News

The Thai Ministry of Defence (MoD) is to take on national security space missions, and incorporate military space concepts of operations and their associated threats and opportunities in its defence strategy, operations, tactics, techniques, and procedures. According to Thai media reports, the MoD in Bangkok is considering options that include …

China has issued an open invitation to all countries interested in participating in its planned orbital station in a bid to establish itself as a leading international space power and expand its influence. This step is especially significant at a time when NASA, the U.S. space agency, and its partners …

The South African Square Kilometer Array (SKA) has partnered with the Dutch optical telescope MeerLICHT to create the world’s first combined radio and optical telescope – a kind of ‘eyes and ears’ approach to astronomy – that could provide huge advances in both astronomy and astrophysics. Launched last week, the …

Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world, is now working to bridge the digital divide and develop its economy with the help of SES Networks, one of the world’s leading commercial satellite communication companies. Burkina Faso and SES just signed a new multi-year agreement which will enable …

The UAE’s American University of Sharjah (AUS) has created a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in Physics with an emphasis on space sciences. This degree programme will include internships at the UAE Space Agency and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, as well as a possible small satellite building initiative. …

Israel’s Spacecom, the troubled operator of the AMOS fleet of communications satellites, has postponed its U.S.$112 million contract with Space Systems Loral (SSL) to build the AMOS-8 satellite. Instead, Spacecom has come to an interim agreement with SSL and has a 30 day extension to raise the necessary funds for …

Mongolia and France signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 18 May 2018 in order to carry out space cooperation at the institutional level between the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES) and the Mongolian communication and information technologies authority (ACTI). The MoU was signed by Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of …

U.S. based commercial space launch company Rocket Lab is getting ready for its first commercial launch, which is scheduled to take off from New Zealand in late June 2018. This U.S. spaceflight startup has scheduled new dates for its first commercial launch: a mission dubbed “It’s Business Time” which will …

The decision by the board of Israeli satellite communications company Spacecom to buy its AMOS-8 satellite from US satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral (SSL) over Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has unleashed political controversy in Israel and revealed a potential corruption scandal within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. Under the …

The Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD) will use Planet’s Dove Earth imaging nanosatellites to collect intelligence on Japanese national security threats, supplementing the high-resolution satellite imagery it receives from the Japanese government’s Intelligence Gathering Satellites (IGS). According to an article in The Mainichi, the MoD will begin collecting images from Planet’s …