Middle East

XpressSAR Inc. of Arlington, Virginia and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to purchase from IAI a constellation of up to four TecSAR synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites along with associated support services for launch, in-orbit testing, commissioning, and establishing ground operations to control the constellation.

Arianespace has successfully launched the MOHAMMED VI-B Earth observation satellite, developed for the Kingdom of Morocco by a consortium comprising Thales Alenia Space as system prime contractor and Airbus as co-prime. Arianespace’s ninth launch of the year, and the second using Vega in 2018, took place on Tuesday, November 20, …

The United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA) has signed a Declaration of Principles with Bahrain's National Space Science Agency (NSSA), and the UAE’s Khalifa University (KU), for the training of the Bahrain Space Team.

It has been a busy few weeks in the Middle Eastern satellite and space sector, with developments and activities taking place from Morocco to Iran, and all points in between. The following is a roundup of the regional space and satellite news that was not previously covered in-depth by SpaceWatch.MiddleEast.

The UAE Space Agency will continue selecting astronaut candidates in order to create a national astronaut cadre with the aim of sending Emiratis in to orbit annually, Dr. Mohammed Al Ahbabi, the Director General of the agency, said in an interview with Russian news outlet Sputnik.

SpaceX successfully launched the Es’hail-2 satellite for Qatar’s Es’hailsat on Thursday, 15 November 2018, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States. Liftoff occurred at 3:46 p.m. EST, or 20:46 UTC, and the satellite was deployed to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) about 32 minutes after launch.

Morocco's Mohammed VI-B high-resolution Earth observation satellite is expected to be launched on an Arianespace launch vehicle from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana on 20 November 2018, on board an Arianespace Vega satellite launch vehicle, with the mission dubbed by Arianespace as Vega Flight VV13.

Thuraya Telecommunications Company, a subsidiary of the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), announced on 13 November 2018 that the world’s first satellite smartphone, the Thuraya X5-Touch, would be available for commercial distribution in less than a month.

IEC Telecom and two of its long-standing strategic partners, UAE's Yahsat and its subsidiary Thuraya, are offering new products, services, and connectivity services at the 2018 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC).

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, reported on 12 November 2018 its results for the third quarter ended 30 September 2018.