News

Taiwanese New Space company Odysseus is set to relocate to Luxembourg from its home base in Tainan, Taiwan, after winning a U.S.$570,000 prize from the Luxembourg Space Agency, following the company's first-place finish in the European Space Agency's (ESA) Space Resources Challenge.

China and Russia have signed a cooperative agreement on 7 November 2018 covering their respective global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), BeiDou and GLONASS.

Portugal is about to make a big splash in the space sector with parallel announcements covering a major cooperative programme with China, and a proposed space launch complex in the Azores islands in the mid-Atlantic ocean involving European, Russian, and U.S. company bids to build it.

MYSAT-1, an educational CubeSat built by 20 students at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is due to be launched as part of the Cygnus NG-10 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on board a Northrop Grumman Antares launch vehicle from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Island in the United States, on 15 November 2018.

China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) and China Siwei Surveying and Mapping Technology Co.Ltd. (China Siwei) signed a contract to collaborate on the overseas marketing of SuperView-1 satellite imagery at a signing ceremony held on the sidelines of the Zhuhai Airshow in China on 6 November 2018.

Israel’s Gilat continues to expand its business operations and profile in the Asia-Pacific region as SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, Japan’s largest commercial satellite communications company, has awarded Gilat a multi-million dollar contract to support its mobile and broadband networks in Japan. “Our strategic partnership with JSAT is a testament to …

Turkish defence contractor Rocketsan and the Turkish Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) have signed an agreement that intends to transform Turkey into a space launching state, as well as a satellite manufacturing hub, according to a 5 November 2018 report in Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah.

During a visit to Vietnam by the French Prime Minister, Jean-Yves Le Gall, the President of the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), signed a number of agreements with Vietnamese counterparts covering the French-led Space Climate Observatory (SCO), STEM education, and maritime and oceanographic surveillance.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has been ordered to pay Spacecom U.S.$10 million for the late delivery of the AMOS-6 communications satellite that ended up being destroyed in a launchpad explosion of the SpaceX Falcon 9 it was sitting upon in 2016.

Thaicom Public Company Limited (THCOM), Thailand’s first satellite operator, reported its operating results for the third quarter of 2018, posting a consolidated net profit of Baht 104 million (approximately U.S.$3.15 million), improved by 59.6% from Q3/2017, due mainly to the decrease of depreciation expense through the satellite assets impairment recognized in Q4/2017, and the decrease of selling and administration expenses.