Middle East

Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), a leading global satellite operator based in the United Arab Emirates and wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company, and Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), a subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation, announced on 6 May 2019 an agreement to enter into a joint venture to provide commercial Ka-band satellite broadband services in Brazil.

SatSure, the Indian geospatial data analytics company that utilises advances in Earth observation satellites, machine learning, and big data analytics, has announced that it has won the Imkan Innovation Award worth U.S.$10,000 at startAD’s Venture Launchpad.

Hub71, a global tech hub driven by Mubadala in collaboration with Microsoft, SoftBank Vision Fund and Abu Dhabi Global Market, announced that two new partners, Techstars and Starburst, will join Hub71 in Q4 of this year. Hub71 is a key initiative of the Abu Dhabi Government’s Ghadan 21 economic acceleration programme.

Thuraya Telecommunications Company, a subsidiary of the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company, Yahsat, today announced that it has signed a Service Partner agreement with Elcome, one of the largest marine technology system integrators. Elcome will provide Thuraya’s products and services worldwide across key vertical markets.

In the presence of Abdellatif Loudiyi, Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in charge of the National Defense Administration of Morocco, and Mr. Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Moroccan Minister of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy, Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) and of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), gave the opening address on 24 April 2019 in Marrakesh at the GLEC 2019 Global Conference on Space for Emerging Countries (GLEC).

The UAE Space Agency and Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, MBRSC, have announced that 85 percent of the Hope Probe project has been completed.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, MBRSC, has launched the ‘Hope Generation’ initiative to help schools encourage students to study Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, STEM, fields and increase their curiosity about space science and exploration.

Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala is set to create a start-up ecosystem in Abu Dhabi that will attract New Space and other emerging technology companies to the Gulf Arab state.

The France-United Arab Emirates Strategic Dialogue convened for its 11th session in Paris on 16 April 2019.

"If at first you don’t succeed, you try again," said newly reelected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the Beresheet (Hebrew for Genesis) lunar lander failed to make a soft landing on the Moon's surface on 11 April 2019.