The United Arab Emirates has signed a Letter of Intent with Russia and Kazakhstan to cooperate in space exploration and future space projects. The agreement was signed during a visit to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by a delegation from the UAE Space Agency led by Dr. Ahmad Abdullah Al Falasi, UAE Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills and Chairman of the UAE Space Agency.
Read More »Progress for Virgin Galactic and Orbit, Encouraging News for Saudi and Emirati Investors
After a two-year hiatus since the crash of VSS Enterprise in 2016, Virgin Galactic successfully carried out a flight test of its VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo spaceplane from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California on 5 April 2018.
Read More »Lockheed Martin Considering Satellite Assembly in Saudi Arabia
Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, visited Lockheed Martin's satellite manufacturing facilities in California's Silicon Valley on 5 April 2018, where the prospect of a Saudi Arabian-Lockheed Martin joint venture to assemble satellites in the desert kingdom was discussed.
Read More »Iran’s Space Agency Chief Extols the Virtues of Iransat-21, Other Satellite Applications
Morteza Barari, head of the Iran Space Agency and deputy minister at the Iranian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology told Mehr News Agency that ordinary Iranians, the economy, and society at large benefit everyday from Earth observation, communications, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellites without realising it.
Read More »UAE Space Agency Launches Minisatellite Design and Build Competition
In its ongoing path toward developing the human and technical capacities required for a functioning space sector, the UAE has launched a student competition to build mini satellites. The UAE Space Agency, in collaboration with Khalifa University and Boeing Corporation, has announced the STEM-oriented contest called the UAE Mini-Satellite Challenge: Design it, Build it, Launch it.
Read More »Israel’s Spacecom Could Finally Have a Buyer in IDB
Troubled Israeli satellite communications company Spacecom could finally have a buyer, but at a much lower price tag than it sought last year. Last week, Israel-based holding company IDB made an offer for a controlling stake in Spacecom, offering U.S.$45.75 million for a 54.7% undiluted stake and an equity infusion of as much as U.S.$11.45 million. According to a report published on calcalist.com, further negotiations have resulted in IDB’s subsidiary, Discount Investment Corporation, agreeing to an equity infusion of up to U.S.$34 million.
Read More »Saudi Crown Prince Visits Virgin Galactic in California
The Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, visited the facilities of Virgin Galactic at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California on 2 April 2018. The Crown Prince and his delegation, which included the Saudi ambassador to the United States Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, were hosted by Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group, and by George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic.
Read More »Saudi Arabian Delegation Visits UAE Space Agency in Abu Dhabi
The UAE has become a trailblazer in the Arab world in the field of space and satellite technology, an effort that is a part of a wider economic diversification initiative by the UAE government to ween the Gulf Arab state off of its economic dependency on hydrocarbons. It appears that neighbouring Gulf Arab countries are taking note, as a recent visit to the UAE Space Agency by a prominent delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia demonstrates.
Read More »Israel Space Agency Cooperating to Build ULTRASAT In Search of Supernovas
The Israel Space Agency is collaborating with NASA, CalTech, and the Weizmann Institute to develop ULTRASAT in the search for supernovae. The ULTRASAT, or Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite, is a mission which will launch a small satellite carrying a telescope with an unprecedentedly large field of view.
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Interviews: Andrei Rebrov of Precious Payload
Precious Payload, the brain child of Russian entrepreneurs Andrei Rebrov and Andrey Maskimov, is aiming to transform the way in which small satellite operators secure their launches. As we heard at Satellite 2018 this year, small satellites are being hit by a launch bottleneck and are mostly reduced to piggybacking on larger satellite launches and settling for what they can get. This can impact negatively on schedules and revenues.
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