Middle East

There is a new sector emerging within the space industry that could utterly revolutionise the satellite sector. On-Orbit servicing could be the biggest advancement the industry has seen yet as it could bring with it the capabilities to tackle space debris, to repair operational satellites and even upgrade them, reducing the need for new satellites and addressing some of the industry’s greatest challenges. Here, BusinessCom Networks offers up its view on on-orbit servicing.

Not three, but two launches may be performed from Kourou in 2018

Arabsat will assist U.S.-based company Cloud Constellation Corporation in providing space-based cloud data storage with the aim of improving data storage security.

UAE’s Yahsat is looking at providing satellite connectivity for managing networked devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) in a bid to ensure growing revenues in the coming years.

Israel’s Gilat has received a U.S.$153.6 million contract from the Peruvian telecommunications investment fund, Fitel, to help build rural telecommunications infrastructure in the Amazonas and Ica regions of Peru and help bridge the rural divide.

The United Arab Emirates has progressed to the last 39 Emirati men and women who are in line to be selected as the nation’s first astronauts, one of whom will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) from Russia next year.

Israel’s Spacecom has again extended the time period it needs to raise funds for its initial deposit for U.S. Satellite manufacturer SpaceSystems/Loral (SSL) to build its AMOS-8 satellite, but the process – and payment -- has been mired in delays.

Taking the best of both company offerings, Planet and Airbus have signed an agreement to jointly develop a new range of satellite imagery products.

The UAE has announced that its first astronaut will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019 with the assistance of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos. This confirms rumours circulating last month about the possibility of the UAE's first astronaut being sent into orbit in 2019, despite the fact that the selection for the UAE's four-person astronaut corps has yet to be completed.

The Israeli government will shortly come to a decision on the manufacturer for its own satellite - and this has become a hot topic in industry and political circles. Perhaps somewhat controversially, Israeli satellite operator Spacecom decided to purchase its next satellite, AMOS-8, from Space Systems Loral, an American satellite manufacturer, rather than the indigenous IAI, which had previously been the manufacturer of choice for satellite missions and has provided satellites for the Ministry of Defence and other businesses both in Israel and internationally.