News

Inmarsat has partnered with Indonesian low-cost airline Citilink to provide in-flight connectivity on board all 50 of its Airbus A320 fleet.

A Japanese government white paper submitted to the Japanese cabinet on 3 August 2018 claims that Japanese companies that invest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies that develop employee skills, and result in labour-saving innovations, stand to out-compete their non-AI competitors by up to 20 per-cent in terms of productivity.

China is seeking to enhance its soft power and global scientific reputation by inviting international participation and cooperation in space science experiments on its planned space station.

Saudi Arabia’s Taqnia Space has contracted with Eutelsat, one of Europe’s largest satellite communications providers, to provide additional satellite capacity for Taqnia’s in-flight connectivity services on board Saudia flights.

Engineers of the Progress Rocket Space Centre headquartered in the city of Samara are working on a new way of putting nanosatellites into orbit, says Dmitry Baranov, the acting general director of the Centre.

Unit 42, the cyber security research arm of U.S.-based cyber security company Palo Alto Networks, has identified a Pakistani hacking group they call the Gorgon Group that is engaged in both criminal and nation-state cyber activities.

Yahsat, the Abu Dhabi-based satellite communications operator, has completed its buyout of Dubai-based Thuraya, a leading mobile satellite services operator, and has also announced the appointment of a new chief executive officer for Thuraya, Ali Al Hashemi.

Israel's Gilat is becoming a major presence in the Latin American telecommunications market after it announced a deal with Hispasat, the Spanish satellite communications operator, to help commercialise Hispasat's Ka-band satellite capacity over Brazil.

The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center has completed the proposal for a new reusable rocket development and has sent the documents for project assessment to the Central Research Institute of Machine Building (TsNIIMash), a leading scientific institution with Roscosmos.

With a number of Western satellite companies developing in-orbit servicing capabilities that can refuel, maintain, and even upgrade communications satellites already in orbit, it was only a matter of time before China started to develop its own capability.