Asia Pacific

Firefly Aerospace, the New Space launch company that aims to serve the small to medium-sized satellite launch market with its Alpha and Beta rockets and is owned by Ukrainian-American entrepreneur Dr. Max Polyakov, has announced the appointment of Leslie Kovacs as its Vice President for Business Development.

Rocket Lab, the U.S.-headquartered small satellite launch provider that launches its rockets from New Zealand, has just announced its partnership with satellite rideshare and mission management provider Spaceflight for three satellite launches through 2018 and into 2019.

Thailand’s head of the National Council for Peace and Order, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, is expected to make a U.S.$215 million order for the Thailand Earth Observation Satellite (THEOS)-II with French satellite manufacturer Airbus Defence and Space during a visit to France on 25 June 2018, according to a diplomatic source in Bangkok who spoke to Agence France-Presse.

Acknowledging competition from companies like SpaceX, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) aim to ensure that its next-generation space launch vehicle, the H-3, will cut launch costs by half compared to its current workhorse, the H-2.

SpaceWatch.Global wishes all of our Muslim friends and readers a Blessed Eid and our warm wishes to you and your families!

Italy’s largest private satellite manufacturer, SITAEL, is set to open its Australian headquarters on 1 July 2018 outside of Adelaide, South Australia, further cementing SA’s position as Australia’s premier New Space hub.

Final testing for the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) CubeSat-M1 is underway. This first-of-three cubesats has been developed as part of a AUS$10 million contract with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra Space Centre, which was signed in November.

A political competition to host the headquarters of the new Australian Space Agency has emerged between Australian states, a development that a prominent Australian space policy expert is counterproductive, even pointless, and misunderstands the role and scope of the agency that is due to start operations on 1 July 2018.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted U.S.-Singaporean New Space company Audacy a licence for the first commercial inter-satellite relay network, and the implications of this are transformational for space communications as LEO operators, for the first time, can be in constant contact with their satellites.

South Korean satellite operator KT Sat is now poised to provide near-global maritime and inflight connectivity through its new satellites and expanded teleport, in what is becoming an increasingly crowded market.