfolio and explore possibilities for collaborative ventures. The roadshow that took place in July and included visits to Jeddah, Riyadh and Damam, was exclusively developed …