It is difficult to overstate the critical importance of satellite navigation for the Middle East, yet the service is vulnerable to disruption. ThorGroup’s Dr. John B. Sheldon examines the threats to satellite navigation in the region, and ways to mitigate their worst effects. When Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized …
Read More »Iranian Space Agency announces future satellite plans
Speaking to senior officials earlier this week at an Iranian Space Agency (ISA) meeting, the ISA Director Mohsen Bahrami announced that Iran will launch two indigenously built satellites in the very near future, and that three other satellites are currently being manufactured. The two satellites due to be launched are …
Read More »Virgin Galactic’s new commercial for its spaceflight and satellite launch services
Virgin Galactic, the private spaceflight and satellite launch company owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments PJS, has just released its first television commercial. The commercial features both Virgin Galactic’s spaceflight service for wealthy individuals seeking a flight into suborbital space; and also for its …
Read More »SpaceWatch Middle East features to be paywalled
Running a news website is costly, and in order to generate some revenue to cover the costs of producing SpaceWatch Middle East we are placing all of our analytical features (published every Sunday) behind a paywall effective immediately. All of our news items – posted daily except for Saturdays – remain free …
Read More »UAE’s Emirates Space Innovation Group meets to set out space technology roadmap, priorities
The United Arab Emirates Space Agency convened the first two-day conference of the Emirates Space Innovation Group (ESIG) on 3-4 May 2016, with the group creating a science and technology roadmap. The ESIG has been established to develop the science, technology and innovation capabilities in the UAE space sector and …
Read More »No Pressure: The Hope Mars Mission and the Future of UAE Space Exploration
Recent developments in international space exploration plans for Mars have inadvertently placed the UAE’s Hope Mars Mission in the forefront, and impact the future of UAE’s space exploration ambitions. ThorGroup’s Chairman and President, Dr. John B. Sheldon, explains. Without even knowing or asking for it, the past several weeks have …
Read More »ActInSpace Hackathon from May 20-21, 2016 in Darmstadt
The second #ActInSpace event will bring together young entrepreneurs, students, business leaders, developers, artists, and jobseekers to take part in a one-and-a-half-day-hackathon on Friday and Saturday, 20-21 May 2016. The aim of the #ActInSpace event is to come up with innovative ways to use space technologies for everyday uses. In …
Read More »Daesh wages war against satellite television in Mosul
As the Iraqi army inches closer to the Daesh-occupied city of Mosul, the extremist group is now banning the sale of satellite television receivers to the city’s residents, and confiscating receivers from cafés, restaurants, and other public spaces. These developments, reported by the news agency Reuters, are the latest in …
Read More »India’s IRNSS gives Middle East new SatNav option
The successful launch on 28 April 2016 of the seventh satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) means that the Middle East region will soon have a supplementary, or even alternative, satellite navigation saystem to the American Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s GLONASS, and Europe’s Galileo. The satellite, …
Read More »Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030: A Golden Opportunity for Space?
ThorGroup’s Chairman and President, Dr. John B. Sheldon, explores the role of space in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 recently announced economic and social reform programme. He argues that Vision 2030 is a golden opportunity for Saudi Arabian space. Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman and Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, …
Read More »