Events

The South Korean military is considering leasing an Israeli Ofek reconnaissance satellite, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap. With tensions between Seoul and North Korea increasing in recent months, South Korea’s military urgently requires a satellite reconnaissance capability that can provides its political and military leadership with enhanced strategic …

During a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Istanbul, Turkey on 10 October 2016, Turkey and Russia held a meeting on the sidelines of the World Energy Congress. This was the first visit to Turkey by President Putin since Turkey shot down a Russian Air Force jet near the …

SpaceWatch Middle East conducted a series of interviews during the International Broadcast Convention 2016 in Amsterdam in September. This interview is with Khalid Balkheyour, President and CEO of Arabsat. Arabsat is one of the many satellite operators in the ME region, a very contested market. What is your current growth strategy for the region and …

The Space-based Infrared System (SBIRS) is a U.S. military satellite system one would not normally associate with the fight against Daesh. Designed to warn of ballistic missile launches, the sophisticated and mostly classified satellite system is now proving to be a valuable intelligence asset in crushing Daesh on the battlefield. …

The GoodFestival will take place between 25 – 29 October 2016 at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. The goal of the Festival is to foster projects for sustainability that are compliant with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Eight of these goals were defined as categories of the …

Allegedly at the request of the Turkish government, Eutelsat has ceased broadcasting two Kurdish satellite television stations in Belgium and Sweden. The Turkish government has shut down several Kurdish media outlets, to include television channels, in Turkey over the past few weeks and it would appear that it is now …

Turkey is to build new satellites for its near neighbour Azerbaijan once its current satellites in orbit reach the end of their operational lifetimes. Azerbaijan currently operates its Azersky and Azerspace-1 satellites in both low-earth and geostationary orbits (160-2,000 kilometres altitude and 36,000 kilometres altitude respectively). Azersky is an earth …

Recent press reports quote the head of the Iranian Space Agency, Mohsen Bahrami, as saying that he would like to see Iran cooperate with the American space agency, NASA. ThorGroup’s Chairman and President, Dr. John B. Sheldon, argues that while Mr. Bahrami’s sentiments are noble, political realities mean space cooperation …

World Space Week (WSW) is in full swing with events taking place all around the world in celebration of the impact that space has on mankind. The largest annual space event on Earth was founded by the United Nations General Assembly and has been running every year since 1999. The …

According to Iranian and Azerbaijani press reports, Iran has signed a contract with a Russian satellite manufacturer to build a high-resolution National Remote Sensing Satellite. Iranian Communications and Information Technology Minister, Mahmoud Vaezi, told Mehr News Agency that the Iranian space programme is being developed along two parallel tracks with …