Asia Pacific

A private rocket from a Japanese firm, Interstellar Technologies, failed to launch on Sunday.  At 5:15 a.m. on Sunday in the town of Taiki-cho, Hokkaido, the Interstellar rocket, "Momo-F5", experienced an anomaly approximately 68-70 seconds after launch.

Australia’s first Mission Control Centre is one step closer to lift off with local company Saber Astronautics chosen to establish the state-of-the-art space hub in Adelaide.

York Space Systems, an aerospace company specializing in complete space segment customer solutions and the manufacturer of standardized spacecraft platforms, announced that the company has been chosen as a strategic partner & subcontractor by LatConnect 60, who is currently developing a small satellite constellation that will provide greater access and control to critical Earth observation data required by the Australian government and a wide range of commercial clients across the world.

In an effort to digitize Philippine agriculture, the Department of Agriculture (DA) through Planters Products Inc. (PPI) and the Satsure AG signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on 8 June to provide better crop insurance in the country using satellite technology.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) announced on 8 June 2020 that the team from Mahidol University, Thailand, is the winner of the 1st cycle of the HyperGES fellowship.

Serbia and China signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on space technology cooperation on 5 June 2020. The MoU includes a provision for the joint development of a Sino-Serbian satellite.

The heads of the space agencies from the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, and the European Space Agency (ESA) are scheduled to meet on 9 June 2020 via video conference in order to discuss cooperation on lunar exploration and the International Space Station (ISS).

In this week's Space Cafe Web Talk Dr. Raji Rajagopalan discussed how India’s approach to outer space has changed over the last decade and how it is now driven increasingly by national security concerns.

In separate media appearances last week, Russian and Chinese diplomatic and military officials have criticised US – and allied – military space programmes and ambitions.

Chinese officials have unveiled details of, and launch timeline for, its Tiangong space station now that the Long March 5B launch vehicle has been successfully launched and China’s crewed capsule has been tested.