Asia Pacific

A Chinese Long March 11 launch vehicle successfully placed the Hongyan-1 satellite into orbit on 21 December 2018, making the first satellite launch of a planned 156-satellite communications constellation in low-Earth orbit (LEO), according to Andrew Jones at GBTimes.

Dawn Aerospace, a New Zealand-Dutch startup building 100% reusable rockets for satellite delivery, has raised NZ$3.35 million (U.S.$2.24 million) of investment from Kiwi, American, and Dutch investors.

An Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F11) successfully launched the GSAT-7A military communication satellite from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, India, on 19 December 2018.

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.

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 rapid growth of people migrating to cities to live, study or work is set to continue. According to the United Nations, more than half of today’s 7.5 billion world population live in cities. By 2050, about 70% of the world’s 9.8 billion population will settle in urban areas.

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.

U.S. small satellite launch company Rocket Lab has launched its third orbital mission of 2018, successfully deploying satellites to orbit for NASA. The mission, designated Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)-19 , took place just over a month after Rocket Lab’s last successful orbital launch, ‘It’s Business Time.’ Rocket Lab has launched a total of 24 satellites to orbit in 2018.

London-based and Australian Stock Exchange-listed S-band satellite operator, Sky and Space Global (SAS), has confirmed that it has signed a binding Reseller Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Globe Teleservices (GTS).

Astroscale UK Ltd., part of Astroscale Pte. Ltd., the market-leader in developing a space debris removal service to secure long-term spaceflight safety, has signed an agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) to exchange data and expertise related to space debris collision avoidance, environmental monitoring of debris, and the development of monitoring techniques.