Asia Pacific

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 …

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 …

Inmarsat has entered into an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) to be the first commercial customer to place an order for the new H3 launch vehicle. The maiden flight of H3 is scheduled for 2020 with Inmarsat planning to deploy the new launch vehicle after 2022. This is …

Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has announced that it would be extending its Earth observation capabilities by acquiring Australia’s first CubeSat designed to detect invisible infrared light. To be known as CSIROSat-1, the new satellite will allow researchers from CSIRO and other institutions …

India and Japan have scheduled their first annual bilateral space dialogue in March 2019, where they will discuss cooperation and coordination on a range of civil and national security space issues,  ranging from space-based maritime domain awareness and satellite reconnaissance through to the harmonization of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) …

Legislators in the Philippines Congress have passed key legislation that will establish the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), placing the organisation in charge of developing, running, and promoting the Southeast Asian country’s national space programme. On 4 December 2018, the House of Representatives approved House Bill (HB) 8541 on its third …

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is making preparations to carry out its Mission 1 (M1) and subsequent Mission 2 (M2) CubeSat and small satellite demonstrations in cooperation with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra, according to a report in The Australian newspaper. M1 and M2 are follow-on …

Japanese New Space Earth observation company Axelspace Corporation has completed a Series B funding round raising approximately 2.58B JPY (U.S.$22.8 million). The round sees the allocation of new shares to the lead investor 31VENTURES – Global Brain – Growth I Joint Venture (managed by Mitsui Fudosan Co. Ltd. and Global …

Chinese New Space Internet of Things (IoT) satellite communications company Commsat had seven small satellites launched as a rideshare on board a Long March-2D launch vehicle together with two Earth observation satellites for Saudi Arabia from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China on 7 December 2018. The seven …

China successfully launched its Chang’e 4 lunar probe on Saturday, 8 December 2018, as part of its overall goal to establish itself as a global space power and spread its strategic influence throughout Eurasia. The mission was launched via a Long March 3B rocket, which carries a lunar probe from …