Middle East

The UAE Space Agency has sent a high level delegation to UNISPACE +50, a symposium and special high-level meeting of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), currently being held in Vienna from 18-22 June 2018. The event is a highlight of the space industry calendar and brings together representatives of the international space sector to discuss a wide variety of related topics

Sky and Space Global, the European-Israeli New Space satellite communications company that is registered on the Australian Stock Exchange, has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with International Air Traffic Automation Systems (IATAS) for the use of its satellite network by the air traffic company.

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

International shipping exhibition, Posidonia, provided the perfect backdrop for the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between global mobile satellite service provider, Inmarsat and the Hellenic Space Agency (HSA).

The Sultanate of Oman has announced that it intends to build two satellites and then have them launched by the end of 2019, according to the Omani minister of transport and communications, Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Salim al Futaisi.

Russia has invited Turkey to send a Turkish national for Cosmonaut training, indicating that the relationship between these countries may now bear the substantial weight of ongoing human spaceflight cooperation obligations, despite difficulties on a number of issues, including Syria and the Armenia-Azerbaijani dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Diplomatic efforts are gathering in the Middle East and North Africa toward the development of a regional mechanism for space cooperation and development among Arab countries. At the recent Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi, the region made progress toward establishing an Arab space organisation.

The maritime sector of today is more connected than ever before. Vessels of all kinds have effectively become floating offices where the same level of connectivity is in demand at sea as on the shore. Communications on board assist shipping fleet owners, cruise ships and also owners of smaller vessels and yachts to become more operationally efficient and to keep both crew and passengers happy by enabling them to access their mobile devices even whilst away at sea.

The head of the Iran Space Agency (ISA), Morteza Barari, announced on 3 June 2018 that all current Iranian satellite projects are funded until the end of the Iranian fiscal year ending 21 March 2019.

Satellite-based navigation and timing plays an intrinsic role in modern communications, intelligence collection and electronic warfare systems. Yet, surprisingly, the deployment of measures that can protect these assets against incidents of attack such as jamming is not carried out. This leaves these critical systems vulnerable and exposed to attack by even low-power jammers, leading to disruption and potentially dangerous situations.