Asia Pacific

China and Myanmar held their first science and technology cooperation meeting in Yangon, where they established a joint radar and satellite communications laboratory as part of the nascent China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, a part of the Chinese-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The first of 320 satellites in the Chinese Hongyan low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites communications mega-constellation is expected to be launched by the end of 2018 on board a Long March-2D satellite launch vehicle, according to reporting by Andrew Jones in the GBTimes.

According to Euroconsult's latest report, China Space Industry 2018, the China space value chain had an estimated size of more than U.S.$16 billion in 2017, with the downstream market accounting for just over 85%. Satellite Navigation, one of the key satellite applications in China, was the main revenue generator in 2017, ahead of Satellite Communications and Earth Observation.

China launched two BeiDou-3 satellites on 19 November 2018, and in doing so it can provide basic global satellite positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services by the end of 2018. The basic service will first be offered to countries participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and offered globally at a later date.

During his recent visit to China, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Chinese counterparts signed a number of agreements that commit both countries to space, science, and technology cooperation.

The Japanese government will establish a command centre within the Self-Defence Forces (SDF) to monitor space debris and traffic in Earth orbit as well as to carry out surveillance on foreign satellites as they orbit over Japanese territory.

Chinese New Space satellite launch company LandSpace Technology announced on 20 November 2018 that it has received 300 million Yuan (U.S.$43 million) in a just-completed Series B funding round, according to Chinese news platform Weixin.

Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has announced it is investing AUS$35 million (U.S.$25.5 million) in space technology and Artificial Intelligence development.

Japanese company ANA Holdings, best known for operating All Nippon Airlines, and trading house Marubeni Corporation have partnered to build a spaceport in Japan as early as 2021, according to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review. The spaceport will be used for private space travel, such as space tourism, …

Sky and Space Global, the Australian New Space narrowband satellite communications company, are making significant inroads in the African and Brazilian communications markets by participating in the AfriCom conference in South Africa and signing MoU’s with two Brazilian telecommunications companies.