News

South Korea and the United States have agreed to share data from their respective geostationary environmental pollution-monitoring satellites as part of a growing global effort to monitor the Earth’s climate and pollution emissions. The countries will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) this week on joint use of data from …

ICEYE, the Finnish Earth observation company attempting to create the world’s largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, has published its first radar image from the ICEYE-X2 satellite, launched on Spaceflight’s historic SSO-A mission two weeks ago. The image is of Natural Parks Aralar and Aizkorri-Aratz, Spain, on 7 December …

Virgin Galactic, the private spaceflight company founded by Virgin Group chairman Sir Richard Branson achieved success on 13 December 2018 after its SpaceShipTwo Unity (VSS Unity) reached suborbital space for the first time over the Mojave Desert in California, United States. VSS Unity reached an altitude of 82.7 kilometres near …

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a Presidential decree on 12 December 2018 that formally establishes the Turkish Space Agency, along with its roles and missions. The decree ends a long road for the efforts in creating the agency with the process disrupted by the political instability resulting from the …

The Egyptian government has received a second extension from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to fill its orbital slot with a military communications satellite in an unprecedented and likely controversial decision by the international organisation, according to reporting in Space Intel Report. In 2016 the ITU granted its first extension …

The Government of India headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the agreement on cooperation in space research for peaceful purposes with Uzbekistan, according to a Trend News Agency report citing local Uzbek media. The agreement was signed between the two countries on 1 October 2018 during the first …

Australia’s Space Agency (ASA) will be located in Adelaide, reinforcing South Australia’s long-standing contribution to the nation’s space journey. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said South Australia was a key hub for innovation and the technology industry, making it the ideal home for the new Agency. “Australia’s space industry is …

Azerbaijan’s state space corporation, Azercosmos, will examine the economic and commercial feasibility of building additional Earth observation satellites in its approved 2019-2022 state programme for remote sensing, according to a report by the Trend News Agency. Azercosmos already operates the Airbus-built AzerSky-1 Earth observation satellite, and through Airbus Defence and …

Azerbaijan’s second communications satellite, Azerspace-2, will reach its intended Geostationary orbit – 45 degrees East longitude – in January or February 2019, according to the country’s state space corporation Azercosmos, reports Trend News Agency. According to the company, at present the satellite is in its transfer orbit and is very …

The Syrian Minister of Communications and Technology, Iyad Khatib, has stated the need for Syria to develop a space programme and launch its first satellite into orbit, the ministry said on 11 December 2018, according to Russian news outlet Sputnik International. The minister visited a Syrian space research organisation called …