News

In order to provide for the new wave of mega Ka-band satellite constellations, Celestia Technologies of Harwell, UK, has signed an €8m contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the development of next generation Gateway ground stations.

Israeli not-for-profit SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) completed the construction of the SpaceIL lunar lander and, in a ceremony at IAI facilities prior to being shipped to Cape Canaveral, placed a time capsule on board the spacecraft that will stay on the Moon indefinitely.

The last two launches of the Rokot satellite launch vehicle fitted with a Ukrainian-made control system will be carried out in 2019, after which the vehicle will be decommissioned, a source in the Russian space industry told Russian news outlet Sputnik on 18 December 2018.

In an announcement made to the British Parliament on 18 December 2018, UK Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson announced that a wide-ranging review of defence policy and capabilities that aims to prepare British armed forces for 21st Century warfare with peer powers is about to be concluded

GK Launch Services, a subsidiary of Glavkosmos, Lavochkin Association, and Astroscale Japan Inc. held a kick-off meeting in Moscow on 12 December 2018 under the agreement on launch services for the Astroscale End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) satellite.

Space Systems Loral (SSL), a subsidiary of Maxar Technologies, will build Ovzon’s first GEO satellite, Ovzon-3, that will significantly increase the performance and coverage area of its existing service.

ICEYE, the Finnish Earth observation company attempting to create the world’s largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, announced on 14 December 2018 that it has received a €10 million capital loan

Following their announcement of a satellite broadband joint venture in September 2018, the UAE's Yahsat and U.S. company Hughes Network Systems have officially launched the JV – called YahClick (powered by Hughes) - across the Middle East, Africa, and Southwest Asia with immediate effect.

Axelspace has announced that the launch of the GRUS-1 satellite is scheduled for 27 December 2018, the first satellite of a future constellation.

The President of the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), the French national space agency, spoke with Chinese counterparts on 10 December 2018 about Sino-French cooperation in space-based climate change monitoring, oceanography, environmental monitoring, space exploration, and space science.