Middle East

Turkish defence contractor Rocketsan and the Turkish Presidency of Defence Industries (SSB) have signed an agreement that intends to transform Turkey into a space launching state, as well as a satellite manufacturing hub, according to a 5 November 2018 report in Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has been ordered to pay Spacecom U.S.$10 million for the late delivery of the AMOS-6 communications satellite that ended up being destroyed in a launchpad explosion of the SpaceX Falcon 9 it was sitting upon in 2016.

Israeli satellite communications equipment manufacturer Gilat has won a contract to supply the ground segment network for China SatCom and its currently operational CHINASAT-16 (CS-16) and CHINASAT-18 (CS-18), expected to be launched in mid-2019, as part of China Satcom's ongoing effort to provide High-Throughput Ka-Band coverage throughout China for satellite broadband applications.

Türksat has made headway in the adaptation of cutting-edge broadcasting technologies by conducting an Ultra HD 8K (Super High-Vision) test broadcast - currently the state-of-art in broadcasting technology - through the Türksat-4B communication satellite located at its 50 degrees East Geostationary orbital (GEO) location.

Yahsat, the leading commercial satellite communications company in the United Arab Emirates, has revealed that it is examining options for procuring two replacement GEO communications satellites for its recently acquired Thuraya mobile satellite communications subsidiary

The head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA), Morteza Barari, announced in early October 2018 that three Iranian-made satellites - Payam-e Amirkabir-1, Dousti, and Nahid-1 - have been built and are ready to be launched, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

The UAE's KhalifaSat high-resolution Earth observation satellite was successfully launched into orbit on board a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) H-IIA satellite launch vehicle from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre at 13:08hrs Japanese time (08:08hrs UAE time) on Monday, 29 October 2018.

Satellite Vu has taken the title of Best International Start-Up at the Supernova Challenge, part of the Future Stars event held during GITEX in Dubai last week. Satellite Vu, was invited to attend by the UAE’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) as part of its Innovation Challenge.

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. has announced its key role in the first-ever demonstration of an in-flight aircraft communicating at broadband speeds with a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite system.

Israel’s civilian space programme is in crisis due to chronic underfunding and the continuous outsourcing of satellite communications acquisitions to foreign satellite manufacturers, according to the annual report of the Israeli State Comptroller.