News

Bangladesh’s space ambitions are closer to reality. The Bangabandhu-1 communications satellite has been shipped to Florida for its upcoming launch. The satellite’s manufacturer, Thales Alenia Space of France, has sent it from its warehouse in Cannes for arrival on 30 March 2018.

The recent InSpace Forum held in Moscow demonstrated progress in cooperation and dialogue between Russia's state-run space companies and its fledgling New Space sector, reports Anastasiya Svarovskaya. The InSpace Forum 2018 held in Moscow on 21 March 2018 considered ways for the business sector and the state to cooperate in the space industry. This year’s forum was the third such event, and it consisted of two sections – the commercial space industry section and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) section.

Thailand’s mu Space is partnering with True Digital Park to establish a small satellite laboratory in Thailand and kick-start a New Space ecosystem in Southeast Asia. Digital hub True Digital Park announced its partnership with satellite technology startup mu Space Corp. to operate a lab that will research and develop satellite and space technology.

The Azeri ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Shahin Abdullayev, has told reporters that Azerbaijan seeks to enter into cooperative agreements with Saudi Arabia in satellite technology, petrochemicals, energy, agriculture, and tourism. “We launched two satellites and we reached advanced levels in this sector. We aim to be among the top producers of satellite parts,” Ambassador Abdullayev told the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on 23 March 2018.

Chinese New Space company Kuang-Chi Science Ltd. and U.S. New Space pioneer Nanoracks have announced their partnership in developing new business outside of China for Kuang-Chi's Traveler near-space helium balloon platform for space tourism, Earth observation, small satellite launch, and scientific research.

In a boost to the Australian New Space sector, HorizonX, a venture capital subsidiary of U.S. aerospace giant Boeing, is set to invest U.S.$15 million in Australian enterprise Myriota, an Internet of Things (IoT) startup focusing on satellite communications to provide low-cost access to high-value data in remote locations.

Space is the next environment that has to be protected against the impact of human development, a panel of top experts has warned at the UK Government’s GREAT Festival of Innovation in Hong Kong. The group of academics said that international investment and regulation needs to happen urgently or space risks being as damaged as our oceans are by human development. Development on the Moon and other planets is a ‘virtual certainty’ as new resources are sought from outside the Earth. And, if not properly regulated, development will impact vital functions, such as enabling worldwide communications and vital observation of Earth.

Saudi Arabia is thought to be footing the financial bill for a hypersonic spaceplane concept capable of launching small satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO) being developed by Ukrainian space company Yuzhnoye, according to Russian space journalist Anatoly Zak writing in Popular Mechanics.

Israeli fleet operator Spacecom is very close to purchasing a new satellite, named AMOS-8. This forthcoming purchase is a sign of a turnaround for Spacecom, as well as a bet on the troubled company’s future. Back-to-back spacecraft losses in 2015 and 2016 turned Spacecom from an expanding business into a struggling concern. Preceding the destruction of AMOS-6, Spacecom’s Russian-built AMOS-5 satellite ceased working in orbit due to a power system failure in 2015, just four years after its launch.

Last week, SpaceWatch Global attended the Satellite 2018 event held in Washington, D.C. and one of the features of the event that also ran last year, was ‘Startup Space’, a competition that sees 20 Newspace new entrants, given 5 minutes to pitch their business to a panel of highly accomplished space professionals, investors, thought leaders, and fellow entrepreneurs. During the day-long event, I came across Equatorial Space Industries, which is developing the Volans launcher, capable of delivering 35-70Kg of payload for under $1m. This team of 15, based in Singapore, are looking to change the economics of getting small satellites to space and to providing much-needed dedicated launches to a small satellite market in need.