Asia Pacific

The Australian Space Agency (ASA) and Airbus Defence and Space have signed a statement of intent that commits the European satellite manufacturer to enhancing the capability and competitiveness of the Australian space and satellite industrial sector.

Singapore's National University of Singapore (NUS) and the United Kingdom's Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) RAL Space have signed an agreement that paves the way for the joint building of a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) test satellite to be launched by late 2021.

India and Morocco signed Memoranda of Understandings on space and cyber security cooperation in New Delhi on 25 September 2018, it has been announced.

U.S. commercial space situational awareness (SSA) company LeoLabs has announced that it will build a phased array radar in New Zealand in order to track satellites, debris, and other objects in low-Earth orbit (LEO).

South Korea will test a rocket engine designed and built by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) in a suborbital launch to be carried out at the end of October 2018, according to reports in the South Korean press.

Gilmour Space Technologies, the Australian-Singaporean New Space satellite launch company headquartered in Queensland, Australia, has secured U.S.$13.73 million (AUS$19 million) in a Series B investment round to scale up its operations and launch its first commercial hybrid launch vehicle into orbit by 2020.

Chinese commercial satellite launch vehicle company ExPace successfully launched an experimental positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite called Centispace-1-S1 on board a Kuaizhou-1A launch vehicle from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre (JSLC) on 29 September 2018.

Arianespace has announced that it will launch THEOS-II, the very-high-resolution Earth observation optical satellite for Thailand, and KOMPSAT-7 for the Korean Aerspace Research Institute (KARI), in two separate launches on the new Arianespace Vega-C launch vehicle in 2021.

Japanese New Space exploration and space resources company Ispace has signed a launch agreement with SpaceX to launch their first privately-funded Lunar mission in 2020.

Sky and Space Global (SAS), the New Space narrowband satellite communications company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to explore how SAS’ communications service can be integrated into their respective national telecommunications infrastructure.